Big River, CA
Big River wildfire risk explained
Big River's 1,411 buildings earn a 44th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Big River at the 46th percentile, close to its 44th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Big River (68% of 1,411 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 20.8% sit in the Direct zone.
How Big River compares
Big River's 44th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 7th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 37 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Big River ranks 17,605 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,580 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,455 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Big River and the insurance market
Big River 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 44th-percentile score like Big River's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Hardening a home in Big River
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Big River (68% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Big River's 17,605-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Big River, see the exposure-zones guide.