Elliston, MT
Elliston, MT's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Elliston lands at the 89th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 265 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 Elliston at the 86th percentile, close to its 89th-percentile risk score.
Elliston's building exposure, zone by zone
93.2% of Elliston's 265 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 247 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 6.8% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Where Elliston ranks
Elliston's risk sits at a similar level relative to Montana (76th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (89th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Elliston ranks 3,340 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,668 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 116 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Elliston
Elliston's 89th-percentile, very high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 93.2% of Elliston in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Elliston's 3,340-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Elliston, see the exposure-zones guide.