Ward, SD
How exposed is Ward to wildfire?
Ward sits at the 29th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 47 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Ward at the 24th national percentile — 5 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Ward's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 59.6% of Ward's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 0% Indirect share and far above its 40.4% Minimal share — a profile where 28 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Ward compares
Ward ranks lower within South Dakota (3rd percentile statewide) than its 29th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ward ranks 22,488 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 31,011 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 425 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
Ward and the insurance market
Ward's moderate wildfire rating (29th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Ward's 59.6% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Ward's 22,488-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Ward, see the exposure-zones guide.