Williamson, IA
Williamson wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Williamson lands at the 67th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 152 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Williamson's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 69th percentile nationally.
Williamson's building exposure, zone by zone
58.6% of Williamson's 152 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 41.5% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Williamson ranks
Within Iowa, Williamson ranks higher (91st percentile) than it does nationally (67th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Williamson ranks 10,397 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,802 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 94 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Williamson
Williamson's 67th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Williamson (58.6% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Williamson's 10,397-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Williamson, see the exposure-zones guide.