Augusta, IA
Augusta wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Augusta at the 64th national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 61 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Augusta's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 66th percentile nationally.
Where Augusta's buildings actually sit
52.5% of Augusta's 61 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 32 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 47.5% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Where Augusta ranks
Compare Augusta's two percentiles: 88th within Iowa, only 64th nationally — a gap of 24 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Augusta ranks 11,470 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,614 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 128 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Augusta
Augusta's 64th-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.
Hardening a home in Augusta
Because Direct exposure dominates in Augusta (52.5%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Augusta's 64th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Augusta, see the exposure-zones guide.