Wiscasset, ME
Wiscasset wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Wiscasset lands at the 8th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 800 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Wiscasset at the 7th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Wiscasset's building exposure, zone by zone
66.1% of Wiscasset's 800 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 529 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 32.6% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 1.3% are Minimal.
Wiscasset against the rest of the country
Within Maine, Wiscasset ranks higher (26th percentile) than it does nationally (8th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Wiscasset ranks 29,090 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,633 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maine alone, it ranks 117 of 155 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maine on its state page.
Wiscasset and the insurance market
At the 8th national percentile, Wiscasset 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 Wiscasset
With 66.1% of Wiscasset 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
Wiscasset's 8th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Wiscasset, see the exposure-zones guide.