Tamaqua, PA
How exposed is Tamaqua to wildfire?
USFS scores Tamaqua at the 69th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 3,349 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Tamaqua at the 67th percentile, close to its 69th-percentile risk score.
Tamaqua's building exposure, zone by zone
Indirect exposure is dominant in Tamaqua (91% of 3,349 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 9.1% sit in the Direct zone.
Tamaqua against the rest of the country
Within Pennsylvania, Tamaqua ranks higher (100th percentile) than it does nationally (69th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Tamaqua ranks 9,809 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,984 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 8 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Tamaqua
At the 69th percentile nationally, Tamaqua carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Hardening a home in Tamaqua
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Tamaqua (91% 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind Tamaqua's 9,809-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Tamaqua, see the exposure-zones guide.