Mentone, CA
Mentone, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Mentone at the 99th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 4,050 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 Mentone at the 99th percentile, close to its 99th-percentile risk score.
Where Mentone's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 71% of Mentone's 4,050 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 25% Direct and 3.9% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Mentone compares
There's little gap between Mentone's 99th national percentile and its 91st percentile inside California, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Mentone ranks 276 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,190 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 151 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Mentone's 99th-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
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Mentone (71% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Mentone's 99th-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 Mentone, see the exposure-zones guide.