Foster, NE
Foster wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Foster at the 82nd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 58 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Foster's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 71st percentile nationally.
Foster's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 60.3% of Foster's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 39.7% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
How Foster compares
Foster's risk sits at a similar level relative to Nebraska (89th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (82nd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Foster ranks 5,837 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,717 by building count (1 is largest). Within Nebraska alone, it ranks 66 of 583 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Nebraska on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Foster
Foster's 82nd-percentile, very 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 Foster
Even with 60.3% of Foster 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 Foster's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Foster's 5,837-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Foster's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.