Ballantine, MT
Ballantine, MT's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Ballantine sits at the 76th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 230 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Ballantine's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 75th percentile nationally.
Where Ballantine's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 80.4% of Ballantine's 230 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 12.2% Direct and 7.4% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Ballantine ranks
Ballantine's 76th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 46th ranking inside Montana does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 29 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ballantine ranks 7,725 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,799 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 256 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Ballantine and the insurance market
Ballantine's high rating (76th 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 Ballantine (80.4% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Ballantine's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Ballantine's 7,725-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Ballantine's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.