Waterford, PA
Waterford, PA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Waterford at the 35th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 730 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Waterford at the 35th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Waterford's buildings actually sit
61.8% of Waterford's 730 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 38.2% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
How Waterford compares
Waterford's risk sits at a similar level relative to Pennsylvania (50th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (35th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Waterford ranks 20,532 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,340 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,008 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Waterford
Waterford's moderate wildfire rating (35th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Waterford's 61.8% 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
Waterford's 35th-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 Waterford, see the exposure-zones guide.