Buffalo Gap, SD
How exposed is Buffalo Gap to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Buffalo Gap at the 95th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 179 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Buffalo Gap at the 95th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Buffalo Gap's building exposure, zone by zone
179 buildings are counted in Buffalo Gap, and 75.4% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 24.6% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Buffalo Gap against the rest of the country
Buffalo Gap scores 95th nationally and 98th within South Dakota — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Buffalo Gap ranks 1,615 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,689 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 11 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Buffalo Gap's 95th-percentile, very 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
Buffalo Gap's 75.4% 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.
Where Buffalo Gap's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Buffalo Gap's 1,615-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Buffalo Gap's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.