Palestine, IL
How exposed is Palestine to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Palestine at the 8th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 1,049 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Palestine's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 8th percentile nationally.
Where Palestine's buildings actually sit
64.7% of Palestine's 1,049 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 11.4% Direct and 23.8% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
How Palestine compares
Palestine's 37th-percentile standing inside Illinois outpaces its 8th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Palestine ranks 29,050 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,599 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 911 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Palestine
At the 8th national percentile, Palestine rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Palestine's 64.7% 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,049 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Palestine. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Palestine, see the exposure-zones guide.