Belle Fourche, SD
How exposed is Belle Fourche to wildfire?
USFS scores Belle Fourche at the 83rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 3,179 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Belle Fourche at the 83rd national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Belle Fourche's buildings actually sit
79.7% of Belle Fourche's 3,179 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 20.3% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Belle Fourche ranks
Belle Fourche scores 83rd nationally and 83rd within South Dakota — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Belle Fourche ranks 5,494 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,189 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 77 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 83rd percentile nationally, Belle Fourche carries the very 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 Belle Fourche
Because 79.7% of Belle Fourche'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 Belle Fourche's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 3,179 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Belle Fourche. The exposure-zones guide covers what Belle Fourche's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.