Ukiah, CA
Ukiah, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Ukiah sits at the 98th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 6,014 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Ukiah at the 97th percentile, close to its 98th-percentile risk score.
Ukiah's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Ukiah's buildings (89.1%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone. At 6,014 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Ukiah compares
Ukiah ranks lower within California (82nd percentile statewide) than its 98th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ukiah ranks 688 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,873 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 281 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Ukiah and the insurance market
Ukiah's 98th-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 Ukiah
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Ukiah (89.1% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Ukiah's figures come from
Ukiah's 98th-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 Ukiah's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.