Russell, IA
How exposed is Russell to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Russell lands at the 57th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 440 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Russell at the 59th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Russell's building exposure, zone by zone
50.2% of Russell's 440 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 221 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 0% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 49.8% are Minimal.
Where Russell ranks
Russell's 79th-percentile standing inside Iowa outpaces its 57th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Russell ranks 13,485 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,454 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 214 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Russell
At the 57th national percentile, Russell rates elevated 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
Russell's 50.2% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
Russell's 57th-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 Russell, see the exposure-zones guide.