Lake of the Woods, CA
Lake of the Woods, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Lake of the Woods at the 100th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 507 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Lake of the Woods at the 99th national percentile — 0 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
507 buildings are counted in Lake of the Woods, and 65.7% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 34.3% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
How Lake of the Woods compares
Lake of the Woods scores 100th nationally and 95th within California — 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 of the Woods ranks 125 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,220 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 82 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
Lake of the Woods's 100th-percentile score lands in California, the only two states requiring a wildfire disclosure at sale. California's surplus-lines homeowners market passed 300,000 policies for the first time in 2025, driven by carriers pulling back from wildfire-exposed areas statewide. The disclosure-law guide covers what it requires.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Lake of the Woods (65.7% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Lake of the Woods's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Lake of the Woods's 125-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Lake of the Woods's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.