WildfireRiskFinder

South Fork, PA

South Fork, PA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers

Moderate
38thpercentile nationally

Out of every US place USFS scores, South Fork lands at the 38th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 494 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)

Separately from the risk score above, South Fork's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 37th percentile nationally.

Where South Fork's buildings actually sit

494Total buildings
26.7%Direct exposure
73.3%Indirect exposure
0%Minimal exposure

USFS puts 73.3% of South Fork's 494 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 26.7% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.

South Fork against the rest of the country

Within Pennsylvania, South Fork ranks higher (56th percentile) than it does nationally (38th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Fork ranks 19,678 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,465 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 877 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

At the 38th national percentile, South Fork rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.

Hardening a home in South Fork

Because 73.3% of South Fork's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.

More on how this number was built

Every one of the two percentiles behind South Fork's 19,678-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond South Fork, see the exposure-zones guide.