Sandy, PA
Sandy, PA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Sandy at the 35th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 838 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Sandy's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 36th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
838 buildings are counted in Sandy, and 61.1% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 38.9% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
How Sandy compares
Sandy scores 35th nationally and 48th within Pennsylvania — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sandy ranks 20,654 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,279 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,028 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Sandy's moderate rating (35th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Sandy
Sandy's 61.1% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Sandy's 20,654-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Sandy, see the exposure-zones guide.