Pewamo, MI
Pewamo wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Pewamo at the 5th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 330 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Pewamo's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 5th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Pewamo rates 77% Minimal exposure against just 23% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 330 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
How Pewamo compares
Pewamo scores 5th nationally and 12th within Michigan — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Pewamo ranks 29,915 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 20,820 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 658 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Pewamo and the insurance market
At the 5th national percentile, Pewamo rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 77% of Pewamo 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 330 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Pewamo. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Pewamo, see the exposure-zones guide.