Kaleva, MI
Kaleva wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Kaleva at the 35th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 374 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Kaleva at the 35th percentile, close to its 35th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Kaleva (80.2% of 374 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 19.8% sit in the Direct zone.
Where Kaleva ranks
Compare Kaleva's two percentiles: 87th within Michigan, only 35th nationally — a gap of 52 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Kaleva ranks 20,418 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,781 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 100 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 35th national percentile, Kaleva rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Kaleva
Because 80.2% of Kaleva'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.
More on how this number was built
Kaleva's 35th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Kaleva, see the exposure-zones guide.