Saco, MT
Saco wildfire risk explained
Saco sits at the 65th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 260 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 Saco at the 63rd percentile, close to its 65th-percentile risk score.
Saco's building exposure, zone by zone
260 buildings are counted in Saco, and 88.9% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 11.2% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Saco against the rest of the country
Inside Montana, Saco sits at just the 32nd percentile even though it scores 65th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Saco ranks 11,128 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,827 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 323 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Saco
Saco's high rating (65th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Saco (88.9% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Saco's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Saco's 11,128-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Saco's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.