De Soto, IL
De Soto wildfire risk explained
USFS scores De Soto at the 26th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 874 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts De Soto at the 27th percentile, close to its 26th-percentile risk score.
De Soto's building exposure, zone by zone
76.5% of De Soto's 874 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 23.5% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where De Soto ranks
Compare De Soto's two percentiles: 72nd within Illinois, only 26th nationally — a gap of 47 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, De Soto ranks 23,407 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,953 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 397 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
De Soto and the insurance market
At the 26th national percentile, De Soto rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
De Soto's 76.5% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where De Soto's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 874 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for De Soto. The exposure-zones guide covers what De Soto's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.