Schaefferstown, PA
Schaefferstown wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Schaefferstown lands at the 14th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 769 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Schaefferstown at the 12th national percentile — 2 points below 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 Schaefferstown's buildings (55.3%) 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.
Where Schaefferstown ranks
Schaefferstown scores 14th nationally and 13th 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, Schaefferstown ranks 27,082 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,931 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,729 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Schaefferstown and the insurance market
Schaefferstown's low wildfire rating (14th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
What would actually reduce this score
Schaefferstown's 55.3% 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.
Where Schaefferstown's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Schaefferstown's 27,082-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Schaefferstown's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.