Pioneer Junction, MT
How exposed is Pioneer Junction to wildfire?
USFS scores Pioneer Junction at the 93rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 855 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 Pioneer Junction at the 93rd percentile, close to its 93rd-percentile risk score.
Pioneer Junction's building exposure, zone by zone
855 buildings are counted in Pioneer Junction, and 66.4% 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.
Where Pioneer Junction ranks
There's little gap between Pioneer Junction's 93rd national percentile and its 84th percentile inside Montana, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Pioneer Junction ranks 2,334 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,127 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 80 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Pioneer Junction and the insurance market
At the 93rd percentile nationally, Pioneer Junction carries the very 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
Because Direct exposure dominates in Pioneer Junction (66.4%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Pioneer Junction's figures come from
Pioneer Junction's 93rd-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 Pioneer Junction's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.