Seward, PA
Seward wildfire risk explained
Seward's 296 buildings earn a 42nd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Seward's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 41st percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Seward (87.5% of 296 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 12.5% sit in the Direct zone.
How Seward compares
Compare Seward's two percentiles: 67th within Pennsylvania, only 42nd nationally — a gap of 25 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Seward ranks 18,322 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,740 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 669 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Seward
Seward's elevated wildfire rating (42nd 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
Seward's 87.5% 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 Seward's 18,322-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Seward, see the exposure-zones guide.