Charlo, MT
How exposed is Charlo to wildfire?
USFS scores Charlo at the 50th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 313 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Charlo's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 54th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Charlo rates 72.8% Minimal exposure against just 27.2% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 313 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Where Charlo ranks
Charlo ranks lower within Montana (14th percentile statewide) than its 50th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Charlo ranks 15,757 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,284 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 411 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Charlo and the insurance market
Charlo's elevated rating (50th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 72.8% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Charlo gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Charlo's 15,757-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Charlo, see the exposure-zones guide.