Baraga, MI
Baraga wildfire risk explained
Baraga sits at the 35th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 754 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Baraga at the 35th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
65.4% of Baraga's 754 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 33.8% Direct and 0.8% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
How Baraga compares
Compare Baraga's two percentiles: 86th within Michigan, only 35th nationally — a gap of 52 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Baraga ranks 20,571 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,079 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 104 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Baraga and the insurance market
Baraga's moderate rating (35th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 65.4% of Baraga's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 754 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Baraga. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Baraga, see the exposure-zones guide.