Lodge Pole, MT
Lodge Pole, MT's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Lodge Pole sits at the 90th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 155 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Lodge Pole at the 91st national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Lodge Pole's buildings actually sit
Of Lodge Pole's 155 counted buildings, 100% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
How Lodge Pole compares
There's little gap between Lodge Pole's 90th national percentile and its 77th percentile inside Montana, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lodge Pole ranks 3,058 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,665 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 109 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Lodge Pole and the insurance market
Lodge Pole's very high rating (90th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Hardening a home in Lodge Pole
Lodge Pole's 100% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Lodge Pole's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 155 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Lodge Pole. The exposure-zones guide covers what Lodge Pole's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.