Westernport, MD
Westernport, MD's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Westernport at the 55th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 912 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Westernport at the 53rd national percentile — 1 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
Most of Westernport's buildings (83.4%) 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.
How Westernport compares
Compare Westernport's two percentiles: 76th within Maryland, only 55th nationally — a gap of 22 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Westernport ranks 14,309 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,618 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 126 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Westernport's elevated rating (55th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Westernport
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Westernport (83.4% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Westernport's 55th-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 Westernport, see the exposure-zones guide.