Watersmeet, MI
Watersmeet, MI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Watersmeet at the 30th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 415 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Watersmeet at the 30th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Watersmeet's 415 counted buildings, 57.8% 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.
How Watersmeet compares
Compare Watersmeet's two percentiles: 83rd within Michigan, only 30th nationally — a gap of 53 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Watersmeet ranks 21,930 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,925 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 127 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Watersmeet and the insurance market
Watersmeet's moderate rating (30th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Watersmeet (57.8%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Watersmeet's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 415 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Watersmeet. The exposure-zones guide covers what Watersmeet's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.