Lake Preston, SD
Lake Preston, SD's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Lake Preston at the 31st national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 523 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Lake Preston at the 26th national percentile — 5 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Lake Preston's buildings actually sit
68.3% of Lake Preston's 523 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 31.7% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Where Lake Preston ranks
Inside South Dakota, Lake Preston sits at just the 5th percentile even though it scores 31st nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lake Preston ranks 21,634 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,989 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 418 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Lake Preston
At the 31st national percentile, Lake Preston rates moderate 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 Lake Preston
Even with 68.3% of Lake Preston 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 Lake Preston's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Lake Preston's 21,634-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Lake Preston's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.