Westhope, ND
How exposed is Westhope to wildfire?
Westhope sits at the 52nd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 505 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Westhope at the 51st 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
Only 9.5% of Westhope's 505 buildings carry Direct exposure and 5.5% carry Indirect; the remaining 85% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
How Westhope compares
Westhope's risk sits at a similar level relative to North Dakota (57th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (52nd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Westhope ranks 15,201 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,259 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Dakota alone, it ranks 173 of 402 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Dakota on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Westhope
Westhope's elevated wildfire rating (52nd 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 85% of Westhope outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Westhope's 52nd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Westhope, see the exposure-zones guide.