East Alton, IL
East Alton wildfire risk explained
East Alton sits at the 13th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 3,407 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, East Alton's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 15th percentile nationally.
East Alton's building exposure, zone by zone
93.8% of East Alton's 3,407 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 6.2% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Where East Alton ranks
Compare East Alton's two percentiles: 49th within Illinois, only 13th nationally — a gap of 36 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, East Alton ranks 27,346 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,909 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 732 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
East Alton's low rating (13th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
East Alton's 93.8% 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 3,407 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for East Alton. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond East Alton, see the exposure-zones guide.