Saltese, MT
Saltese, MT's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Saltese lands at the 89th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 39 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 Saltese at the 84th percentile, close to its 89th-percentile risk score.
Where Saltese's buildings actually sit
Of Saltese's 39 counted buildings, 71.8% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Where Saltese ranks
Saltese's risk sits at a similar level relative to Montana (76th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (89th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Saltese ranks 3,341 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 31,192 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 117 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Saltese
Saltese's very high rating (89th 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
Because Direct exposure dominates in Saltese (71.8%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Saltese's 89th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Saltese, see the exposure-zones guide.