Barneveld, WI
Barneveld wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Barneveld at the 37th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 556 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Barneveld's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 39th percentile nationally.
Where Barneveld's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 75.5% of Barneveld's 556 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 24.5% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Barneveld against the rest of the country
Compare Barneveld's two percentiles: 87th within Wisconsin, only 37th nationally — a gap of 50 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Barneveld ranks 19,904 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,489 by building count (1 is largest). Within Wisconsin alone, it ranks 107 of 808 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Wisconsin on its state page.
Barneveld and the insurance market
At the 37th national percentile, Barneveld rates moderate 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
Barneveld's 75.5% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Barneveld's figures come from
Barneveld's 37th-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 Barneveld's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.