Palo, IA
Palo wildfire risk explained
Palo's 750 buildings earn a 44th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Palo's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 44th percentile nationally.
Palo's building exposure, zone by zone
Indirect exposure is dominant in Palo (64.3% of 750 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 14.7% sit in the Direct zone.
Where Palo ranks
Within Iowa, Palo ranks higher (60th percentile) than it does nationally (44th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Palo ranks 17,676 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,121 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 407 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Palo
Palo's elevated wildfire rating (44th 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
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Palo (64.3% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Palo's 17,676-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Palo, see the exposure-zones guide.