Potomac Park, CA
Potomac Park, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Potomac Park lands at the 74th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 3,152 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Potomac Park's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 76th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
52.7% of Potomac Park's 3,152 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 1.9% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Where Potomac Park ranks
Potomac Park's 74th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 32nd ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 42 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Potomac Park ranks 8,217 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,227 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,074 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Potomac Park and the insurance market
Potomac Park 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 74th-percentile score like Potomac Park's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 52.7% of Potomac Park outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where Potomac Park's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Potomac Park's 8,217-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Potomac Park's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.