Elmwood, IL
Elmwood wildfire risk explained
Elmwood sits at the 4th 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 1,204 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Elmwood at the 4th percentile, close to its 4th-percentile risk score.
Where Elmwood's buildings actually sit
92.4% of Elmwood's 1,204 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 7.6% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Elmwood compares
Elmwood's 24th-percentile standing inside Illinois outpaces its 4th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Elmwood ranks 30,278 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,623 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 1,101 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
Elmwood's low wildfire rating (4th 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 Elmwood
Even with 92.4% of Elmwood outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,204 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Elmwood. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Elmwood, see the exposure-zones guide.