Bear Lake, IN
Bear Lake wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Bear Lake at the 5th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 265 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Bear Lake's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 5th percentile nationally.
Where Bear Lake's buildings actually sit
Only 13.2% of Bear Lake's 265 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 86.8% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
How Bear Lake compares
Within Indiana, Bear Lake ranks higher (35th percentile) than it does nationally (5th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bear Lake ranks 29,942 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,664 by building count (1 is largest). Within Indiana alone, it ranks 620 of 967 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Indiana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Bear Lake
Bear Lake's low rating (5th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Bear Lake
With 86.8% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Bear Lake gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Bear Lake's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Bear Lake's 29,942-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Bear Lake's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.