Petaluma Center, CA
Petaluma Center, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Petaluma Center at the 93rd national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 121 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Petaluma Center at the 96th 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
51.2% of Petaluma Center's 121 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 48.8% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Petaluma Center ranks
Petaluma Center's 93rd national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 69th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 25 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Petaluma Center ranks 2,198 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 28,096 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 496 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
Petaluma Center 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 93rd-percentile score like Petaluma Center's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Petaluma Center's 51.2% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Petaluma Center's 93rd-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 Petaluma Center, see the exposure-zones guide.