Vandalia, MI
Vandalia wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Vandalia at the 8th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 198 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Vandalia at the 8th percentile, close to its 8th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Vandalia's buildings (54.6%) 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 Vandalia compares
Within Michigan, Vandalia ranks higher (24th percentile) than it does nationally (8th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Vandalia ranks 28,997 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,923 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 568 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Vandalia
At the 8th national percentile, Vandalia rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Vandalia (54.6% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Vandalia's figures come from
Vandalia's 8th-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 Vandalia's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.