Vineyard Lake, MI
How exposed is Vineyard Lake to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Vineyard Lake lands at the 19th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 975 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Vineyard Lake's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 20th percentile nationally.
Vineyard Lake's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Vineyard Lake: 55.7% of its 975 buildings, versus 33.1% Indirect and 11.2% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
How Vineyard Lake compares
Vineyard Lake's 64th-percentile standing inside Michigan outpaces its 19th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Vineyard Lake ranks 25,439 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,107 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 266 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Vineyard Lake and the insurance market
Vineyard Lake's low wildfire rating (19th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
With 55.7% of Vineyard 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 Vineyard Lake's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 975 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Vineyard Lake. The exposure-zones guide covers what Vineyard Lake's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.