Ellsworth, MI
How exposed is Ellsworth to wildfire?
USFS scores Ellsworth at the 16th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 295 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Ellsworth at the 15th percentile, close to its 16th-percentile risk score.
Ellsworth's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 54.2% of Ellsworth's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 45.8% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 160 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Ellsworth against the rest of the country
Compare Ellsworth's two percentiles: 55th within Michigan, only 16th nationally — a gap of 39 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ellsworth ranks 26,568 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,758 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 338 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Ellsworth
At the 16th national percentile, Ellsworth rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 54.2% of Ellsworth 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.
Where Ellsworth's figures come from
Ellsworth's 16th-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 Ellsworth's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.