Wamego, KS
Wamego wildfire risk explained
Wamego's 2,254 buildings earn a 71st-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Wamego at the 68th percentile, close to its 71st-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Wamego (57% of 2,254 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 8.9% sit in the Direct zone.
Where Wamego ranks
Wamego scores 71st nationally and 68th within Kansas — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Wamego ranks 9,228 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,808 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kansas alone, it ranks 232 of 721 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kansas on its state page.
Wamego and the insurance market
Wamego's high rating (71st percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
What would actually reduce this score
Wamego's 57% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Wamego's 71st-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Wamego, see the exposure-zones guide.