Mendota, IL
How exposed is Mendota to wildfire?
USFS scores Mendota at the 3rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 3,642 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Mendota's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 3rd percentile nationally.
Where Mendota's buildings actually sit
95% of Mendota's 3,642 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 5% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Mendota compares
Mendota's 18th-percentile standing inside Illinois outpaces its 3rd 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, Mendota ranks 30,627 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,599 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 1,178 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 3rd national percentile, Mendota rates low 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 95% of Mendota 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 Mendota's figures come from
Mendota's 3rd-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 Mendota's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.