Merna, NE
Merna, NE's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Merna at the 66th national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 338 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Merna at the 56th percentile, close to its 66th-percentile risk score.
Where Merna's buildings actually sit
95% of Merna's 338 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 3% Direct and 2.1% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Merna against the rest of the country
Merna scores 66th nationally and 59th 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, Merna ranks 10,846 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 20,636 by building count (1 is largest). Within Nebraska alone, it ranks 239 of 583 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Nebraska on its state page.
Merna and the insurance market
Merna's 66th-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.
Hardening a home in Merna
Merna's 95% 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.
Where Merna's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 338 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Merna. The exposure-zones guide covers what Merna's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.