Carnelian Bay, CA
Carnelian Bay wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Carnelian Bay lands at the 90th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 858 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Carnelian Bay at the 89th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Carnelian Bay's building exposure, zone by zone
858 buildings are counted in Carnelian Bay, and 60.8% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 4.7% rated Minimal.
Where Carnelian Bay ranks
Carnelian Bay's 90th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 62nd ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 28 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Carnelian Bay ranks 3,017 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,100 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 591 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 Carnelian Bay 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.
Hardening a home in Carnelian Bay
With 60.8% of Carnelian Bay 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 Carnelian Bay's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Carnelian Bay's 3,017-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Carnelian Bay's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.