Ironwood, MI
How exposed is Ironwood to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Ironwood at the 20th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 4,093 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Ironwood's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 20th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Ironwood's buildings (77.6%) 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.
How Ironwood compares
Compare Ironwood's two percentiles: 66th within Michigan, only 20th nationally — a gap of 46 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ironwood ranks 25,342 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,148 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 258 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Ironwood
Ironwood's low wildfire rating (20th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Ironwood (77.6% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Ironwood's figures come from
Ironwood's 20th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Ironwood's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.