Gays, IL
How exposed is Gays to wildfire?
Gays's 193 buildings earn a 1st-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Gays's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 1st percentile nationally.
Where Gays's buildings actually sit
Most of Gays's buildings (91.2% of 193) 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 Gays compares
Gays scores 1st nationally and 8th within Illinois — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Gays ranks 31,255 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,116 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 1,326 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Gays
Gays's low rating (1st percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 91.2% of Gays 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 Gays's figures come from
Gays's 1st-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 Gays's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.