Lake Hughes, CA
Lake Hughes wildfire risk explained
Lake Hughes sits at the 96th 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 582 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Lake Hughes at the 94th national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Lake Hughes's buildings actually sit
79.4% of Lake Hughes's 582 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 462 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 20.6% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Lake Hughes against the rest of the country
Lake Hughes ranks lower within California (77th percentile statewide) than its 96th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lake Hughes ranks 1,249 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,073 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 371 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Lake Hughes and the insurance market
Because Lake Hughes 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 Hughes
With 79.4% of Lake Hughes 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.
More on how this number was built
Lake Hughes's 96th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Lake Hughes, see the exposure-zones guide.