Rutherford, CA
Rutherford, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Rutherford at the 77th national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 223 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Rutherford's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 76th percentile nationally.
Where Rutherford's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 43.1% of Rutherford's 223 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 25.6% Direct and 31.4% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Rutherford ranks
Rutherford's 77th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 36th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 41 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Rutherford ranks 7,308 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,002 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,010 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Rutherford
Rutherford's 77th-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.
Hardening a home in Rutherford
Because 43.1% of Rutherford's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Rutherford's figures come from
Rutherford's 77th-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 Rutherford's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.