Bellechester, MN
How exposed is Bellechester to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Bellechester lands at the 2nd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 139 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Bellechester at the 2nd national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 67.6% of Bellechester's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 32.4% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Where Bellechester ranks
Bellechester scores 2nd nationally and 2nd within Minnesota — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bellechester ranks 30,924 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,328 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 897 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
Bellechester and the insurance market
At the 2nd national percentile, Bellechester rates low 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
Bellechester's 67.6% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where Bellechester's figures come from
Bellechester's 2nd-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 Bellechester's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.