Matthews, IN
Matthews wildfire risk explained
Matthews sits at the 3rd 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 421 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 Matthews at the 3rd percentile, close to its 3rd-percentile risk score.
Matthews's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Matthews's buildings (76% of 421) 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.
Matthews against the rest of the country
Compare Matthews's two percentiles: 21st within Indiana, only 3rd nationally — a gap of 18 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Matthews ranks 30,606 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,800 by building count (1 is largest). Within Indiana alone, it ranks 768 of 967 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Indiana on its state page.
Matthews and the insurance market
At the 3rd national percentile, Matthews rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Matthews
Even with 76% of Matthews 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.
More on how this number was built
Matthews's 3rd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Matthews, see the exposure-zones guide.