Pinesdale, MT
Pinesdale, MT's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Pinesdale lands at the 97th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 280 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Pinesdale at the 98th percentile, close to its 97th-percentile risk score.
Pinesdale's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 100% of Pinesdale's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 0% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 280 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Pinesdale against the rest of the country
Pinesdale's risk sits at a similar level relative to Montana (95th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (97th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Pinesdale ranks 884 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,193 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 25 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Pinesdale's 97th-percentile, very high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
What would actually reduce this score
Pinesdale's 100% 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 280 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Pinesdale. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Pinesdale, see the exposure-zones guide.