WildfireRiskFinder

Denison, IA

Denison, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers

High
60thpercentile nationally

Out of every US place USFS scores, Denison lands at the 60th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 3,121 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)

Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Denison at the 59th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.

Where Denison's buildings actually sit

3,121Total buildings
13.7%Direct exposure
0%Indirect exposure
86.4%Minimal exposure

Most of Denison's buildings (86.4% of 3,121) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.

Denison against the rest of the country

Within Iowa, Denison ranks higher (83rd percentile) than it does nationally (60th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Denison ranks 12,573 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,262 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 170 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.

Shopping for coverage in Denison

Denison's high rating (60th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.

What would actually reduce this score

Even with 86.4% of Denison outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.

More on how this number was built

Denison's 60th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Denison, see the exposure-zones guide.