Union Bridge, MD
Union Bridge, MD's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Union Bridge at the 8th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 534 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 Union Bridge at the 7th percentile, close to its 8th-percentile risk score.
Union Bridge's building exposure, zone by zone
81.5% of Union Bridge's 534 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 18.5% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
How Union Bridge compares
There's little gap between Union Bridge's 8th national percentile and its 2nd percentile inside Maryland, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Union Bridge ranks 29,156 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,813 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 518 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
Union Bridge and the insurance market
At the 8th national percentile, Union Bridge rates low 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
Union Bridge's 81.5% 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
Union Bridge's 8th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Union Bridge, see the exposure-zones guide.