Van Buren, ME
How exposed is Van Buren to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Van Buren lands at the 10th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 1,309 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Van Buren at the 10th percentile, close to its 10th-percentile risk score.
Where Van Buren's buildings actually sit
77.1% of Van Buren's 1,309 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 22.8% Direct and 0.1% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Van Buren ranks
Van Buren's 53rd-percentile standing inside Maine outpaces its 10th 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, Van Buren ranks 28,305 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,028 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maine alone, it ranks 74 of 155 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maine on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Van Buren's low rating (10th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Van Buren's 77.1% 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.
Where Van Buren's figures come from
Van Buren's 10th-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 Van Buren's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.