Melbeta, NE
Melbeta, NE's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Melbeta's 108 buildings earn a 63rd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Melbeta's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 62nd percentile nationally.
Melbeta's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Melbeta's buildings (99.1%) 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.
How Melbeta compares
Melbeta scores 63rd nationally and 56th within Nebraska — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Melbeta ranks 11,604 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 28,701 by building count (1 is largest). Within Nebraska alone, it ranks 261 of 583 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Nebraska on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Melbeta
Melbeta's 63rd-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Melbeta (99.1% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 108 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Melbeta. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Melbeta, see the exposure-zones guide.