Chatfield, MN
How exposed is Chatfield to wildfire?
Chatfield sits at the 15th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,416 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Chatfield at the 16th percentile, close to its 15th-percentile risk score.
Chatfield's building exposure, zone by zone
Indirect exposure is dominant in Chatfield (58.3% of 1,416 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 37.2% sit in the Direct zone.
How Chatfield compares
Chatfield's risk sits at a similar level relative to Minnesota (19th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (15th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Chatfield ranks 26,756 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,558 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 738 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Chatfield's low wildfire rating (15th 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.
Hardening a home in Chatfield
Because 58.3% of Chatfield's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Chatfield's figures come from
Chatfield's 15th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Chatfield's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.