Melrose, OH
Melrose, OH's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Melrose at the 4th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 161 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Melrose at the 3rd percentile, close to its 4th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
80.1% of Melrose's 161 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 19.9% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Melrose against the rest of the country
Melrose's 20th-percentile standing inside Ohio outpaces its 4th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Melrose ranks 30,394 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,398 by building count (1 is largest). Within Ohio alone, it ranks 1,010 of 1,264 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Ohio on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Melrose's low wildfire rating (4th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 80.1% of Melrose 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 Melrose's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 161 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Melrose. The exposure-zones guide covers what Melrose's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.