Toledo, IA
Toledo wildfire risk explained
Toledo sits at the 72nd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,492 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Toledo at the 74th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Toledo's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Toledo's buildings (63.9%) 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 Toledo compares
Within Iowa, Toledo ranks higher (96th percentile) than it does nationally (72nd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Toledo ranks 8,764 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,205 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 45 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Toledo's 72nd-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.
What would actually reduce this score
Toledo's 63.9% 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.
Where Toledo's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,492 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Toledo. The exposure-zones guide covers what Toledo's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.