Whitewood, SD
How exposed is Whitewood to wildfire?
Whitewood sits at the 89th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 549 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Whitewood at the 89th percentile, close to its 89th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 67% of Whitewood's 549 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 33% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Whitewood ranks
There's little gap between Whitewood's 89th national percentile and its 91st percentile inside South Dakota, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Whitewood ranks 3,538 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,593 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 41 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
Whitewood and the insurance market
Whitewood's very high rating (89th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Whitewood (67% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Whitewood's figures come from
Whitewood's 89th-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 Whitewood's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.