Belgium, IL
Belgium wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Belgium at the 12th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 311 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Belgium's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 12th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Belgium's buildings (54%) 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 Belgium compares
Belgium's 46th-percentile standing inside Illinois outpaces its 12th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Belgium ranks 27,788 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,337 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 775 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Belgium's low wildfire rating (12th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 54% of Belgium'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 Belgium's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 311 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Belgium. The exposure-zones guide covers what Belgium's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.