Velpen, IN
How exposed is Velpen to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Velpen lands at the 36th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 125 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Velpen's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 38th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Direct exposure dominates in Velpen: 56% of its 125 buildings, versus 44% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Velpen against the rest of the country
Within Indiana, Velpen ranks higher (95th percentile) than it does nationally (36th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Velpen ranks 20,225 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,934 by building count (1 is largest). Within Indiana alone, it ranks 47 of 967 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Indiana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Velpen
Velpen's moderate wildfire rating (36th 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.
Hardening a home in Velpen
Velpen's 56% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 125 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Velpen. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Velpen, see the exposure-zones guide.