White Oak, MD
How exposed is White Oak to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts White Oak at the 14th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 1,423 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts White Oak at the 14th percentile, close to its 14th-percentile risk score.
White Oak's building exposure, zone by zone
52.9% of White Oak's 1,423 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 45.2% Direct and 2% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
White Oak against the rest of the country
White Oak scores 14th nationally and 13th within Maryland — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, White Oak ranks 27,007 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,517 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 460 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in White Oak
White Oak's low wildfire rating (14th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 52.9% of White Oak'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.
Where White Oak's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind White Oak's 27,007-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what White Oak's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.