Gages Lake, IL
Gages Lake wildfire risk explained
Gages Lake's 4,339 buildings earn a 38th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Gages Lake at the 40th percentile, close to its 38th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
94.2% of Gages Lake's 4,339 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 5.8% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Where Gages Lake ranks
Compare Gages Lake's two percentiles: 90th within Illinois, only 38th nationally — a gap of 52 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Gages Lake ranks 19,688 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,944 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 148 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Gages Lake
At the 38th national percentile, Gages 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 94.2% of Gages 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 4,339 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Gages Lake. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Gages Lake, see the exposure-zones guide.