Piltzville, MT
Piltzville wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Piltzville at the 97th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 253 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Piltzville at the 96th percentile, close to its 97th-percentile risk score.
Where Piltzville's buildings actually sit
253 buildings are counted in Piltzville, and 53.4% 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.
How Piltzville compares
Piltzville scores 97th nationally and 94th within Montana — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Piltzville ranks 1,004 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,047 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 31 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Piltzville
Piltzville's very high rating (97th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Piltzville (53.4%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Piltzville's figures come from
Piltzville's 97th-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 Piltzville's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.