Swanton, VT
How exposed is Swanton to wildfire?
Swanton's 1,113 buildings earn a 7th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Swanton at the 7th percentile, close to its 7th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Swanton's buildings (89%) 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.
Where Swanton ranks
There's little gap between Swanton's 7th national percentile and its 1st percentile inside Vermont, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Swanton ranks 29,267 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,200 by building count (1 is largest). Within Vermont alone, it ranks 178 of 179 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Vermont on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Swanton
Swanton's low rating (7th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Swanton (89% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,113 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Swanton. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Swanton, see the exposure-zones guide.