Calpine, CA
How exposed is Calpine to wildfire?
USFS scores Calpine at the 97th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 171 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Calpine at the 96th national percentile — 1 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 Calpine: 80.1% of its 171 buildings, versus 19.9% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Calpine ranks
Calpine ranks lower within California (79th percentile statewide) than its 97th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Calpine ranks 1,030 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,972 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 334 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Calpine
Calpine 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 97th-percentile score like Calpine's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 80.1% of Calpine in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
Where Calpine's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Calpine's 1,030-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Calpine's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.