Alpha, IL
Alpha, IL's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Alpha sits at the 5th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 499 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Alpha at the 5th percentile, close to its 5th-percentile risk score.
Alpha's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Alpha's buildings (92.4% of 499) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.
Where Alpha ranks
Alpha's 27th-percentile standing inside Illinois outpaces its 5th 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, Alpha ranks 30,025 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,375 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 1,049 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Alpha and the insurance market
Alpha's low wildfire rating (5th 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 Alpha
Alpha's 92.4% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where Alpha's figures come from
Alpha's 5th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Alpha's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.