Tolono, IL
How exposed is Tolono to wildfire?
USFS scores Tolono at the 0th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 1,818 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Tolono at the 0th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
94.9% of Tolono's 1,818 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 5.1% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Tolono compares
Tolono's risk sits at a similar level relative to Illinois (3rd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (0th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Tolono ranks 31,456 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,012 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 1,416 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Tolono and the insurance market
Tolono's low rating (0th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 94.9% of Tolono outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where Tolono's figures come from
Tolono's 0th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Tolono's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.