Tower, MN
Tower, MN's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Tower at the 72nd national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 530 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Tower's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 66th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
530 buildings are counted in Tower, and 66.4% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 31.3% in Direct exposure or the 2.3% rated Minimal.
How Tower compares
Tower's 95th-percentile standing inside Minnesota outpaces its 72nd 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, Tower ranks 8,885 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,866 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 49 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Tower's high rating (72nd percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Hardening a home in Tower
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Tower (66.4% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Tower's figures come from
Tower's 72nd-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 Tower's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.