Hawarden, IA
Hawarden, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Hawarden at the 48th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 1,436 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Hawarden at the 45th national percentile — 3 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Hawarden rates 76.9% Minimal exposure against just 23.1% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 1,436 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Where Hawarden ranks
Within Iowa, Hawarden ranks higher (67th percentile) than it does nationally (48th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Hawarden ranks 16,322 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,449 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 341 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Hawarden's elevated rating (48th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 76.9% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Hawarden gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Hawarden's figures come from
Hawarden's 48th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Hawarden's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.