Lawndale, NC
Lawndale wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Lawndale at the 65th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 447 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Lawndale's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 69th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
64.7% of Lawndale's 447 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 289 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 35.4% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
How Lawndale compares
Lawndale scores 65th nationally and 65th within North Carolina — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lawndale ranks 11,031 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,337 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 271 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
Lawndale and the insurance market
Lawndale's 65th-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 64.7% of Lawndale 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 447 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Lawndale. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Lawndale, see the exposure-zones guide.