Big Bear Lake, CA
How exposed is Big Bear Lake to wildfire?
Big Bear Lake's 8,985 buildings earn a 99th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Big Bear Lake at the 99th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Big Bear Lake's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Big Bear Lake's buildings (45.5% of 8,985) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure. At 8,985 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Big Bear Lake against the rest of the country
Big Bear Lake scores 99th nationally and 92nd within California — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Big Bear Lake ranks 208 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,851 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 116 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Big Bear Lake and the insurance market
Big Bear Lake's 99th-percentile score lands in California, the only two states requiring a wildfire disclosure at sale. California's surplus-lines homeowners market passed 300,000 policies for the first time in 2025, driven by carriers pulling back from wildfire-exposed areas statewide. The disclosure-law guide covers what it requires.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 45.5% of Big Bear 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.
Where Big Bear Lake's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 8,985 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Big Bear Lake. The exposure-zones guide covers what Big Bear Lake's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.