Dows, IA
Dows, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Dows lands at the 25th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 449 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Dows at the 22nd percentile, close to its 25th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Dows's buildings (88% of 449) 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.
Where Dows ranks
Dows scores 25th nationally and 38th within Iowa — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Dows ranks 23,726 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,295 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 629 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Dows
At the 25th national percentile, Dows rates moderate 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 Dows
Dows's 88% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 449 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Dows. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Dows, see the exposure-zones guide.