Shelby, NE
Shelby wildfire risk explained
Shelby sits at the 5th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 458 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Shelby at the 4th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Shelby's buildings actually sit
93.7% of Shelby's 458 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 6.3% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Shelby against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Shelby's 5th national percentile and its 1st percentile inside Nebraska, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Shelby ranks 30,082 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,105 by building count (1 is largest). Within Nebraska alone, it ranks 577 of 583 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Nebraska on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Shelby
At the 5th national percentile, Shelby rates low 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 Shelby
With 93.7% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Shelby gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Shelby's figures come from
Shelby's 5th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Shelby's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.