Hartley, CA
Hartley, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Hartley at the 90th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 2,085 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Hartley at the 91st percentile, close to its 90th-percentile risk score.
Hartley's building exposure, zone by zone
98.8% of Hartley's 2,085 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 2,060 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 0.1% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 1.1% are Minimal.
Where Hartley ranks
Hartley's 90th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 61st ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 29 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Hartley ranks 3,235 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,234 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 614 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Hartley and the insurance market
Because Hartley is in California, a wildfire-hazard disclosure is legally required before a sale closes here — unusual nationally, since only these two states mandate it. The state's FAIR Plan alone carried 668,609 policies by the end of 2025. Full detail in the disclosure-law guide.
Hardening a home in Hartley
Because Direct exposure dominates in Hartley (98.8%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Hartley's 90th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Hartley, see the exposure-zones guide.