Butte-Silver Bow (balance), MT
Butte-Silver Bow (balance) wildfire risk explained
Butte-Silver Bow (balance)'s 22,559 buildings earn a 89th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Butte-Silver Bow (balance) at the 85th national percentile — 4 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Butte-Silver Bow (balance)'s building exposure, zone by zone
56.2% of Butte-Silver Bow (balance)'s 22,559 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 24.9% Direct and 18.9% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone. At 22,559 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Butte-Silver Bow (balance) against the rest of the country
Butte-Silver Bow (balance) scores 89th nationally and 74th within Montana — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Butte-Silver Bow (balance) ranks 3,501 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 589 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 123 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 89th percentile nationally, Butte-Silver Bow (balance) 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Butte-Silver Bow (balance)'s 56.2% 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.
More on how this number was built
Butte-Silver Bow (balance)'s 89th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Butte-Silver Bow (balance), see the exposure-zones guide.