Chetek, WI
Chetek, WI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Chetek's 1,460 buildings earn a 13th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Chetek at the 12th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Chetek's building exposure, zone by zone
Chetek rates 71.2% Minimal exposure against just 24.1% Direct and 4.7% Indirect — of 1,460 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Where Chetek ranks
Chetek's risk sits at a similar level relative to Wisconsin (12th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (13th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Chetek ranks 27,404 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,356 by building count (1 is largest). Within Wisconsin alone, it ranks 705 of 808 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Wisconsin on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Chetek's low rating (13th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With 71.2% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Chetek gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Chetek's figures come from
Chetek's 13th-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 Chetek's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.