Empire, CA
Empire wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Empire lands at the 85th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 1,730 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Empire at the 86th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Empire (81.7% of 1,730 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 14.9% sit in the Direct zone.
How Empire compares
Inside California, Empire sits at just the 49th percentile even though it scores 85th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Empire ranks 4,811 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,304 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 796 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
Empire 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 85th-percentile score like Empire's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
What would actually reduce this score
Empire's 81.7% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Empire's 85th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Empire, see the exposure-zones guide.