Wawona, CA
Wawona, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Wawona at the 100th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 311 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Wawona's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 100th percentile nationally.
Wawona's building exposure, zone by zone
311 buildings are counted in Wawona, and 96.5% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
How Wawona compares
Wawona's risk sits at a similar level relative to California (95th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (100th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Wawona ranks 132 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,335 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 89 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Wawona
Because Wawona 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Wawona (96.5%), 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
Wawona's 100th-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 Wawona, see the exposure-zones guide.