Lost Nation, IA
How exposed is Lost Nation to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Lost Nation lands at the 19th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 319 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Lost Nation at the 19th percentile, close to its 19th-percentile risk score.
Lost Nation's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Lost Nation's buildings (96.2% of 319) 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.
Lost Nation against the rest of the country
Lost Nation's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (31st percentile statewide) as it does nationally (19th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lost Nation ranks 25,460 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,115 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 699 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Lost Nation
Lost Nation's low rating (19th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With 96.2% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Lost Nation gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Lost Nation's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Lost Nation's 25,460-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Lost Nation's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.