Westminster, VT
Westminster wildfire risk explained
Westminster's 217 buildings earn a 13th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Westminster at the 13th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
51.6% of Westminster's 217 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 112 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 48.4% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
How Westminster compares
Westminster scores 13th nationally and 24th within Vermont — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Westminster ranks 27,373 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,255 by building count (1 is largest). Within Vermont alone, it ranks 138 of 179 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Vermont on its state page.
Westminster and the insurance market
Westminster's low wildfire rating (13th 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 Westminster
With 51.6% of Westminster in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 217 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Westminster. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Westminster, see the exposure-zones guide.