Ridgway, IL
How exposed is Ridgway to wildfire?
USFS scores Ridgway at the 2nd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 752 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Ridgway at the 2nd percentile, close to its 2nd-percentile risk score.
Ridgway's building exposure, zone by zone
Only 8.5% of Ridgway's 752 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 91.5% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Where Ridgway ranks
Ridgway's risk sits at a similar level relative to Illinois (14th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (2nd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ridgway ranks 30,943 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,100 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 1,243 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Ridgway and the insurance market
Ridgway's low wildfire rating (2nd 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.
Hardening a home in Ridgway
Even with 91.5% of Ridgway 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 Ridgway's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 752 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Ridgway. The exposure-zones guide covers what Ridgway's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.