Lake Telemark, NJ
Lake Telemark wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Lake Telemark at the 46th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 554 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Lake Telemark at the 44th 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
Direct exposure dominates in Lake Telemark: 83.2% of its 554 buildings, versus 16.8% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Lake Telemark against the rest of the country
Lake Telemark scores 46th nationally and 50th within New Jersey — 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 Telemark ranks 17,145 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,521 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Jersey alone, it ranks 350 of 700 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Jersey on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Lake Telemark's elevated rating (46th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Lake Telemark's 83.2% 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 Telemark's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Lake Telemark's 17,145-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Lake Telemark's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.