Whittemore, MI
Whittemore wildfire risk explained
Whittemore sits at the 45th 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 326 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Whittemore at the 46th percentile, close to its 45th-percentile risk score.
Where Whittemore's buildings actually sit
Most of Whittemore's buildings (76.1%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Whittemore against the rest of the country
Compare Whittemore's two percentiles: 93rd within Michigan, only 45th nationally — a gap of 48 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Whittemore ranks 17,234 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 20,922 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 50 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Whittemore
Whittemore's elevated wildfire rating (45th 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
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Whittemore (76.1% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Whittemore's 45th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Whittemore, see the exposure-zones guide.