Cherry Creek, SD
Cherry Creek wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Cherry Creek at the 82nd national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 110 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Cherry Creek at the 81st percentile, close to its 82nd-percentile risk score.
Cherry Creek's building exposure, zone by zone
Indirect exposure is dominant in Cherry Creek (84.6% of 110 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 15.5% sit in the Direct zone.
Cherry Creek against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Cherry Creek's 82nd national percentile and its 82nd percentile inside South Dakota, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cherry Creek ranks 5,647 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 28,639 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 78 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
Cherry Creek and the insurance market
At the 82nd percentile nationally, Cherry Creek carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Cherry Creek (84.6% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Cherry Creek's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Cherry Creek's 5,647-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cherry Creek's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.