Box Elder, MT
How exposed is Box Elder to wildfire?
Box Elder sits at the 68th 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 95 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Box Elder's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 66th percentile nationally.
Box Elder's building exposure, zone by zone
Indirect exposure is dominant in Box Elder (63.2% of 95 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 36.8% sit in the Direct zone.
Box Elder against the rest of the country
Inside Montana, Box Elder sits at just the 36th percentile even though it scores 68th 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, Box Elder ranks 9,995 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 29,277 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 303 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Box Elder and the insurance market
Box Elder's high rating (68th 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.
Hardening a home in Box Elder
Box Elder's 63.2% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Box Elder's figures come from
Box Elder's 68th-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 Box Elder's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.