Pierre, SD
Pierre wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Pierre lands at the 83rd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 6,781 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Pierre at the 78th national percentile — 5 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Pierre's buildings actually sit
Indirect exposure is dominant in Pierre (80.4% of 6,781 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 4.9% sit in the Direct zone. At 6,781 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Pierre against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Pierre's 83rd national percentile and its 83rd percentile inside South Dakota, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Pierre ranks 5,462 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,550 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 76 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 83rd percentile nationally, Pierre carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Hardening a home in Pierre
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Pierre (80.4% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Pierre's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Pierre's 5,462-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Pierre's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.