Belfry, MT
Belfry, MT's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Belfry lands at the 69th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 200 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Belfry at the 65th national percentile — 5 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Belfry's buildings actually sit
Indirect exposure is dominant in Belfry (84.5% of 200 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 15.5% sit in the Direct zone.
How Belfry compares
Inside Montana, Belfry sits at just the 38th percentile even though it scores 69th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Belfry ranks 9,675 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,844 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 296 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Belfry
Belfry's high rating (69th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Belfry (84.5% 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 Belfry's 9,675-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Belfry, see the exposure-zones guide.