Alturas, CA
Alturas wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Alturas at the 84th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 2,019 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Alturas at the 85th percentile, close to its 84th-percentile risk score.
Where Alturas's buildings actually sit
84.1% of Alturas's 2,019 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 15.9% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Alturas ranks
Alturas ranks lower within California (47th percentile statewide) than its 84th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Alturas ranks 5,128 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,419 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 839 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Alturas
Because Alturas is in California, a wildfire-hazard disclosure is legally required before a sale closes here — unusual nationally, since only these two states mandate it. The state's FAIR Plan alone carried 668,609 policies by the end of 2025. Full detail in the disclosure-law guide.
Hardening a home in Alturas
Alturas's 84.1% 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 Alturas's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Alturas's 5,128-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Alturas's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.