Bell, CA
Bell wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Bell at the 39th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 7,632 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Bell's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 43rd percentile nationally.
Where Bell's buildings actually sit
Bell rates 100% Minimal exposure against just 0% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 7,632 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually. At 7,632 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Bell compares
Bell ranks lower within California (6th percentile statewide) than its 39th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bell ranks 19,181 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,237 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,483 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
Because Bell 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 Bell
Even with 100% of Bell 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 Bell's figures come from
Bell's 39th-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 Bell's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.