Oelwein, IA
Oelwein, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Oelwein's 3,595 buildings earn a 18th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Oelwein at the 18th percentile, close to its 18th-percentile risk score.
Oelwein's building exposure, zone by zone
91.2% of Oelwein's 3,595 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 8.8% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Oelwein against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Oelwein's 18th national percentile and its 29th percentile inside Iowa, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Oelwein ranks 25,938 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,655 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 725 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Oelwein and the insurance market
Oelwein's low wildfire rating (18th 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
Oelwein's 91.2% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where Oelwein's figures come from
Oelwein's 18th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Oelwein's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.