Mears, MI
How exposed is Mears to wildfire?
Mears's 283 buildings earn a 27th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Mears's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 28th percentile nationally.
Where Mears's buildings actually sit
62.5% of Mears's 283 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 37.5% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Mears against the rest of the country
Within Michigan, Mears ranks higher (79th percentile) than it does nationally (27th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Mears ranks 22,919 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,091 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 159 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Mears and the insurance market
Mears's moderate rating (27th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 62.5% of Mears'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
Mears's 27th-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 Mears, see the exposure-zones guide.