Brandon, MT
How exposed is Brandon to wildfire?
Brandon sits at the 84th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 45 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Brandon at the 80th percentile, close to its 84th-percentile risk score.
Where Brandon's buildings actually sit
45 buildings are counted in Brandon, and 100% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
Brandon against the rest of the country
Brandon's 84th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 61st ranking inside Montana does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 23 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Brandon ranks 5,109 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 31,045 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 186 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Brandon
At the 84th percentile nationally, Brandon carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 100% of Brandon 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.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Brandon's 5,109-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Brandon, see the exposure-zones guide.