South Philipsburg, PA
How exposed is South Philipsburg to wildfire?
South Philipsburg sits at the 47th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 267 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks South Philipsburg at the 46th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of South Philipsburg's buildings (82%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How South Philipsburg compares
South Philipsburg's 76th-percentile standing inside Pennsylvania outpaces its 47th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Philipsburg ranks 16,778 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,612 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 491 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
South Philipsburg and the insurance market
South Philipsburg's elevated rating (47th 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
Because 82% of South Philipsburg'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 Philipsburg's 16,778-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 Philipsburg, see the exposure-zones guide.