Inverness, MT
How exposed is Inverness to wildfire?
Inverness sits at the 10th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 135 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Inverness's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 7th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 54.1% of Inverness's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 45.9% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
How Inverness compares
Inverness's risk sits at a similar level relative to Montana (2nd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (10th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Inverness ranks 28,527 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,502 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 467 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Inverness and the insurance market
Inverness's low rating (10th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With 54.1% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Inverness gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 135 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Inverness. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Inverness, see the exposure-zones guide.