Montcalm, WV
How exposed is Montcalm to wildfire?
Montcalm's 471 buildings earn a 77th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Montcalm at the 79th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Montcalm's building exposure, zone by zone
471 buildings are counted in Montcalm, and 57.3% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
How Montcalm compares
Montcalm scores 77th nationally and 70th within West Virginia — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Montcalm ranks 7,329 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,866 by building count (1 is largest). Within West Virginia alone, it ranks 130 of 429 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for West Virginia on its state page.
Montcalm and the insurance market
Montcalm's high rating (77th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Montcalm's 57.3% 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 Montcalm's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Montcalm's 7,329-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Montcalm's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.