Searles Valley, CA
How exposed is Searles Valley to wildfire?
USFS scores Searles Valley at the 21st national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 1,359 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Searles Valley at the 30th national percentile — 9 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Searles Valley's buildings actually sit
Indirect exposure is dominant in Searles Valley (94.6% of 1,359 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 3.2% sit in the Direct zone.
Searles Valley against the rest of the country
Inside California, Searles Valley sits at just the 2nd percentile even though it scores 21st nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Searles Valley ranks 24,920 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,792 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,543 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Searles Valley
Because Searles Valley 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 Searles Valley
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Searles Valley (94.6% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Searles Valley's 21st-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Searles Valley, see the exposure-zones guide.