Ponderosa, CA
Ponderosa wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Ponderosa at the 93rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 132 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 Ponderosa at the 94th percentile, close to its 93rd-percentile risk score.
Ponderosa's building exposure, zone by zone
132 buildings are counted in Ponderosa, and 100% 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.
Ponderosa against the rest of the country
Ponderosa ranks lower within California (68th percentile statewide) than its 93rd national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ponderosa ranks 2,227 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,608 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 500 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Ponderosa and the insurance market
Because Ponderosa 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Ponderosa's 100% 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 Ponderosa's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 132 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Ponderosa. The exposure-zones guide covers what Ponderosa's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.