Ames, NE
Ames wildfire risk explained
Ames sits at the 68th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 37 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Ames at the 62nd national percentile — 6 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Ames's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Ames's buildings (64.9%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How Ames compares
There's little gap between Ames's 68th national percentile and its 65th percentile inside Nebraska, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ames ranks 10,119 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 31,239 by building count (1 is largest). Within Nebraska alone, it ranks 205 of 583 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Nebraska on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Ames
Ames's high rating (68th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Hardening a home in Ames
Because 64.9% of Ames's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Ames's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 37 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Ames. The exposure-zones guide covers what Ames's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.