Emerald Beach, MO
Emerald Beach, MO's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Emerald Beach lands at the 69th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 314 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Emerald Beach's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 71st percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
94.6% of Emerald Beach's 314 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 297 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 4.8% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0.6% are Minimal.
How Emerald Beach compares
Emerald Beach's risk sits at a similar level relative to Missouri (79th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (69th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Emerald Beach ranks 9,931 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,254 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 228 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Emerald Beach and the insurance market
Emerald Beach's 69th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Hardening a home in Emerald Beach
With 94.6% of Emerald Beach in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Emerald Beach's 69th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Emerald Beach, see the exposure-zones guide.