Meadow Lakes, AK
Meadow Lakes wildfire risk explained
Meadow Lakes's 4,877 buildings earn a 88th-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 Meadow Lakes at the 85th national percentile — 3 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
Of Meadow Lakes's 4,877 counted buildings, 94.6% carry Direct exposure and only 0.1% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Meadow Lakes against the rest of the country
Meadow Lakes's 88th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 72nd ranking inside Alaska does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 16 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Meadow Lakes ranks 3,739 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,507 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alaska alone, it ranks 90 of 322 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alaska on its state page.
Meadow Lakes and the insurance market
At the 88th percentile nationally, Meadow Lakes carries the very 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
With 94.6% of Meadow Lakes 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 4,877 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Meadow Lakes. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Meadow Lakes, see the exposure-zones guide.