Sage Creek Colony, MT
Sage Creek Colony wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Sage Creek Colony at the 18th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 45 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Sage Creek Colony at the 15th national percentile — 3 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Sage Creek Colony's building exposure, zone by zone
Indirect exposure is dominant in Sage Creek Colony (82.2% of 45 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 17.8% sit in the Direct zone.
Sage Creek Colony against the rest of the country
Sage Creek Colony ranks lower within Montana (3rd percentile statewide) than its 18th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sage Creek Colony ranks 25,751 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 31,049 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 462 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
Sage Creek Colony's low wildfire rating (18th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Hardening a home in Sage Creek Colony
Because 82.2% of Sage Creek Colony's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Sage Creek Colony's figures come from
Sage Creek Colony's 18th-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 Sage Creek Colony's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.