Running Springs, CA
Running Springs wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Running Springs at the 100th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 2,739 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Running Springs's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 100th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
52.9% of Running Springs's 2,739 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 1,448 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 47.1% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Running Springs against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Running Springs's 100th national percentile and its 99th percentile inside California, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Running Springs ranks 34 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,867 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 23 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
Because Running Springs 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 Running Springs
Running Springs's 52.9% 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 Running Springs's figures come from
Running Springs's 100th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Running Springs's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.