Lake of the Pines, CA
Lake of the Pines, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Lake of the Pines's 2,021 buildings earn a 96th-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.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Lake of the Pines at the 95th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
68.2% of Lake of the Pines's 2,021 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 1,379 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 28.3% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 3.5% are Minimal.
Lake of the Pines against the rest of the country
Lake of the Pines ranks lower within California (76th 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 of the Pines ranks 1,282 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,414 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 375 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Lake of the Pines
Lake of the Pines sits in California, one of two states that legally require a wildfire-risk disclosure at sale. California's FAIR Plan, the state's insurer of last resort, ended 2025 with 668,609 residential policies after adding 21,859 in Q4 alone — the kind of market shift a 96th-percentile score like Lake of the Pines's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
What would actually reduce this score
Lake of the Pines's 68.2% 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 Lake of the Pines's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 2,021 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Lake of the Pines. The exposure-zones guide covers what Lake of the Pines's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.