Harvard, IL
Harvard wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Harvard at the 21st national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 3,430 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Harvard's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 21st percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 50.9% of Harvard's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 5.1% Direct and 43.9% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Harvard against the rest of the country
Within Illinois, Harvard ranks higher (64th percentile) than it does nationally (21st) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Harvard ranks 24,891 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,872 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 523 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Harvard
Harvard's moderate rating (21st percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Harvard
Even with 50.9% of Harvard 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 Harvard's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Harvard's 24,891-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Harvard's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.