Gays Mills, WI
How exposed is Gays Mills to wildfire?
Gays Mills's 469 buildings earn a 32nd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Gays Mills's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 34th percentile nationally.
Where Gays Mills's buildings actually sit
469 buildings are counted in Gays Mills, and 51.8% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
How Gays Mills compares
Compare Gays Mills's two percentiles: 73rd within Wisconsin, only 32nd nationally — a gap of 40 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Gays Mills ranks 21,355 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,914 by building count (1 is largest). Within Wisconsin alone, it ranks 222 of 808 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Wisconsin on its state page.
Gays Mills and the insurance market
Gays Mills's moderate wildfire rating (32nd percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Gays Mills (51.8%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Gays Mills's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 469 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Gays Mills. The exposure-zones guide covers what Gays Mills's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.