Kalona, IA
Kalona wildfire risk explained
Kalona's 1,348 buildings earn a 56th-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.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Kalona at the 58th percentile, close to its 56th-percentile risk score.
Where Kalona's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 70% of Kalona's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 7.4% Direct and 22.6% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Kalona against the rest of the country
Kalona's 77th-percentile standing inside Iowa outpaces its 56th 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, Kalona ranks 13,830 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,840 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 234 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 56th national percentile, Kalona rates elevated 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 Kalona
Kalona's 70% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Kalona's 56th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Kalona, see the exposure-zones guide.