Cedar Flat, CA
Cedar Flat wildfire risk explained
Cedar Flat sits at the 86th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,022 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Cedar Flat's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 85th percentile nationally.
Cedar Flat's building exposure, zone by zone
1,022 buildings are counted in Cedar Flat, and 61.4% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 4.6% rated Minimal.
How Cedar Flat compares
Cedar Flat ranks lower within California (53rd percentile statewide) than its 86th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cedar Flat ranks 4,273 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,784 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 732 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Cedar Flat and the insurance market
Cedar Flat's 86th-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.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Cedar Flat (61.4%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Cedar Flat's 86th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Cedar Flat, see the exposure-zones guide.