Spencer, WI
Spencer wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Spencer at the 23rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 1,037 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Spencer's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 23rd percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Spencer (69.6% of 1,037 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 26.6% sit in the Direct zone.
Spencer against the rest of the country
Spencer's 42nd-percentile standing inside Wisconsin outpaces its 23rd national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Spencer ranks 24,287 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,684 by building count (1 is largest). Within Wisconsin alone, it ranks 473 of 808 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Wisconsin on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Spencer's moderate wildfire rating (23rd percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Hardening a home in Spencer
Because 69.6% of Spencer'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.
More on how this number was built
Spencer's 23rd-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 Spencer, see the exposure-zones guide.