Watch Hill, RI
Watch Hill, RI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Watch Hill at the 12th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 466 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Watch Hill's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 10th percentile nationally.
Where Watch Hill's buildings actually sit
Most of Watch Hill's buildings (64.6%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Where Watch Hill ranks
Watch Hill's 31st-percentile standing inside Rhode Island outpaces its 12th 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, Watch Hill ranks 27,784 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,969 by building count (1 is largest). Within Rhode Island alone, it ranks 25 of 36 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Rhode Island on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Watch Hill
Watch Hill's low wildfire rating (12th 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.
Hardening a home in Watch Hill
Because 64.6% of Watch Hill'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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 466 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Watch Hill. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Watch Hill, see the exposure-zones guide.