Niarada, MT
Niarada wildfire risk explained
Niarada's 65 buildings earn a 78th-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.)
Separately from the risk score above, Niarada's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 75th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
65 buildings are counted in Niarada, and 95.4% 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.
Niarada against the rest of the country
Inside Montana, Niarada sits at just the 49th percentile even though it scores 78th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Niarada ranks 6,970 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,462 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 241 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Niarada and the insurance market
At the 78th percentile nationally, Niarada carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Niarada's 95.4% 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 Niarada's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 65 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Niarada. The exposure-zones guide covers what Niarada's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.