Niobrara, NE
Niobrara wildfire risk explained
Niobrara's 332 buildings earn a 83rd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Niobrara's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 80th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Niobrara's buildings (62.1%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How Niobrara compares
There's little gap between Niobrara's 83rd national percentile and its 91st percentile inside Nebraska, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Niobrara ranks 5,361 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 20,762 by building count (1 is largest). Within Nebraska alone, it ranks 54 of 583 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Nebraska on its state page.
Niobrara and the insurance market
Niobrara's very high rating (83rd percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Hardening a home in Niobrara
Niobrara's 62.1% 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 Niobrara's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Niobrara's 5,361-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Niobrara's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.