Elizabeth Lake, CA
Elizabeth Lake, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Elizabeth Lake sits at the 100th 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 945 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Elizabeth Lake's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 99th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
72.4% of Elizabeth Lake's 945 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 684 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 27.6% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Elizabeth Lake against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Elizabeth Lake's 100th national percentile and its 94th percentile inside California, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Elizabeth Lake ranks 149 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,339 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 93 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Elizabeth Lake
Elizabeth Lake's 100th-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
With 72.4% of Elizabeth Lake in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Elizabeth Lake's 149-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Elizabeth Lake, see the exposure-zones guide.