South Heights, PA
South Heights wildfire risk explained
South Heights sits at the 28th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 299 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks South Heights at the 28th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where South Heights's buildings actually sit
64.9% of South Heights's 299 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 35.1% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
South Heights against the rest of the country
There's little gap between South Heights's 28th national percentile and its 34th percentile inside Pennsylvania, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Heights ranks 22,733 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,665 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,312 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in South Heights
At the 28th national percentile, South Heights rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
South Heights's 64.9% 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 South Heights's 22,733-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 Heights, see the exposure-zones guide.