Lawton, MI
Lawton wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Lawton lands at the 12th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 896 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 Lawton at the 12th percentile, close to its 12th-percentile risk score.
Lawton's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS puts 79.2% of Lawton's 896 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 20.8% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Lawton against the rest of the country
Within Michigan, Lawton ranks higher (40th percentile) than it does nationally (12th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lawton ranks 27,857 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,760 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 445 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
Lawton's low wildfire rating (12th 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 Lawton (79.2% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Lawton's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Lawton's 27,857-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Lawton's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.