South Kensington, MD
South Kensington, MD's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, South Kensington lands at the 7th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 3,205 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, South Kensington's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 8th percentile nationally.
South Kensington's building exposure, zone by zone
South Kensington rates 53.5% Minimal exposure against just 46.5% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 3,205 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
How South Kensington compares
South Kensington's risk sits at a similar level relative to Maryland (1st percentile statewide) as it does nationally (7th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Kensington ranks 29,255 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,158 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 521 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 7th national percentile, South Kensington rates low 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 Kensington's 53.5% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
South Kensington's 7th-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 Kensington, see the exposure-zones guide.