Vandalia, MO
Vandalia wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Vandalia at the 26th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 1,715 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Vandalia's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 26th percentile nationally.
Vandalia's building exposure, zone by zone
91% of Vandalia's 1,715 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 9% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Vandalia against the rest of the country
Inside Missouri, Vandalia sits at just the 8th percentile even though it scores 26th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Vandalia ranks 23,422 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,368 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 977 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Vandalia and the insurance market
Vandalia's moderate wildfire rating (26th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 91% of Vandalia 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 Vandalia's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Vandalia's 23,422-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Vandalia's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.