Lake Lure, NC
Lake Lure, NC's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Lake Lure lands at the 77th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 1,999 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Lake Lure's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 79th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 93.1% of Lake Lure's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 2.1% Indirect share and far above its 4.9% Minimal share — a profile where 1,861 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Where Lake Lure ranks
There's little gap between Lake Lure's 77th national percentile and its 80th percentile inside North Carolina, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lake Lure ranks 7,158 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,481 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 157 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
Lake Lure and the insurance market
Lake Lure's 77th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
What would actually reduce this score
With 93.1% of Lake Lure 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,999 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Lake Lure. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Lake Lure, see the exposure-zones guide.