Heritage Lake, IN
Heritage Lake wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Heritage Lake at the 8th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 1,734 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Heritage Lake's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 8th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Direct exposure dominates in Heritage Lake: 54.8% of its 1,734 buildings, versus 0% Indirect and 45.2% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
How Heritage Lake compares
Compare Heritage Lake's two percentiles: 49th within Indiana, only 8th nationally — a gap of 41 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Heritage Lake ranks 28,960 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,282 by building count (1 is largest). Within Indiana alone, it ranks 490 of 967 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Indiana on its state page.
Heritage Lake and the insurance market
At the 8th national percentile, Heritage Lake rates low 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
Because Direct exposure dominates in Heritage Lake (54.8%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Heritage Lake's figures come from
Heritage Lake's 8th-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 Heritage Lake's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.