South Shore, SD
How exposed is South Shore to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, South Shore lands at the 80th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 220 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts South Shore at the 78th percentile, close to its 80th-percentile risk score.
South Shore's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of South Shore's buildings (68.2%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How South Shore compares
South Shore's risk sits at a similar level relative to South Dakota (79th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (80th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Shore ranks 6,249 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,137 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 92 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
South Shore's very high rating (80th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in South Shore (68.2% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where South Shore's figures come from
South Shore's 80th-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 South Shore's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.