Copake Lake, NY
How exposed is Copake Lake to wildfire?
USFS scores Copake Lake at the 29th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 961 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Copake Lake's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 27th percentile nationally.
Copake Lake's building exposure, zone by zone
76.8% of Copake Lake's 961 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 738 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 18.8% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 4.4% are Minimal.
Where Copake Lake ranks
Compare Copake Lake's two percentiles: 60th within New York, only 29th nationally — a gap of 31 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Copake Lake ranks 22,506 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,219 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 518 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 29th national percentile, Copake Lake rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Copake Lake's 76.8% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Copake Lake's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 961 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Copake Lake. The exposure-zones guide covers what Copake Lake's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.