Bellevue, IA
How exposed is Bellevue to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Bellevue lands at the 36th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 1,578 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Bellevue at the 38th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Bellevue's buildings actually sit
Most of Bellevue's buildings (89%) 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.
Bellevue against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Bellevue's 36th national percentile and its 51st percentile inside Iowa, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bellevue ranks 20,226 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,841 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 502 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Bellevue and the insurance market
At the 36th national percentile, Bellevue rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 89% of Bellevue'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 Bellevue's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Bellevue's 20,226-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Bellevue's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.