Lake Almanor West, CA
Lake Almanor West, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Lake Almanor West sits at the 94th 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 613 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Lake Almanor West's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 95th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Direct exposure dominates in Lake Almanor West: 95.6% of its 613 buildings, versus 0.7% Indirect and 3.8% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Lake Almanor West against the rest of the country
Inside California, Lake Almanor West sits at just the 70th percentile even though it scores 94th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lake Almanor West ranks 1,979 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,651 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 468 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Because Lake Almanor West 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.
Hardening a home in Lake Almanor West
With 95.6% of Lake Almanor West 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.
Where Lake Almanor West's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Lake Almanor West's 1,979-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Lake Almanor West's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.