Jewell Junction, IA
Jewell Junction wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Jewell Junction at the 18th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 779 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Jewell Junction at the 15th percentile, close to its 18th-percentile risk score.
Where Jewell Junction's buildings actually sit
Only 15% of Jewell Junction's 779 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 85% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Jewell Junction against the rest of the country
Jewell Junction's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (29th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (18th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Jewell Junction ranks 25,839 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,824 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 719 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Jewell Junction and the insurance market
At the 18th national percentile, Jewell Junction rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 85% of Jewell Junction 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 779 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Jewell Junction. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Jewell Junction, see the exposure-zones guide.