Sandy, OR
Sandy wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Sandy lands at the 76th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 4,162 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Sandy at the 79th national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Sandy's buildings (79.8%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How Sandy compares
Inside Oregon, Sandy sits at just the 59th percentile even though it scores 76th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sandy ranks 7,668 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,090 by building count (1 is largest). Within Oregon alone, it ranks 174 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Oregon on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Sandy sits in Oregon, one of two states that legally require a wildfire-risk disclosure at sale. Sellers here disclose wildfire-hazard status before closing, the same number this page reports at the 76th national percentile. More on the disclosure law.
What would actually reduce this score
Because 79.8% of Sandy's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Sandy's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Sandy's 7,668-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Sandy's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.