Oakland, IA
How exposed is Oakland to wildfire?
USFS scores Oakland at the 38th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 800 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 Oakland at the 37th percentile, close to its 38th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Oakland's buildings (79.1% of 800) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.
Oakland against the rest of the country
Compare Oakland's two percentiles: 53rd within Iowa, only 38th nationally — a gap of 15 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Oakland ranks 19,503 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,631 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 477 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Oakland
Oakland's moderate wildfire rating (38th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 79.1% of Oakland 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.
Where Oakland's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 800 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Oakland. The exposure-zones guide covers what Oakland's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.