South Dennis, MA
South Dennis wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts South Dennis at the 28th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 3,051 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks South Dennis at the 19th national percentile — 9 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where South Dennis's buildings actually sit
Most of South Dennis's buildings (75.4% of 3,051) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.
How South Dennis compares
Compare South Dennis's two percentiles: 64th within Massachusetts, only 28th nationally — a gap of 36 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Dennis ranks 22,783 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,356 by building count (1 is largest). Within Massachusetts alone, it ranks 91 of 248 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Massachusetts on its state page.
South Dennis and the insurance market
South Dennis's moderate rating (28th 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
With 75.4% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, South Dennis gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
South Dennis's 28th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond South Dennis, see the exposure-zones guide.