Big Lake, IN
How exposed is Big Lake to wildfire?
Big Lake's 400 buildings earn a 5th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Big Lake at the 5th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Big Lake's building exposure, zone by zone
Big Lake rates 87% Minimal exposure against just 13% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 400 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
How Big Lake compares
Within Indiana, Big 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, Big Lake ranks 29,970 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,205 by building count (1 is largest). Within Indiana alone, it ranks 626 of 967 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Indiana on its state page.
Big Lake and the insurance market
Big 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 87% of Big 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 Lake's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Big Lake's 29,970-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Big Lake's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.