North Buena Vista, IA
How exposed is North Buena Vista to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, North Buena Vista lands at the 26th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 170 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, North Buena Vista's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 27th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 60.6% of North Buena Vista's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 38.8% Indirect share and far above its 0.6% Minimal share — a profile where 103 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How North Buena Vista compares
There's little gap between North Buena Vista's 26th national percentile and its 41st percentile inside Iowa, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, North Buena Vista ranks 23,189 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,024 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 604 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
North Buena Vista and the insurance market
At the 26th national percentile, North Buena Vista rates moderate 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
North Buena Vista's 60.6% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where North Buena Vista's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 170 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for North Buena Vista. The exposure-zones guide covers what North Buena Vista's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.