Lake Ketchum, WA
How exposed is Lake Ketchum to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Lake Ketchum at the 15th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 849 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Lake Ketchum at the 17th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Lake Ketchum's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 69.5% of Lake Ketchum's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 29.8% Indirect share and far above its 0.7% Minimal share — a profile where 590 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Lake Ketchum against the rest of the country
Lake Ketchum scores 15th nationally and 19th within Washington — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lake Ketchum ranks 26,931 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,172 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 512 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
Lake Ketchum and the insurance market
At the 15th national percentile, Lake Ketchum 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
With 69.5% of Lake Ketchum 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 Ketchum's 15th-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 Ketchum, see the exposure-zones guide.