Petoskey, MI
How exposed is Petoskey to wildfire?
Petoskey's 3,199 buildings earn a 16th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Petoskey's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 16th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
72.2% of Petoskey's 3,199 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 9.8% Direct and 18% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Petoskey ranks
Compare Petoskey's two percentiles: 55th within Michigan, only 16th nationally — a gap of 39 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Petoskey ranks 26,537 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,163 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 337 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Petoskey
At the 16th national percentile, Petoskey rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Petoskey (72.2% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Petoskey's figures come from
Petoskey's 16th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Petoskey's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.