Delano, CA
Delano, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Delano's 10,764 buildings earn a 76th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Delano at the 77th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Delano's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Delano's buildings (90.7% of 10,764) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure. At 10,764 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Delano ranks
Delano's 76th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 34th 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, Delano ranks 7,621 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,472 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,031 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
Delano's 76th-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
Even with 90.7% of Delano 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 Delano's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 10,764 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Delano. The exposure-zones guide covers what Delano's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.