Fairfax, SD
Fairfax, SD's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Fairfax at the 62nd national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 152 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Fairfax at the 56th national percentile — 6 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Fairfax's buildings actually sit
Of Fairfax's 152 counted buildings, 61.8% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Fairfax against the rest of the country
Fairfax scores 62nd nationally and 52nd within South Dakota — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fairfax ranks 11,956 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,826 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 210 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Fairfax's 62nd-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.
What would actually reduce this score
Fairfax's 61.8% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Fairfax's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 152 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Fairfax. The exposure-zones guide covers what Fairfax's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.