The Highlands, KS
How exposed is The Highlands to wildfire?
The Highlands's 185 buildings earn a 98th-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.)
Separately from the risk score above, The Highlands's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 97th percentile nationally.
The Highlands's building exposure, zone by zone
97.8% of The Highlands's 185 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 181 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 2.2% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
The Highlands against the rest of the country
The Highlands's risk sits at a similar level relative to Kansas (99th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (98th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, The Highlands ranks 699 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,417 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kansas alone, it ranks 7 of 721 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kansas on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in The Highlands
The Highlands's 98th-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.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in The Highlands (97.8%), 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 Highlands's 98th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond The Highlands, see the exposure-zones guide.