St. Ignatius, MT
St. Ignatius wildfire risk explained
St. Ignatius's 536 buildings earn a 54th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks St. Ignatius at the 55th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where St. Ignatius's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 79.7% of St. Ignatius's 536 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 20.3% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
St. Ignatius against the rest of the country
St. Ignatius's 54th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 18th ranking inside Montana does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 37 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, St. Ignatius ranks 14,469 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,783 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 391 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
At the 54th national percentile, St. Ignatius rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in St. Ignatius
Because 79.7% of St. Ignatius'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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 536 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for St. Ignatius. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond St. Ignatius, see the exposure-zones guide.