Columbus, KS
Columbus, KS's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Columbus's 2,235 buildings earn a 51st-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Columbus at the 52nd percentile, close to its 51st-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 42.4% of Columbus's 2,235 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 15.5% Direct and 42.1% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Columbus against the rest of the country
Columbus's 51st national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 34th ranking inside Kansas does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 17 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Columbus ranks 15,468 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,853 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kansas alone, it ranks 477 of 721 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kansas on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 51st national percentile, Columbus rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Columbus
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Columbus (42.4% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Columbus's 15,468-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Columbus, see the exposure-zones guide.