Fort Bragg, CA
Fort Bragg wildfire risk explained
Fort Bragg sits at the 59th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 3,619 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Fort Bragg at the 60th 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 Fort Bragg (94.7% of 3,619 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 5% sit in the Direct zone.
How Fort Bragg compares
Fort Bragg's 59th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 17th 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, Fort Bragg ranks 12,878 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,632 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,300 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Fort Bragg and the insurance market
Fort Bragg's 59th-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.
Hardening a home in Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg's 94.7% 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
Fort Bragg's 59th-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 Fort Bragg, see the exposure-zones guide.