Whitehorse, SD
How exposed is Whitehorse to wildfire?
Whitehorse's 72 buildings earn a 84th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Whitehorse at the 84th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Whitehorse's buildings actually sit
72 buildings are counted in Whitehorse, and 100% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
How Whitehorse compares
Whitehorse scores 84th nationally and 85th within South Dakota — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Whitehorse ranks 4,960 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,226 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 67 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Whitehorse's very high rating (84th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Whitehorse (100%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Whitehorse's figures come from
Whitehorse's 84th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Whitehorse's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.