Bret Harte, CA
Bret Harte wildfire risk explained
Bret Harte's 1,680 buildings earn a 82nd-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.)
Separately from the risk score above, Bret Harte's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 82nd percentile nationally.
Where Bret Harte's buildings actually sit
96.3% of Bret Harte's 1,680 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 3.8% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Bret Harte compares
Inside California, Bret Harte sits at just the 43rd percentile even though it scores 82nd 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, Bret Harte ranks 5,822 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,493 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 898 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Bret Harte and the insurance market
Bret Harte 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 82nd-percentile score like Bret Harte's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Hardening a home in Bret Harte
With 96.3% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Bret Harte gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
Bret Harte's 82nd-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 Bret Harte, see the exposure-zones guide.