Bethel, MO
How exposed is Bethel to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Bethel lands at the 56th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 122 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Bethel at the 58th national percentile — 2 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
Most of Bethel's buildings (50.8%) 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.
Bethel against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Bethel's 56th national percentile and its 44th percentile inside Missouri, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bethel ranks 13,960 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 28,068 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 595 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Bethel and the insurance market
Bethel's elevated rating (56th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Bethel (50.8% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Bethel's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Bethel's 13,960-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Bethel's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.