Del Dios, CA
Del Dios wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Del Dios lands at the 92nd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 250 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Del Dios at the 91st 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
Most of Del Dios's buildings (74.8%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How Del Dios compares
Del Dios ranks lower within California (66th percentile statewide) than its 92nd national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Del Dios ranks 2,514 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,128 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 527 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Del Dios
Del Dios 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 92nd-percentile score like Del Dios's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Del Dios (74.8% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Del Dios's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Del Dios's 2,514-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Del Dios's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.