Bayard, NE
Bayard, NE's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Bayard lands at the 72nd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 768 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Bayard at the 72nd percentile, close to its 72nd-percentile risk score.
Where Bayard's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 97% of Bayard's 768 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 3% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Bayard compares
Bayard scores 72nd nationally and 72nd within Nebraska — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bayard ranks 8,828 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,936 by building count (1 is largest). Within Nebraska alone, it ranks 163 of 583 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Nebraska on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 72nd percentile nationally, Bayard carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Hardening a home in Bayard
Because 97% of Bayard'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.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Bayard's 8,828-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Bayard, see the exposure-zones guide.