Hot Springs, SD
How exposed is Hot Springs to wildfire?
USFS scores Hot Springs at the 89th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 2,338 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Hot Springs's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 89th percentile nationally.
Hot Springs's building exposure, zone by zone
2,338 buildings are counted in Hot Springs, and 86.9% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 13.1% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Where Hot Springs ranks
Hot Springs's risk sits at a similar level relative to South Dakota (90th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (89th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Hot Springs ranks 3,636 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,630 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 44 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Hot Springs
Hot Springs's 89th-percentile, very high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Hot Springs (86.9% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Hot Springs's figures come from
Hot Springs's 89th-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 Hot Springs's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.