Lester, IA
Lester, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Lester sits at the 20th 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 209 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 Lester at the 17th percentile, close to its 20th-percentile risk score.
Where Lester's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 79% of Lester's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 21.1% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Lester against the rest of the country
Lester scores 20th nationally and 32nd within Iowa — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lester ranks 25,301 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,509 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 691 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Lester
Lester's low wildfire rating (20th 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 79% of Lester 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 Lester's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Lester's 25,301-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Lester's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.