Verdon, SD
Verdon wildfire risk explained
Verdon sits at the 59th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 20 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Verdon at the 58th percentile, close to its 59th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
20 buildings are counted in Verdon, and 85% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 15% rated Minimal. This is a small settlement by building count — 20 total — so these shares describe a handful of structures, not a statistical average across thousands.
How Verdon compares
Verdon scores 59th nationally and 45th within South Dakota — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Verdon ranks 12,870 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 31,462 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 240 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
Verdon and the insurance market
Verdon's elevated rating (59th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 85% of Verdon in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 20 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Verdon. At 20 buildings, Verdon is close to the size where USFS's data gets thin — the data-quality guide explains why 517 places nationally get no score at all.