Packwood, IA
Packwood, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Packwood at the 27th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 159 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Packwood's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 27th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Only 6.9% of Packwood's 159 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 93.1% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
How Packwood compares
Packwood scores 27th nationally and 41st within Iowa — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Packwood ranks 23,064 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,482 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 600 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Packwood and the insurance market
Packwood's moderate wildfire rating (27th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 93.1% of Packwood 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 Packwood's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 159 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Packwood. The exposure-zones guide covers what Packwood's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.