Vandergrift, PA
Vandergrift wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Vandergrift lands at the 33rd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 2,017 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Vandergrift at the 33rd national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Vandergrift's buildings actually sit
Indirect exposure is dominant in Vandergrift (92.4% of 2,017 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 7.6% sit in the Direct zone.
How Vandergrift compares
Vandergrift scores 33rd nationally and 44th within Pennsylvania — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Vandergrift ranks 21,287 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,425 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,126 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Vandergrift's moderate wildfire rating (33rd percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 92.4% of Vandergrift's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Vandergrift's 33rd-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 Vandergrift, see the exposure-zones guide.