Caruthers, CA
Caruthers wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Caruthers at the 57th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 980 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Caruthers's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 57th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Caruthers rates 78.4% Minimal exposure against just 21.6% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 980 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
How Caruthers compares
Caruthers's 57th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 15th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 42 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Caruthers ranks 13,606 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,068 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,333 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Caruthers and the insurance market
Caruthers's 57th-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 Caruthers
Even with 78.4% of Caruthers outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where Caruthers's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 980 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Caruthers. The exposure-zones guide covers what Caruthers's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.