Buffalo, IA
Buffalo, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Buffalo sits at the 62nd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 975 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Buffalo at the 64th national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Buffalo's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS puts 65.6% of Buffalo's 975 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 24.3% Direct and 10.1% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Buffalo ranks
Compare Buffalo's two percentiles: 85th within Iowa, only 62nd nationally — a gap of 24 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Buffalo ranks 12,064 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,106 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 151 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Buffalo
Buffalo's high rating (62nd percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Hardening a home in Buffalo
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Buffalo (65.6% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Buffalo's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Buffalo's 12,064-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Buffalo's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.