Menlo, IA
Menlo wildfire risk explained
Menlo's 269 buildings earn a 50th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Menlo at the 50th percentile, close to its 50th-percentile risk score.
Where Menlo's buildings actually sit
51.7% of Menlo's 269 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 22.3% Direct and 26% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Menlo ranks
Compare Menlo's two percentiles: 69th within Iowa, only 50th nationally — a gap of 19 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Menlo ranks 15,781 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,531 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 320 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Menlo and the insurance market
At the 50th national percentile, Menlo rates elevated 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
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Menlo (51.7% 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
Menlo's 50th-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 Menlo, see the exposure-zones guide.