St. Michael, AK
St. Michael wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, St. Michael lands at the 88th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 137 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 St. Michael at the 90th percentile, close to its 88th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in St. Michael (63.5% of 137 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 32.9% sit in the Direct zone.
How St. Michael compares
St. Michael's 88th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 73rd ranking inside Alaska does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 16 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, St. Michael ranks 3,676 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,388 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alaska alone, it ranks 88 of 322 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alaska on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in St. Michael
St. Michael's very high rating (88th 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.
Hardening a home in St. Michael
St. Michael's 63.5% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where St. Michael's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind St. Michael's 3,676-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what St. Michael's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.