Elk River, ID
Elk River wildfire risk explained
Elk River's 224 buildings earn a 93rd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Elk River at the 90th percentile, close to its 93rd-percentile risk score.
Elk River's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS puts 84.4% of Elk River's 224 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 15.6% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Elk River ranks
Elk River's 93rd national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 73rd ranking inside Idaho does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 20 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Elk River ranks 2,266 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,974 by building count (1 is largest). Within Idaho alone, it ranks 65 of 232 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Idaho on its state page.
Elk River and the insurance market
Elk River's very high rating (93rd 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.
Hardening a home in Elk River
Elk River's 84.4% 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 Elk River's figures come from
Elk River's 93rd-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 Elk River's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.