South Temple, PA
South Temple, PA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
South Temple sits at the 19th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 678 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks South Temple at the 18th 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
678 buildings are counted in South Temple, and 88.8% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 11.2% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
How South Temple compares
South Temple scores 19th nationally and 20th within Pennsylvania — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Temple ranks 25,700 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,889 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,602 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
South Temple's low rating (19th 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
South Temple's 88.8% 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 Temple's 25,700-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 Temple, see the exposure-zones guide.