Esmond, ND
Esmond wildfire risk explained
Esmond sits at the 35th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 165 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 Esmond at the 33rd percentile, close to its 35th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 58.8% of Esmond's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 41.2% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Where Esmond ranks
Esmond ranks lower within North Dakota (16th percentile statewide) than its 35th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Esmond ranks 20,646 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,231 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Dakota alone, it ranks 337 of 402 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Dakota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Esmond'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 Esmond
With 58.8% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Esmond gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Esmond's 20,646-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Esmond, see the exposure-zones guide.