Lena, IL
Lena wildfire risk explained
Lena sits at the 14th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,653 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Lena at the 15th percentile, close to its 14th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Lena's buildings (86.3% of 1,653) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.
Where Lena ranks
Compare Lena's two percentiles: 52nd within Illinois, only 14th nationally — a gap of 38 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lena ranks 26,999 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,584 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 695 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Lena and the insurance market
Lena's low rating (14th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Lena
Even with 86.3% of Lena 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 Lena's figures come from
Lena's 14th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Lena's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.