Plainview, CA
Plainview, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Plainview's 283 buildings earn a 84th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Plainview's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 86th percentile nationally.
Plainview's building exposure, zone by zone
283 buildings are counted in Plainview, and 88.3% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 11.7% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
How Plainview compares
Plainview's 84th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 48th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 36 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Plainview ranks 4,939 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,084 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 812 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Plainview and the insurance market
Because Plainview is in California, a wildfire-hazard disclosure is legally required before a sale closes here — unusual nationally, since only these two states mandate it. The state's FAIR Plan alone carried 668,609 policies by the end of 2025. Full detail in the disclosure-law guide.
Hardening a home in Plainview
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Plainview (88.3% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Plainview's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Plainview's 4,939-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Plainview's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.