Bowles, CA
How exposed is Bowles to wildfire?
USFS scores Bowles at the 45th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 85 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Bowles's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 45th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Bowles's buildings (80% of 85) 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.
Where Bowles ranks
Inside California, Bowles sits at just the 8th percentile even though it scores 45th 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, Bowles ranks 17,261 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 29,677 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,448 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Bowles and the insurance market
Bowles 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 45th-percentile score like Bowles's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Hardening a home in Bowles
Even with 80% of Bowles 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 Bowles's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 85 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Bowles. The exposure-zones guide covers what Bowles's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.