Montesano, WA
How exposed is Montesano to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Montesano at the 21st national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 2,073 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Montesano at the 23rd percentile, close to its 21st-percentile risk score.
Montesano's building exposure, zone by zone
Indirect exposure is dominant in Montesano (86.6% of 2,073 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 13.4% sit in the Direct zone.
Montesano against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Montesano's 21st national percentile and its 33rd percentile inside Washington, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Montesano ranks 24,788 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,279 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 419 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
Montesano and the insurance market
At the 21st national percentile, Montesano rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Montesano
Because 86.6% of Montesano'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
Montesano's 21st-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 Montesano, see the exposure-zones guide.