Wapella, IL
How exposed is Wapella to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Wapella at the 2nd national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 433 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Wapella at the 2nd percentile, close to its 2nd-percentile risk score.
Where Wapella's buildings actually sit
95.2% of Wapella's 433 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 4.9% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Wapella compares
Wapella's risk sits at a similar level relative to Illinois (16th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (2nd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Wapella ranks 30,788 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,579 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 1,212 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Wapella
Wapella's low rating (2nd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 95.2% of Wapella outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 433 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Wapella. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Wapella, see the exposure-zones guide.