Golden Gate, IL
How exposed is Golden Gate to wildfire?
Golden Gate sits at the 6th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 85 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Golden Gate at the 6th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Golden Gate (76.5% of 85 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 23.5% sit in the Direct zone.
Golden Gate against the rest of the country
Golden Gate's 30th-percentile standing inside Illinois outpaces its 6th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Golden Gate ranks 29,773 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 29,683 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 1,008 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Golden Gate
Golden Gate's low wildfire rating (6th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Golden Gate's 76.5% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Golden Gate's 6th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Golden Gate, see the exposure-zones guide.