East Missoula, MT
East Missoula, MT's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
East Missoula sits at the 95th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,214 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, East Missoula's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 94th percentile nationally.
Where East Missoula's buildings actually sit
Most of East Missoula's buildings (82.8%) 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.
East Missoula against the rest of the country
East Missoula's risk sits at a similar level relative to Montana (90th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (95th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, East Missoula ranks 1,513 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,568 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 53 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 95th percentile nationally, East Missoula carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Hardening a home in East Missoula
Because 82.8% of East Missoula'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.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind East Missoula's 1,513-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond East Missoula, see the exposure-zones guide.