Portland, MI
Portland wildfire risk explained
Portland sits at the 8th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,831 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Portland at the 8th percentile, close to its 8th-percentile risk score.
Portland's building exposure, zone by zone
Portland rates 70.6% Minimal exposure against just 11.7% Direct and 17.6% Indirect — of 1,831 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
How Portland compares
Portland's risk sits at a similar level relative to Michigan (22nd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (8th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Portland ranks 29,158 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,981 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 582 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Portland
Portland's low rating (8th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With 70.6% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Portland gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Portland's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,831 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Portland. The exposure-zones guide covers what Portland's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.