Bridgewater, IA
Bridgewater, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Bridgewater at the 58th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 165 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Bridgewater at the 59th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Bridgewater's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 89.7% of Bridgewater's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 10.3% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Bridgewater against the rest of the country
Compare Bridgewater's two percentiles: 81st within Iowa, only 58th nationally — a gap of 23 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bridgewater ranks 13,170 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,214 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 194 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 58th national percentile, Bridgewater rates elevated 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
With 89.7% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Bridgewater gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Bridgewater's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Bridgewater's 13,170-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Bridgewater's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.