Bay Port, MI
How exposed is Bay Port to wildfire?
USFS scores Bay Port at the 24th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 490 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Bay Port at the 23rd percentile, close to its 24th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 51.8% of Bay Port's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 46.1% Indirect share and far above its 2% Minimal share — a profile where 254 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Where Bay Port ranks
Compare Bay Port's two percentiles: 73rd within Michigan, only 24th nationally — a gap of 50 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bay Port ranks 24,107 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,532 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 201 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Bay Port's moderate wildfire rating (24th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Hardening a home in Bay Port
With 51.8% of Bay Port in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
Where Bay Port's figures come from
Bay Port's 24th-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 Bay Port's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.