North Vernon, IN
North Vernon wildfire risk explained
USFS scores North Vernon at the 21st national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 3,569 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts North Vernon at the 23rd percentile, close to its 21st-percentile risk score.
Where North Vernon's buildings actually sit
3,569 buildings are counted in North Vernon, and 60.8% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 34.9% in Direct exposure or the 4.2% rated Minimal.
North Vernon against the rest of the country
Compare North Vernon's two percentiles: 84th within Indiana, only 21st nationally — a gap of 63 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, North Vernon ranks 24,763 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,692 by building count (1 is largest). Within Indiana alone, it ranks 156 of 967 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Indiana on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
North Vernon's moderate rating (21st percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
North Vernon's 60.8% 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.
Where North Vernon's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind North Vernon's 24,763-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what North Vernon's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.