Cantua Creek, CA
Cantua Creek wildfire risk explained
Cantua Creek's 153 buildings earn a 79th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Cantua Creek at the 77th national percentile — 2 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
68% of Cantua Creek's 153 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 104 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 0% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 32% are Minimal.
Cantua Creek against the rest of the country
Cantua Creek ranks lower within California (38th percentile statewide) than its 79th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cantua Creek ranks 6,734 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,738 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 973 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
Because Cantua Creek is in California, a wildfire-hazard disclosure is legally required before a sale closes here — unusual nationally, since only these two states mandate it. The state's FAIR Plan alone carried 668,609 policies by the end of 2025. Full detail in the disclosure-law guide.
What would actually reduce this score
With 68% of Cantua Creek 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 153 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Cantua Creek. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Cantua Creek, see the exposure-zones guide.