Melstone, MT
Melstone, MT's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Melstone's 157 buildings earn a 91st-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Melstone's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 92nd percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Melstone's buildings (81.5%) 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.
Where Melstone ranks
Melstone's risk sits at a similar level relative to Montana (80th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (91st) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Melstone ranks 2,773 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,573 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 96 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Melstone
Melstone's 91st-percentile, very 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 Melstone (81.5% 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
Melstone's 91st-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 Melstone, see the exposure-zones guide.