Wheeler, IN
How exposed is Wheeler to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Wheeler lands at the 55th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 355 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Wheeler's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 58th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Only 33% of Wheeler's 355 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0.9% carry Indirect; the remaining 66.2% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Where Wheeler ranks
Within Indiana, Wheeler ranks higher (99th percentile) than it does nationally (55th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Wheeler ranks 14,080 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 20,184 by building count (1 is largest). Within Indiana alone, it ranks 7 of 967 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Indiana on its state page.
Wheeler and the insurance market
Wheeler's elevated wildfire rating (55th 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.
Hardening a home in Wheeler
Even with 66.2% of Wheeler 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
Wheeler's 55th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Wheeler, see the exposure-zones guide.