Upper Lake, CA
Upper Lake, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Upper Lake at the 98th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 763 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Upper Lake's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 98th percentile nationally.
Where Upper Lake's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 52.7% of Upper Lake's 763 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 47.3% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Upper Lake against the rest of the country
Upper Lake's 98th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 83rd ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 15 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Upper Lake ranks 689 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,979 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 282 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Upper Lake and the insurance market
Upper Lake's 98th-percentile score lands in California, the only two states requiring a wildfire disclosure at sale. California's surplus-lines homeowners market passed 300,000 policies for the first time in 2025, driven by carriers pulling back from wildfire-exposed areas statewide. The disclosure-law guide covers what it requires.
Hardening a home in Upper Lake
Upper Lake's 52.7% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Upper Lake's figures come from
Upper Lake's 98th-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 Upper Lake's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.