August, CA
August wildfire risk explained
August sits at the 76th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 3,088 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks August at the 78th national percentile — 2 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
Only 1.6% of August's 3,088 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 98.4% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
August against the rest of the country
Inside California, August sits at just the 34th percentile even though it scores 76th 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, August ranks 7,620 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,301 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,030 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
August's 76th-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.
Hardening a home in August
Even with 98.4% of August 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.
More on how this number was built
August's 76th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond August, see the exposure-zones guide.