Herculaneum, MO
Herculaneum wildfire risk explained
Herculaneum's 1,863 buildings earn a 43rd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Herculaneum at the 45th national percentile — 2 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
USFS puts 48.6% of Herculaneum's 1,863 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 23.1% Direct and 28.3% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Herculaneum ranks
Herculaneum's 43rd national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 19th ranking inside Missouri does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 24 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Herculaneum ranks 17,903 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,871 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 859 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Herculaneum and the insurance market
Herculaneum's elevated rating (43rd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Herculaneum (48.6% 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
Herculaneum's 43rd-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 Herculaneum, see the exposure-zones guide.