Battle Lake, MN
How exposed is Battle Lake to wildfire?
Battle Lake sits at the 46th 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 652 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Battle Lake's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 46th percentile nationally.
Battle Lake's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 60.6% of Battle Lake's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 39% Direct and 0.5% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Battle Lake against the rest of the country
Battle Lake's 67th-percentile standing inside Minnesota outpaces its 46th 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, Battle Lake ranks 17,112 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,175 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 303 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Battle Lake
Battle Lake's elevated wildfire rating (46th 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 60.6% of Battle Lake 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind Battle Lake's 17,112-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Battle Lake, see the exposure-zones guide.