Harlem, MT
Harlem wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Harlem at the 63rd national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 498 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Harlem at the 61st national percentile — 3 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Harlem's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Harlem's buildings (95.8%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Where Harlem ranks
Inside Montana, Harlem sits at just the 30th percentile even though it scores 63rd 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, Harlem ranks 11,540 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,390 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 333 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Harlem and the insurance market
At the 63rd percentile nationally, Harlem 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.
Hardening a home in Harlem
Because 95.8% of Harlem's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Harlem's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Harlem's 11,540-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Harlem's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.