Hays, MT
Hays wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Hays lands at the 90th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 397 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 Hays at the 91st percentile, close to its 90th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Hays's 397 counted buildings, 92.2% 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.
Hays against the rest of the country
Hays's risk sits at a similar level relative to Montana (78th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (90th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Hays ranks 3,056 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,270 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 107 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Hays
Hays's very high rating (90th 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.
Hardening a home in Hays
With 92.2% of Hays 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 Hays's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Hays's 3,056-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Hays's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.