Smithland, IA
How exposed is Smithland to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Smithland at the 87th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 195 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Smithland at the 87th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
195 buildings are counted in Smithland, and 69.2% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 30.8% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Where Smithland ranks
Smithland's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (100th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (87th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Smithland ranks 4,131 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,027 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 2 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Smithland and the insurance market
Smithland's very high rating (87th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
What would actually reduce this score
Because 69.2% of Smithland'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.
Where Smithland's figures come from
Smithland's 87th-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 Smithland's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.