Valley Springs, SD
How exposed is Valley Springs to wildfire?
Valley Springs's 433 buildings earn a 31st-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Valley Springs's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 28th percentile nationally.
Valley Springs's building exposure, zone by zone
Only 33.5% of Valley Springs's 433 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 66.5% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Valley Springs against the rest of the country
Valley Springs's 31st national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 4th ranking inside South Dakota does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 27 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Valley Springs ranks 21,853 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,594 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 421 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Valley Springs
Valley Springs's moderate wildfire rating (31st percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 66.5% of Valley Springs 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 433 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Valley Springs. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Valley Springs, see the exposure-zones guide.