Boiling Spring Lakes, NC
How exposed is Boiling Spring Lakes to wildfire?
Boiling Spring Lakes sits at the 90th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 2,981 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Boiling Spring Lakes at the 88th percentile, close to its 90th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 63.4% of Boiling Spring Lakes's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 35.7% Indirect share and far above its 0.9% Minimal share — a profile where 1,889 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Where Boiling Spring Lakes ranks
Boiling Spring Lakes scores 90th nationally and 98th within North Carolina — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Boiling Spring Lakes ranks 3,284 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,467 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 17 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Boiling Spring Lakes's 90th-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.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Boiling Spring Lakes (63.4%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Boiling Spring Lakes's figures come from
Boiling Spring Lakes's 90th-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 Boiling Spring Lakes's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.