Osceola, IA
Osceola, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Osceola 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 2,690 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Osceola at the 68th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Osceola (59.9% of 2,690 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 23.8% sit in the Direct zone.
Osceola against the rest of the country
Within Iowa, Osceola ranks higher (90th 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, Osceola ranks 10,586 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,945 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 101 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Osceola
Osceola's high rating (66th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Osceola's 59.9% 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.
More on how this number was built
Osceola's 66th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Osceola, see the exposure-zones guide.