Orleans, IA
Orleans wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Orleans lands at the 62nd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 697 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Orleans's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 57th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Orleans's buildings (72.3% of 697) 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.
Where Orleans ranks
Compare Orleans's two percentiles: 86th within Iowa, only 62nd nationally — a gap of 24 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Orleans ranks 11,912 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,688 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 144 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Orleans's high rating (62nd 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 72.3% of Orleans 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.
More on how this number was built
Orleans's 62nd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Orleans, see the exposure-zones guide.