North Eagle Butte, SD
How exposed is North Eagle Butte to wildfire?
USFS scores North Eagle Butte at the 70th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 759 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks North Eagle Butte at the 67th national percentile — 3 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 76.8% of North Eagle Butte's 759 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 23.2% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
North Eagle Butte against the rest of the country
North Eagle Butte's risk sits at a similar level relative to South Dakota (65th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (70th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, North Eagle Butte ranks 9,397 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,031 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 154 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
North Eagle Butte and the insurance market
North Eagle Butte's high rating (70th 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 North Eagle Butte
North Eagle Butte's 76.8% 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 759 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for North Eagle Butte. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond North Eagle Butte, see the exposure-zones guide.