Heron Lake, MN
How exposed is Heron Lake to wildfire?
Heron Lake sits at the 60th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 541 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Heron Lake's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 50th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Heron Lake (73.2% of 541 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 26.6% sit in the Direct zone.
Where Heron Lake ranks
Heron Lake's 86th-percentile standing inside Minnesota outpaces its 60th 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, Heron Lake ranks 12,543 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,699 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 132 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Heron Lake's high rating (60th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Heron Lake's 73.2% 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind Heron Lake's 12,543-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Heron Lake, see the exposure-zones guide.