Alpena, SD
Alpena, SD's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Alpena lands at the 66th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 292 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Alpena at the 66th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Alpena's building exposure, zone by zone
55.5% of Alpena's 292 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 162 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 44.5% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Where Alpena ranks
There's little gap between Alpena's 66th national percentile and its 60th percentile inside South Dakota, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Alpena ranks 10,630 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,865 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 177 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Alpena's 66th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Alpena's 55.5% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Alpena's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Alpena's 10,630-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Alpena's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.