Deer River, MN
Deer River wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Deer River at the 43rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 649 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 Deer River at the 40th percentile, close to its 43rd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 79% of Deer River's 649 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 21% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Deer River ranks
Within Minnesota, Deer River ranks higher (61st percentile) than it does nationally (43rd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Deer River ranks 17,900 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,210 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 361 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
Deer River's elevated wildfire rating (43rd 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.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Deer River (79% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Deer River's figures come from
Deer River's 43rd-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 Deer River's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.