Ortonville, MN
Ortonville, MN's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Ortonville sits at the 66th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,433 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Ortonville's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 59th percentile nationally.
Where Ortonville's buildings actually sit
Only 24% of Ortonville's 1,433 buildings carry Direct exposure and 2% carry Indirect; the remaining 74% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Ortonville against the rest of the country
Within Minnesota, Ortonville ranks higher (91st percentile) than it does nationally (66th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ortonville ranks 10,746 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,464 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 84 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Ortonville's 66th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Hardening a home in Ortonville
Even with 74% of Ortonville 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,433 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Ortonville. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Ortonville, see the exposure-zones guide.