Ashland, CA
How exposed is Ashland to wildfire?
Ashland sits at the 51st percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 5,249 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Ashland's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 55th percentile nationally.
Where Ashland's buildings actually sit
Most of Ashland's buildings (100% of 5,249) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure. At 5,249 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Ashland against the rest of the country
Inside California, Ashland sits at just the 11th percentile even though it scores 51st nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ashland ranks 15,400 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,282 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,394 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Ashland
Because Ashland 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 Ashland
Even with 100% of Ashland outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where Ashland's figures come from
Ashland's 51st-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 Ashland's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.