Speed, KS
Speed wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Speed at the 55th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 60 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Speed's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 53rd percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Speed's buildings (55%) 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.
Where Speed ranks
Speed scores 55th nationally and 43rd within Kansas — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Speed ranks 14,116 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,648 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kansas alone, it ranks 415 of 721 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kansas on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Speed's elevated rating (55th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Speed
Speed's 55% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Speed's 55th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Speed, see the exposure-zones guide.