Ladera, CA
Ladera wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Ladera at the 75th national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 616 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Ladera at the 77th national percentile — 2 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
Most of Ladera's buildings (59.1%) 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.
How Ladera compares
Ladera ranks lower within California (33rd percentile statewide) than its 75th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ladera ranks 7,907 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,613 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,057 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Ladera
Ladera 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 75th-percentile score like Ladera's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Ladera (59.1% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Ladera's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Ladera's 7,907-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Ladera's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.