Richvale, CA
Richvale wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Richvale at the 59th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 231 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Richvale at the 61st national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Richvale's building exposure, zone by zone
Richvale rates 89.2% Minimal exposure against just 10.8% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 231 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
How Richvale compares
Richvale ranks lower within California (17th percentile statewide) than its 59th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Richvale ranks 12,850 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,756 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,299 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Richvale and the insurance market
Richvale's 59th-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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 89.2% of Richvale 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.
More on how this number was built
Richvale's 59th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Richvale, see the exposure-zones guide.