Ames, NY
Ames wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Ames at the 8th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 118 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Ames's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 8th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
118 buildings are counted in Ames, and 73.7% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
Ames against the rest of the country
Ames's risk sits at a similar level relative to New York (15th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (8th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ames ranks 29,125 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 28,265 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 1,086 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Ames
At the 8th national percentile, Ames rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Ames's 73.7% 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 Ames's figures come from
Ames's 8th-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 Ames's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.