Zion, PA
How exposed is Zion to wildfire?
Zion's 1,099 buildings earn a 46th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Zion at the 45th percentile, close to its 46th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 55.1% of Zion's 1,099 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 44.9% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Zion compares
Zion's 75th-percentile standing inside Pennsylvania outpaces its 46th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Zion ranks 16,909 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,281 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 508 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 46th national percentile, Zion rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Zion's 55.1% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Zion's 16,909-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Zion, see the exposure-zones guide.