Gorham, IL
Gorham wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Gorham at the 22nd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 165 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Gorham's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 22nd percentile nationally.
Gorham's building exposure, zone by zone
165 buildings are counted in Gorham, and 87.3% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 6.7% in Direct exposure or the 6.1% rated Minimal.
Gorham against the rest of the country
Within Illinois, Gorham ranks higher (65th percentile) than it does nationally (22nd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Gorham ranks 24,636 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,211 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 500 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Gorham
Gorham's moderate wildfire rating (22nd 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.
Hardening a home in Gorham
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Gorham (87.3% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Gorham's 24,636-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Gorham, see the exposure-zones guide.