Yosemite Lakes, CA
Yosemite Lakes wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Yosemite Lakes at the 96th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 2,790 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Yosemite Lakes at the 96th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
2,790 buildings are counted in Yosemite Lakes, and 100% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
Yosemite Lakes against the rest of the country
Yosemite Lakes's 96th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 76th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 20 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Yosemite Lakes ranks 1,252 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,782 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 374 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Yosemite Lakes's 96th-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.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Yosemite Lakes (100%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Yosemite Lakes's figures come from
Yosemite Lakes's 96th-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 Yosemite Lakes's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.