Pembine, WI
How exposed is Pembine to wildfire?
USFS scores Pembine at the 28th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 181 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Pembine at the 27th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Pembine's building exposure, zone by zone
53% of Pembine's 181 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 96 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 47% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
How Pembine compares
Within Wisconsin, Pembine ranks higher (60th percentile) than it does nationally (28th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Pembine ranks 22,616 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,605 by building count (1 is largest). Within Wisconsin alone, it ranks 328 of 808 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Wisconsin on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 28th national percentile, Pembine rates moderate 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
Pembine's 53% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Pembine's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Pembine's 22,616-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Pembine's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.