Waukena, CA
Waukena wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Waukena at the 53rd national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 56 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Waukena at the 53rd percentile, close to its 53rd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 85.7% of Waukena's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 0% Indirect share and far above its 14.3% Minimal share — a profile where 48 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Waukena against the rest of the country
Waukena's 53rd national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 13th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 40 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Waukena ranks 14,898 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,759 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,373 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Waukena and the insurance market
Waukena 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 53rd-percentile score like Waukena's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Waukena (85.7%), 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
Waukena's 53rd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Waukena, see the exposure-zones guide.