Alpine, CA
Alpine, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Alpine sits at the 100th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 6,399 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Alpine's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 100th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
6,399 buildings are counted in Alpine, and 72.2% 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. At 6,399 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Alpine against the rest of the country
Alpine's risk sits at a similar level relative to California (98th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (100th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Alpine ranks 22 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,706 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 11 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
Alpine sits in California, one of two states that legally require a wildfire-risk disclosure at sale. California's FAIR Plan, the state's insurer of last resort, ended 2025 with 668,609 residential policies after adding 21,859 in Q4 alone — the kind of market shift a 100th-percentile score like Alpine's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Hardening a home in Alpine
With 72.2% of Alpine 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 Alpine's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 6,399 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Alpine. The exposure-zones guide covers what Alpine's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.