Smethport, PA
How exposed is Smethport to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Smethport at the 17th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 968 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Smethport at the 17th percentile, close to its 17th-percentile risk score.
Smethport's building exposure, zone by zone
Indirect exposure is dominant in Smethport (58.5% of 968 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 41.5% sit in the Direct zone.
How Smethport compares
There's little gap between Smethport's 17th national percentile and its 18th percentile inside Pennsylvania, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Smethport ranks 26,202 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,168 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,643 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Smethport
Smethport's low rating (17th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Smethport's 58.5% 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 968 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Smethport. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Smethport, see the exposure-zones guide.