Fairbank, IA
Fairbank, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Fairbank's 612 buildings earn a 18th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places 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 Fairbank at the 18th percentile, close to its 18th-percentile risk score.
Where Fairbank's buildings actually sit
Most of Fairbank's buildings (86.8% of 612) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.
How Fairbank compares
Fairbank's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (30th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (18th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fairbank ranks 25,771 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,667 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 716 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Fairbank's low wildfire rating (18th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 86.8% of Fairbank 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.
Where Fairbank's figures come from
Fairbank's 18th-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 Fairbank's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.