Winnett, MT
Winnett wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Winnett at the 89th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 275 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Winnett at the 89th percentile, close to its 89th-percentile risk score.
Where Winnett's buildings actually sit
275 buildings are counted in Winnett, and 84% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 16% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Winnett against the rest of the country
Winnett scores 89th nationally and 75th within Montana — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Winnett ranks 3,436 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,358 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 122 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Winnett and the insurance market
Winnett's 89th-percentile, very high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Winnett's 84% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Winnett's figures come from
Winnett's 89th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Winnett's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.