Pocahontas, IL
How exposed is Pocahontas to wildfire?
Pocahontas's 496 buildings earn a 17th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Pocahontas's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 18th percentile nationally.
Where Pocahontas's buildings actually sit
496 buildings are counted in Pocahontas, and 67.5% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 32.5% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
How Pocahontas compares
Compare Pocahontas's two percentiles: 56th within Illinois, only 17th nationally — a gap of 39 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Pocahontas ranks 26,149 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,421 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 633 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Pocahontas and the insurance market
Pocahontas's low wildfire rating (17th 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
Pocahontas's 67.5% 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.
Where Pocahontas's figures come from
Pocahontas's 17th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Pocahontas's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.