Simms, MT
Simms wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Simms at the 61st national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 434 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Simms's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 63rd percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
434 buildings are counted in Simms, and 57.8% 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 Simms ranks
Simms ranks lower within Montana (28th percentile statewide) than its 61st national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Simms ranks 12,169 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,567 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 344 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
Simms's 61st-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Simms's 57.8% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 434 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Simms. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Simms, see the exposure-zones guide.