Marshall, MI
Marshall wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Marshall at the 12th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 3,132 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Marshall at the 12th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Marshall's buildings (45.6%) 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.
Marshall against the rest of the country
Compare Marshall's two percentiles: 40th within Michigan, only 12th nationally — a gap of 29 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Marshall ranks 27,858 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,250 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 446 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Marshall
Marshall'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
Marshall's 45.6% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Marshall's figures come from
Marshall's 12th-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 Marshall's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.