Belle, MO
How exposed is Belle to wildfire?
USFS scores Belle at the 61st national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 940 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Belle at the 63rd percentile, close to its 61st-percentile risk score.
Where Belle's buildings actually sit
Most of Belle's buildings (63.2%) 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 Belle compares
Belle's risk sits at a similar level relative to Missouri (58th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (61st) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Belle ranks 12,386 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,394 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 448 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Belle and the insurance market
At the 61st percentile nationally, Belle 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 Belle
Belle's 63.2% 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 Belle's figures come from
Belle's 61st-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 Belle's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.