Media, IL
How exposed is Media to wildfire?
Media sits at the 32nd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 117 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Media at the 32nd national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Media's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Media's buildings (94%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Media against the rest of the country
Within Illinois, Media ranks higher (82nd percentile) than it does nationally (32nd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Media ranks 21,519 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 28,293 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 262 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Media and the insurance market
At the 32nd national percentile, Media 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
Media's 94% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Media's 32nd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Media, see the exposure-zones guide.