Hope, IN
Hope wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Hope at the 8th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 1,192 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Hope's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 9th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Only 11% of Hope's 1,192 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 89% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Where Hope ranks
Within Indiana, Hope ranks higher (50th percentile) than it does nationally (8th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Hope ranks 28,930 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,696 by building count (1 is largest). Within Indiana alone, it ranks 486 of 967 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Indiana on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 8th national percentile, Hope rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Hope
Even with 89% of Hope 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 Hope's figures come from
Hope's 8th-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 Hope's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.