Otter Lake, IN
How exposed is Otter Lake to wildfire?
Otter Lake's 300 buildings earn a 8th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Otter Lake's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 8th percentile nationally.
Otter Lake's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Otter Lake: 51.3% of its 300 buildings, versus 24.3% Indirect and 24.3% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Otter Lake against the rest of the country
Compare Otter Lake's two percentiles: 50th within Indiana, only 8th nationally — a gap of 41 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Otter Lake ranks 28,962 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,630 by building count (1 is largest). Within Indiana alone, it ranks 492 of 967 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Indiana on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Otter Lake's low wildfire rating (8th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 51.3% of Otter Lake 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.
Where Otter Lake's figures come from
Otter Lake's 8th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Otter Lake's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.