Pontoosuc, IL
How exposed is Pontoosuc to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Pontoosuc at the 31st national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 164 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Pontoosuc at the 31st percentile, close to its 31st-percentile risk score.
Where Pontoosuc's buildings actually sit
43.9% of Pontoosuc's 164 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 12.8% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Pontoosuc against the rest of the country
Within Illinois, Pontoosuc ranks higher (81st percentile) than it does nationally (31st) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Pontoosuc ranks 21,643 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,245 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 270 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Pontoosuc
Pontoosuc's moderate wildfire rating (31st 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.
What would actually reduce this score
With 43.9% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Pontoosuc gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Pontoosuc's figures come from
Pontoosuc's 31st-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 Pontoosuc's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.