Merriam, IN
Merriam, IN's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Merriam at the 4th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 190 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 Merriam at the 4th percentile, close to its 4th-percentile risk score.
Where Merriam's buildings actually sit
Merriam rates 51% Minimal exposure against just 49% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 190 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
How Merriam compares
Compare Merriam's two percentiles: 32nd within Indiana, only 4th nationally — a gap of 27 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Merriam ranks 30,158 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,236 by building count (1 is largest). Within Indiana alone, it ranks 664 of 967 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Indiana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Merriam
Merriam's low rating (4th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 51% of Merriam 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 Merriam's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 190 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Merriam. The exposure-zones guide covers what Merriam's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.