Forest Lake, PA
How exposed is Forest Lake to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Forest Lake lands at the 29th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 142 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Forest Lake's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 29th percentile nationally.
Where Forest Lake's buildings actually sit
142 buildings are counted in Forest Lake, and 96.5% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 3.5% rated Minimal.
Where Forest Lake ranks
Forest Lake scores 29th nationally and 36th within Pennsylvania — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Forest Lake ranks 22,415 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,219 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,278 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Forest Lake and the insurance market
At the 29th national percentile, Forest 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
Forest Lake's 96.5% 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.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Forest Lake's 22,415-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Forest Lake, see the exposure-zones guide.