Montgomery, OH
Montgomery wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Montgomery at the 15th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 4,209 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Montgomery at the 17th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
67.7% of Montgomery's 4,209 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 2,849 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 28.6% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 3.7% are Minimal.
Where Montgomery ranks
Montgomery's 44th-percentile standing inside Ohio outpaces its 15th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Montgomery ranks 26,672 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,049 by building count (1 is largest). Within Ohio alone, it ranks 714 of 1,264 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Ohio on its state page.
Montgomery and the insurance market
Montgomery's low rating (15th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With 67.7% of Montgomery in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Montgomery's 15th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Montgomery, see the exposure-zones guide.