Prairieburg, IA
How exposed is Prairieburg to wildfire?
USFS scores Prairieburg at the 12th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 140 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Prairieburg at the 12th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
77.1% of Prairieburg's 140 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 22.9% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Prairieburg compares
Prairieburg's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (22nd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (12th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Prairieburg ranks 27,759 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,284 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 796 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Prairieburg and the insurance market
Prairieburg's low rating (12th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 77.1% of Prairieburg outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where Prairieburg's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Prairieburg's 27,759-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Prairieburg's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.