North Gate, CA
North Gate wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts North Gate at the 95th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 445 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks North Gate at the 96th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
North Gate's building exposure, zone by zone
445 buildings are counted in North Gate, and 57.1% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
North Gate against the rest of the country
North Gate's 95th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 75th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 21 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, North Gate ranks 1,502 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,361 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 402 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
North Gate's 95th-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.
Hardening a home in North Gate
With 57.1% of North Gate in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
Where North Gate's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 445 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for North Gate. The exposure-zones guide covers what North Gate's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.