Saguache, CO
Saguache wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Saguache at the 50th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 503 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Saguache at the 49th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Saguache's buildings actually sit
503 buildings are counted in Saguache, and 94.4% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 5.6% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
How Saguache compares
Saguache's 50th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 19th ranking inside Colorado does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 32 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Saguache ranks 15,652 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,281 by building count (1 is largest). Within Colorado alone, it ranks 384 of 472 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Colorado on its state page.
Saguache and the insurance market
Saguache's elevated wildfire rating (50th 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 Saguache
Saguache's 94.4% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 503 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Saguache. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Saguache, see the exposure-zones guide.