Santa Susana, CA
Santa Susana, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Santa Susana at the 98th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 608 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Santa Susana at the 97th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Santa Susana's buildings actually sit
Direct exposure dominates in Santa Susana: 53.8% of its 608 buildings, versus 46.2% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Santa Susana against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Santa Susana's 98th national percentile and its 84th percentile inside California, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Santa Susana ranks 597 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,713 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 254 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Santa Susana
Santa Susana 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 98th-percentile score like Santa Susana's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Santa Susana (53.8%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 608 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Santa Susana. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Santa Susana, see the exposure-zones guide.