Chinook, MT
How exposed is Chinook to wildfire?
USFS scores Chinook at the 62nd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 883 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Chinook at the 61st national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Chinook's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 97.4% of Chinook's 883 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 2.6% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Chinook ranks
Chinook ranks lower within Montana (28th percentile statewide) than its 62nd national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Chinook ranks 11,857 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,877 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 341 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Chinook
Chinook's high rating (62nd 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 Chinook
Because 97.4% of Chinook's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Chinook's figures come from
Chinook's 62nd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Chinook's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.