Bystrom, CA
Bystrom, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Bystrom lands at the 56th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 1,360 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Bystrom's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 61st percentile nationally.
Where Bystrom's buildings actually sit
98.2% of Bystrom's 1,360 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 1.8% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Bystrom compares
Bystrom's 56th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 14th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 41 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bystrom ranks 14,017 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,783 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,343 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
Bystrom's 56th-percentile score lands in California, the only two states requiring a wildfire disclosure at sale. California's surplus-lines homeowners market passed 300,000 policies for the first time in 2025, driven by carriers pulling back from wildfire-exposed areas statewide. The disclosure-law guide covers what it requires.
Hardening a home in Bystrom
Bystrom's 98.2% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,360 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Bystrom. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Bystrom, see the exposure-zones guide.