Waterford, CA
How exposed is Waterford to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Waterford lands at the 90th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 2,828 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Waterford's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 90th percentile nationally.
Waterford's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS puts 88.6% of Waterford's 2,828 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 11.4% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Waterford compares
Waterford ranks lower within California (60th percentile statewide) than its 90th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Waterford ranks 3,303 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,702 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 626 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Waterford
Because Waterford 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Waterford's 88.6% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 2,828 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Waterford. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Waterford, see the exposure-zones guide.