Gerster, MO
How exposed is Gerster to wildfire?
USFS scores Gerster at the 79th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 35 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Gerster at the 81st national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Gerster's building exposure, zone by zone
65.7% of Gerster's 35 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 23 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 34.3% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
How Gerster compares
Within Missouri, Gerster ranks higher (96th percentile) than it does nationally (79th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Gerster ranks 6,556 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 31,272 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 47 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Gerster's high rating (79th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Gerster (65.7%), 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind Gerster's 6,556-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Gerster, see the exposure-zones guide.