Los Molinos, CA
How exposed is Los Molinos to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Los Molinos at the 91st national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 1,274 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Los Molinos at the 93rd 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
54.2% of Los Molinos's 1,274 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 691 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 45.8% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Where Los Molinos ranks
Los Molinos ranks lower within California (63rd percentile statewide) than its 91st national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Los Molinos ranks 2,919 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,229 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 581 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Los Molinos and the insurance market
Los Molinos's 91st-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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Los Molinos's 54.2% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Los Molinos's figures come from
Los Molinos's 91st-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Los Molinos's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.