Watsontown, PA
How exposed is Watsontown to wildfire?
Watsontown sits at the 21st percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,069 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Watsontown at the 21st national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Watsontown (84.8% of 1,069 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 7.2% sit in the Direct zone.
Where Watsontown ranks
Watsontown's risk sits at a similar level relative to Pennsylvania (23rd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (21st) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Watsontown ranks 24,846 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,468 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,529 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Watsontown and the insurance market
Watsontown's moderate rating (21st percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Because 84.8% of Watsontown'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
Watsontown's 21st-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 Watsontown, see the exposure-zones guide.