Shambaugh, IA
How exposed is Shambaugh to wildfire?
USFS scores Shambaugh at the 54th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 187 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 Shambaugh at the 55th percentile, close to its 54th-percentile risk score.
Shambaugh's building exposure, zone by zone
50.3% of Shambaugh's 187 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 49.7% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Shambaugh against the rest of the country
Within Iowa, Shambaugh ranks higher (74th percentile) than it does nationally (54th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Shambaugh ranks 14,463 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,349 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 265 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 54th national percentile, Shambaugh rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Shambaugh's 50.3% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Shambaugh's 54th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Shambaugh, see the exposure-zones guide.