Le Mars, IA
Le Mars, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Le Mars at the 28th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 4,695 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Le Mars at the 25th national percentile — 3 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Le Mars's building exposure, zone by zone
89.5% of Le Mars's 4,695 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 10.5% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Where Le Mars ranks
Le Mars's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (43rd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (28th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Le Mars ranks 22,558 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,626 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 582 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Le Mars and the insurance market
Le Mars's moderate wildfire rating (28th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 89.5% of Le Mars 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 4,695 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Le Mars. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Le Mars, see the exposure-zones guide.