Watervliet, NY
Watervliet, NY's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Watervliet at the 11th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 3,305 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Watervliet's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 11th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Watervliet rates 84.7% Minimal exposure against just 1.3% Direct and 14% Indirect — of 3,305 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Watervliet against the rest of the country
Watervliet's 26th-percentile standing inside New York outpaces its 11th 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, Watervliet ranks 28,060 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,039 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 952 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 11th national percentile, Watervliet rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Watervliet
Watervliet's 84.7% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where Watervliet's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 3,305 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Watervliet. The exposure-zones guide covers what Watervliet's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.