El Dara, IL
How exposed is El Dara to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts El Dara at the 35th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 80 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, El Dara's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 36th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
51.3% of El Dara's 80 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 48.8% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
How El Dara compares
Within Illinois, El Dara ranks higher (87th percentile) than it does nationally (35th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, El Dara ranks 20,383 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 29,875 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 184 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
El Dara's moderate wildfire rating (35th 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.
Hardening a home in El Dara
El Dara's 51.3% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where El Dara's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind El Dara's 20,383-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what El Dara's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.