Vilas, SD
Vilas wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Vilas at the 56th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 44 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 Vilas at the 55th percentile, close to its 56th-percentile risk score.
Vilas's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 77.3% of Vilas's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 0% Indirect share and far above its 22.7% Minimal share — a profile where 34 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Vilas compares
Vilas's 56th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 39th ranking inside South Dakota does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 17 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Vilas ranks 14,008 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 31,081 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 271 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 56th national percentile, Vilas rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Vilas
With 77.3% of Vilas 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
Vilas's 56th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Vilas, see the exposure-zones guide.