Sutherland, NE
How exposed is Sutherland to wildfire?
USFS scores Sutherland at the 66th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 990 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Sutherland's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 66th percentile nationally.
Where Sutherland's buildings actually sit
72.4% of Sutherland's 990 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 27.6% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Sutherland ranks
There's little gap between Sutherland's 66th national percentile and its 60th percentile inside Nebraska, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sutherland ranks 10,777 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,004 by building count (1 is largest). Within Nebraska alone, it ranks 236 of 583 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Nebraska on its state page.
Sutherland and the insurance market
Sutherland's 66th-percentile, 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Sutherland (72.4% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Sutherland's 66th-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 Sutherland, see the exposure-zones guide.