Vaughn, MT
Vaughn, MT's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Vaughn lands at the 60th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 579 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Vaughn's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 60th percentile nationally.
Vaughn's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Vaughn: 55.3% of its 579 buildings, versus 44.7% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
How Vaughn compares
Vaughn's 60th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 25th ranking inside Montana does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 35 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Vaughn ranks 12,639 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,118 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 361 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Vaughn and the insurance market
Vaughn's elevated wildfire rating (60th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Vaughn's 55.3% 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
Vaughn's 60th-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 Vaughn, see the exposure-zones guide.