Leeton, MO
Leeton wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Leeton lands at the 70th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 398 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Leeton's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 71st percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 56.3% of Leeton's 398 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 43.7% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Leeton compares
Leeton's risk sits at a similar level relative to Missouri (83rd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (70th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Leeton ranks 9,424 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,250 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 186 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Leeton and the insurance market
Leeton's 70th-percentile, 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Leeton's 56.3% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 398 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Leeton. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Leeton, see the exposure-zones guide.