Sandstone, MN
How exposed is Sandstone to wildfire?
USFS scores Sandstone at the 45th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 792 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Sandstone at the 46th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Sandstone's buildings actually sit
Indirect exposure is dominant in Sandstone (58.1% of 792 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 41.9% sit in the Direct zone.
Sandstone against the rest of the country
Compare Sandstone's two percentiles: 64th within Minnesota, only 45th nationally — a gap of 19 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sandstone ranks 17,455 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,710 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 332 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 45th national percentile, Sandstone rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Sandstone
Because 58.1% of Sandstone's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Sandstone's 45th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Sandstone, see the exposure-zones guide.