Laurel, MT
Laurel wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Laurel at the 77th national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 3,634 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Laurel's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 76th percentile nationally.
Where Laurel's buildings actually sit
3,634 buildings are counted in Laurel, and 63.5% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 2% in Direct exposure or the 34.5% rated Minimal.
How Laurel compares
Laurel ranks lower within Montana (48th percentile statewide) than its 77th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Laurel ranks 7,281 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,617 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 249 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Laurel and the insurance market
Laurel's 77th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Laurel (63.5% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Laurel's 7,281-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Laurel, see the exposure-zones guide.