Malcom, IA
Malcom wildfire risk explained
Malcom's 271 buildings earn a 31st-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Malcom at the 31st national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Malcom's building exposure, zone by zone
Only 16.2% of Malcom's 271 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 83.8% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Malcom against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Malcom's 31st national percentile and its 45th percentile inside Iowa, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Malcom ranks 21,863 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,465 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 556 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Malcom
At the 31st national percentile, Malcom rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 83.8% of Malcom 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 Malcom's figures come from
Malcom's 31st-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 Malcom's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.