Gates Mills, OH
Gates Mills, OH's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Gates Mills sits at the 32nd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,445 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Gates Mills at the 34th percentile, close to its 32nd-percentile risk score.
Gates Mills's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Gates Mills: 91.7% of its 1,445 buildings, versus 8.3% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Gates Mills ranks
Compare Gates Mills's two percentiles: 70th within Ohio, only 32nd nationally — a gap of 38 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Gates Mills ranks 21,401 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,409 by building count (1 is largest). Within Ohio alone, it ranks 374 of 1,264 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Ohio on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Gates Mills's moderate rating (32nd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Gates Mills (91.7%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Gates Mills's 32nd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Gates Mills, see the exposure-zones guide.