Fort Shaw, MT
How exposed is Fort Shaw to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Fort Shaw lands at the 65th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 300 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 Fort Shaw at the 65th percentile, close to its 65th-percentile risk score.
Where Fort Shaw's buildings actually sit
300 buildings are counted in Fort Shaw, and 74.7% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
How Fort Shaw compares
Inside Montana, Fort Shaw sits at just the 32nd percentile even though it scores 65th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fort Shaw ranks 11,163 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,638 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 324 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Fort Shaw and the insurance market
At the 65th percentile nationally, Fort Shaw carries the 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Fort Shaw (74.7%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Fort Shaw's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 300 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Fort Shaw. The exposure-zones guide covers what Fort Shaw's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.