Altoona, KS
Altoona wildfire risk explained
Altoona's 275 buildings earn a 50th-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 Altoona at the 50th percentile, close to its 50th-percentile risk score.
Where Altoona's buildings actually sit
Altoona rates 68.7% Minimal exposure against just 31.3% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 275 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Where Altoona ranks
Altoona ranks lower within Kansas (32nd percentile statewide) than its 50th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Altoona ranks 15,846 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,355 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kansas alone, it ranks 494 of 721 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kansas on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 50th national percentile, Altoona 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
Altoona's 68.7% 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 275 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Altoona. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Altoona, see the exposure-zones guide.