Smithwick, SD
Smithwick wildfire risk explained
Smithwick's 50 buildings earn a 96th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Smithwick at the 96th percentile, close to its 96th-percentile risk score.
Where Smithwick's buildings actually sit
Of Smithwick's 50 counted buildings, 100% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Where Smithwick ranks
Smithwick scores 96th nationally and 98th within South Dakota — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Smithwick ranks 1,396 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,943 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 9 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Smithwick
Smithwick's 96th-percentile, very high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Hardening a home in Smithwick
Because Direct exposure dominates in Smithwick (100%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 50 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Smithwick. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Smithwick, see the exposure-zones guide.