Dunkerton, IA
Dunkerton wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Dunkerton at the 12th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 509 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Dunkerton's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 11th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
92.5% of Dunkerton's 509 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 7.5% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Dunkerton compares
Dunkerton's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (22nd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (12th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Dunkerton ranks 27,758 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,189 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 795 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Dunkerton
Dunkerton's low wildfire rating (12th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Dunkerton's 92.5% 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.
Where Dunkerton's figures come from
Dunkerton's 12th-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 Dunkerton's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.