Bourbon, MO
Bourbon, MO's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Bourbon lands at the 67th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 859 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Bourbon at the 70th percentile, close to its 67th-percentile risk score.
Bourbon's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS puts 59.3% of Bourbon's 859 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 40.8% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Bourbon ranks
Bourbon's risk sits at a similar level relative to Missouri (75th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (67th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bourbon ranks 10,306 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,091 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 266 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Bourbon
Bourbon's 67th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Bourbon's 59.3% 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 859 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Bourbon. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Bourbon, see the exposure-zones guide.