Day Valley, CA
How exposed is Day Valley to wildfire?
USFS scores Day Valley at the 86th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 1,999 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Day Valley at the 87th percentile, close to its 86th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
95.6% of Day Valley's 1,999 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 1,910 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 4.5% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Where Day Valley ranks
Day Valley ranks lower within California (52nd 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, Day Valley ranks 4,403 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,480 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 748 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Day Valley and the insurance market
Day Valley 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 86th-percentile score like Day Valley's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Day Valley (95.6%), 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind Day Valley's 4,403-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Day Valley, see the exposure-zones guide.