Walford, IA
Walford, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Walford sits at the 6th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 590 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Walford's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 6th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
85.9% of Walford's 590 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 14.1% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Walford compares
Walford scores 6th nationally and 13th within Iowa — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Walford ranks 29,691 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,961 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 885 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Walford's low wildfire rating (6th 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
Walford's 85.9% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where Walford's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 590 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Walford. The exposure-zones guide covers what Walford's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.