West Ishpeming, MI
West Ishpeming, MI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
West Ishpeming's 1,309 buildings earn a 60th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts West Ishpeming at the 60th percentile, close to its 60th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
1,309 buildings are counted in West Ishpeming, and 75.6% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 24.4% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Where West Ishpeming ranks
West Ishpeming's 98th-percentile standing inside Michigan outpaces its 60th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, West Ishpeming ranks 12,509 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,029 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 19 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 60th percentile nationally, West Ishpeming carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Hardening a home in West Ishpeming
Because 75.6% of West Ishpeming'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 1,309 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for West Ishpeming. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond West Ishpeming, see the exposure-zones guide.