Rochester, WI
How exposed is Rochester to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Rochester at the 30th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 2,150 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 Rochester at the 30th percentile, close to its 30th-percentile risk score.
Rochester's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Rochester: 65.4% of its 2,150 buildings, versus 22.8% Indirect and 11.8% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Rochester against the rest of the country
Compare Rochester's two percentiles: 64th within Wisconsin, only 30th nationally — a gap of 34 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Rochester ranks 22,143 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,076 by building count (1 is largest). Within Wisconsin alone, it ranks 296 of 808 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Wisconsin on its state page.
Rochester and the insurance market
At the 30th national percentile, Rochester rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
With 65.4% of Rochester in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Rochester's 30th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Rochester, see the exposure-zones guide.