Rhodes, IA
How exposed is Rhodes to wildfire?
Rhodes's 245 buildings earn a 61st-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Rhodes at the 63rd percentile, close to its 61st-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
56.7% of Rhodes's 245 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 43.3% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
How Rhodes compares
Within Iowa, Rhodes ranks higher (84th percentile) than it does nationally (61st) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Rhodes ranks 12,316 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,292 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 161 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Rhodes
At the 61st percentile nationally, Rhodes carries the 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.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Rhodes (56.7% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Rhodes's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Rhodes's 12,316-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Rhodes's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.