Garrison, MT
Garrison wildfire risk explained
Garrison sits at the 83rd 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 167 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Garrison at the 79th percentile, close to its 83rd-percentile risk score.
Garrison's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Garrison's 167 counted buildings, 96.4% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Garrison against the rest of the country
Garrison's 83rd national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 59th ranking inside Montana does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 24 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Garrison ranks 5,235 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,138 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 195 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Garrison and the insurance market
Garrison's very high rating (83rd percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
What would actually reduce this score
Garrison's 96.4% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Garrison's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 167 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Garrison. The exposure-zones guide covers what Garrison's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.