Waucoma, IA
Waucoma wildfire risk explained
Waucoma's 227 buildings earn a 17th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Waucoma at the 17th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Only 21.6% of Waucoma's 227 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 78.4% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Waucoma against the rest of the country
Waucoma scores 17th nationally and 28th 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, Waucoma ranks 26,125 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,886 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 737 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
At the 17th national percentile, Waucoma rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Waucoma's 78.4% 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 Waucoma's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 227 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Waucoma. The exposure-zones guide covers what Waucoma's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.