Freeborn, MN
Freeborn wildfire risk explained
Freeborn's 182 buildings earn a 11th-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 Freeborn at the 8th percentile, close to its 11th-percentile risk score.
Where Freeborn's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 76.9% of Freeborn's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 23.1% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Freeborn against the rest of the country
Freeborn's risk sits at a similar level relative to Minnesota (15th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (11th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Freeborn ranks 28,086 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,539 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 781 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 11th national percentile, Freeborn rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Freeborn
Even with 76.9% of Freeborn 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 182 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Freeborn. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Freeborn, see the exposure-zones guide.