Fort Smith, MT
Fort Smith wildfire risk explained
Fort Smith's 317 buildings earn a 89th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (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 Smith at the 89th percentile, close to its 89th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Fort Smith (83.9% of 317 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 16.1% sit in the Direct zone.
Fort Smith against the rest of the country
Fort Smith's risk sits at a similar level relative to Montana (74th 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, Fort Smith ranks 3,502 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,184 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 124 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Fort Smith
At the 89th percentile nationally, Fort Smith 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Fort Smith's 83.9% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Fort Smith's 3,502-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Fort Smith, see the exposure-zones guide.