Montrose, VA
Montrose wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Montrose at the 28th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 3,051 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Montrose at the 28th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Montrose's buildings actually sit
Most of Montrose's buildings (78.3% of 3,051) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.
Where Montrose ranks
Montrose scores 28th nationally and 18th within 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, Montrose ranks 22,582 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,357 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 559 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
Montrose and the insurance market
Montrose's moderate wildfire rating (28th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 78.3% of Montrose outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 3,051 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Montrose. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Montrose, see the exposure-zones guide.