Big Bend, CA
Big Bend wildfire risk explained
Big Bend's 115 buildings earn a 100th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Big Bend at the 100th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Direct exposure dominates in Big Bend: 100% of its 115 buildings, versus 0% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Big Bend ranks
Big Bend scores 100th nationally and 97th within California — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Big Bend ranks 86 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 28,397 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 50 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Big Bend and the insurance market
Big Bend 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 Big Bend's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Big Bend (100%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Big Bend's 100th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Big Bend, see the exposure-zones guide.