French Gulch, CA
French Gulch wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts French Gulch at the 96th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 271 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, French Gulch's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 97th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of French Gulch's 271 counted buildings, 67.2% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
How French Gulch compares
French Gulch's 96th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 78th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 19 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, French Gulch ranks 1,124 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,457 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 347 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in French Gulch
French Gulch 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 96th-percentile score like French Gulch's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in French Gulch (67.2%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where French Gulch's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 271 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for French Gulch. The exposure-zones guide covers what French Gulch's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.