Long Lake, SD
Long Lake, SD's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Long Lake at the 76th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 105 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Long Lake at the 70th national percentile — 6 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Long Lake's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 52.4% of Long Lake's 105 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 47.6% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Long Lake ranks
Long Lake scores 76th nationally and 74th within South Dakota — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Long Lake ranks 7,607 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 28,820 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 117 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
Long Lake and the insurance market
At the 76th percentile nationally, Long Lake carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 52.4% of Long Lake's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Long Lake's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 105 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Long Lake. The exposure-zones guide covers what Long Lake's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.