Buckner, MO
Buckner wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Buckner at the 45th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 1,367 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Buckner at the 45th percentile, close to its 45th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 79.4% of Buckner's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 20.6% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Buckner against the rest of the country
Buckner's 45th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 23rd ranking inside Missouri does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 22 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Buckner ranks 17,485 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,759 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 816 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Buckner and the insurance market
Buckner's elevated wildfire rating (45th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 79.4% of Buckner outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,367 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Buckner. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Buckner, see the exposure-zones guide.