Montegut, LA
Montegut wildfire risk explained
Montegut sits at the 38th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 877 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Montegut at the 30th percentile, close to its 38th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
877 buildings are counted in Montegut, and 62.7% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 37.3% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
How Montegut compares
There's little gap between Montegut's 38th national percentile and its 37th percentile inside Louisiana, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Montegut ranks 19,410 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,930 by building count (1 is largest). Within Louisiana alone, it ranks 308 of 488 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Louisiana on its state page.
Montegut and the insurance market
Montegut's moderate wildfire rating (38th 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
Montegut's 62.7% 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 877 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Montegut. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Montegut, see the exposure-zones guide.