Thiells, NY
Thiells, NY's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Thiells sits at the 34th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,683 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Thiells at the 32nd national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Thiells's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS puts 55.7% of Thiells's 1,683 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 19.5% Direct and 24.8% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Thiells ranks
Compare Thiells's two percentiles: 74th within New York, only 34th nationally — a gap of 40 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Thiells ranks 20,743 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,484 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 336 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
Thiells and the insurance market
At the 34th national percentile, Thiells rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Thiells (55.7% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Thiells's figures come from
Thiells's 34th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Thiells's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.