Interlaken, CA
Interlaken wildfire risk explained
Interlaken's 3,119 buildings earn a 82nd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Interlaken's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 83rd percentile nationally.
Where Interlaken's buildings actually sit
Of Interlaken's 3,119 counted buildings, 41.5% carry Direct exposure and only 32.8% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
How Interlaken compares
Interlaken ranks lower within California (44th percentile statewide) than its 82nd national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Interlaken ranks 5,602 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,269 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 886 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Interlaken
Because Interlaken is in California, a wildfire-hazard disclosure is legally required before a sale closes here — unusual nationally, since only these two states mandate it. The state's FAIR Plan alone carried 668,609 policies by the end of 2025. Full detail in the disclosure-law guide.
What would actually reduce this score
Interlaken's 41.5% 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.
Where Interlaken's figures come from
Interlaken's 82nd-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 Interlaken's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.