Estelline, SD
Estelline wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Estelline lands at the 56th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 603 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Estelline at the 54th national percentile — 3 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Estelline's buildings (77.1%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How Estelline compares
Inside South Dakota, Estelline sits at just the 40th percentile even though it scores 56th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Estelline ranks 13,749 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,807 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 264 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
Estelline and the insurance market
At the 56th national percentile, Estelline rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 77.1% of Estelline's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Estelline's figures come from
Estelline's 56th-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 Estelline's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.