Cascade Colony, MT
Cascade Colony wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Cascade Colony lands at the 71st percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 47 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Cascade Colony at the 71st national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Cascade Colony's buildings actually sit
55.3% of Cascade Colony's 47 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 26 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 44.7% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Where Cascade Colony ranks
Cascade Colony ranks lower within Montana (40th percentile statewide) than its 71st national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cascade Colony ranks 9,267 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 31,006 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 287 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Cascade Colony and the insurance market
Cascade Colony's high rating (71st 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 Cascade Colony
Cascade Colony's 55.3% 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
Cascade Colony's 71st-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 Cascade Colony, see the exposure-zones guide.