Nichols, IA
How exposed is Nichols to wildfire?
Nichols sits at the 24th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 232 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Nichols at the 24th percentile, close to its 24th-percentile risk score.
Where Nichols's buildings actually sit
Only 11.2% of Nichols's 232 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 88.8% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Nichols against the rest of the country
Nichols's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (37th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (24th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Nichols ranks 23,912 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,735 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 638 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Nichols and the insurance market
Nichols's moderate rating (24th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Nichols
Even with 88.8% of Nichols 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.
More on how this number was built
Nichols's 24th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Nichols, see the exposure-zones guide.