Big Bay, MI
How exposed is Big Bay to wildfire?
Big Bay's 439 buildings earn a 37th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Big Bay's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 38th percentile nationally.
Big Bay's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Big Bay's 439 counted buildings, 72.7% carry Direct exposure and only 7.1% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Big Bay against the rest of the country
Within Michigan, Big Bay ranks higher (88th percentile) than it does nationally (37th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Big Bay ranks 20,010 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,478 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 90 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Big Bay
At the 37th national percentile, Big Bay rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Big Bay
Big Bay's 72.7% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Big Bay's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Big Bay's 20,010-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Big Bay's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.