Dunsmuir, CA
Dunsmuir wildfire risk explained
Dunsmuir sits at the 99th 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 964 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Dunsmuir at the 98th percentile, close to its 99th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Dunsmuir's buildings (77%) 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.
Where Dunsmuir ranks
Dunsmuir's risk sits at a similar level relative to California (91st percentile statewide) as it does nationally (99th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Dunsmuir ranks 273 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,193 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 148 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Dunsmuir
Dunsmuir 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 99th-percentile score like Dunsmuir's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Hardening a home in Dunsmuir
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Dunsmuir (77% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 964 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Dunsmuir. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Dunsmuir, see the exposure-zones guide.