Decatur, MI
Decatur, MI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Decatur lands at the 6th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 932 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Decatur at the 7th percentile, close to its 6th-percentile risk score.
Where Decatur's buildings actually sit
Most of Decatur's buildings (72.6%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Where Decatur ranks
Decatur scores 6th nationally and 16th within Michigan — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Decatur ranks 29,565 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,454 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 622 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Decatur's low rating (6th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Decatur
Because 72.6% of Decatur'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 Decatur's figures come from
Decatur's 6th-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 Decatur's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.