Spencer, NY
Spencer wildfire risk explained
Spencer's 458 buildings earn a 20th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Spencer's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 20th percentile nationally.
Where Spencer's buildings actually sit
Of Spencer's 458 counted buildings, 68.6% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Spencer against the rest of the country
Spencer's 45th-percentile standing inside New York outpaces its 20th 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, Spencer ranks 25,226 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,108 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 710 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Spencer
At the 20th national percentile, Spencer rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Spencer's 68.6% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
Spencer's 20th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Spencer, see the exposure-zones guide.