Bynum, MT
Bynum wildfire risk explained
Bynum sits at the 51st percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 66 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Bynum at the 51st national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Bynum's 66 counted buildings, 68.2% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Where Bynum ranks
Bynum's 51st national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 14th ranking inside Montana does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 37 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bynum ranks 15,510 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,433 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 409 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Bynum
At the 51st national percentile, Bynum rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Bynum's 68.2% 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.
More on how this number was built
Bynum's 51st-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Bynum, see the exposure-zones guide.