---
title: "Wildfire Risk in Pima County, Arizona 2026 | Satelife"
description: "Wildfire risk in Pima County varies widely from place to place. Across the places we scored, the lowest score is 25.5 at Pascua Pueblo, while the highest is 80.7 near Sasabe."
image: "https://satelife.ai/images/wildfire-risk/arizona/pima-county/generated/pima-county-locator.webp"
canonical: "https://satelife.ai/wildfire-risk/arizona/pima-county/"
---

[Home](/)›[Wildfire Risk](/wildfire-risk/)›[Arizona](/wildfire-risk/arizona/)›Pima County

Pima County, Arizona

# Wildfire risk in Pima County: _where it is highest_, and why

Wildfire risk in Pima County varies widely from place to place. Across the places we scored, the lowest score is 25.5 at Pascua Pueblo, while the highest is 80.7 near Sasabe.

[Score my Pima County address →](#score-my-address) [How risky is this county? ↓](#risk-at-a-glance)

Before 20002000s2010s2020sCommunity

Pima County — the largest fires on record, at their perimeter centres, with the county’s main communities. Select a marker for its detail.

At a glance

## Half of Pima County scores _Moderate_ or worse

We scored 176 points across Pima County on the same 0–100 scale a Satelife address report uses, and they do not land in one place. 3% of them come out Very High, while 56% are Moderate. Which end your own parcel sits at is not something a county map can tell you.

41%

56%

**Very High** 3% · 5 of 176 points **High** 41% · 72 of 176 points **Moderate** 56% · 99 of 176 points

Safest end we measured 25.5 near Pascua Pueblo · Moderate

Middle of the county 47.8 Moderate — half of Pima County is above this

Most exposed end we measured 80.7 near Sasabe · Very High

### And the federal models agree it is a fire county

Relatively High FEMA National Risk Index — wildfire risk rating · index score 99.7 / 100

$37.6M / yr FEMA NRI — expected annual loss from wildfire · rated Relatively High

0.36% USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities — mean annual burn probability · 90th-percentile cell 1.05%

3.81 ft USFS WRC — mean conditional flame length · 83% of the county carries burnable fuel

FEMA NRI also rates Pima County: all-hazards risk Relatively High · social vulnerability Relatively Moderate · community resilience Relatively Low · annualised wildfire frequency 0.0043.

Sources: FEMA National Risk Index 1.20.0 (Dec 2025), county record · USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities v2.0, mean of the grid cells inside the county. Both describe the county as a whole, never an address in it.

What does your Pima County address score?

A county range shows the spread. Your parcel sits somewhere inside it — the report says where, and what to do about it.

Free to request · PDF report with a 0–100 score, the drivers behind it, and a mitigation plan

Local context

## What the data says about _Pima County_

Most scored locations fall in the Moderate tier, with 99 points there and 72 in High.

A smaller set of places are in Very High, with 5 points in that tier and no locations in Low.

For countywide context, FEMA’s National Risk Index rates Pima County’s wildfire risk as "Relatively High."

Fire record

## Where the fires _actually were_

Fire has been a meaningful part of the county’s history. Since 1984, 564,850 acres have burned, which is 9.6% of Pima County, across 235 mapped fire perimeters.

The largest fire listed here is the Bighorn fire in 2020, at 119,541 acres. The most recent large fire is Gallineta in 2023.

Other large fires in the county records include Aspen at 69,370 acres and Sawmill at 47,027 acres.

![Bighorn Fire (2020) in Pima County, Arizona - Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data \[2020\], processed by &lt;a href=" https://twitter.com/Pierre\_Markuse " rel="noreferrer ](/images/wildfire-risk/arizona/pima-county/photos/bighorn-fire-arizona-usa-june-18th-2020-50022001048.webp)

**Bighorn Fire, 2020** — Pima County. Photo: Pierre Markuse from Hamm, Germany · [CC BY 2.0](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bighorn_Fire,_Arizona,_USA_-_June_18th,_2020_\(50022001048\).jpg)

![Sawmill Fire (2017) in Pima County, Arizona - This is a map of the Sawmill Fire, a wildfire in April 2017 that burned ~47,000 acres of land in Arizona, produced by U.S. Federal](/images/wildfire-risk/arizona/pima-county/photos/sawmill-fire-arizona-20171024-1.webp)

**Sawmill Fire, 2017** — Pima County. Photo: Southwest Area Incident Management Team · [Public domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sawmill_fire_arizona_20171024_1.jpg)

235 mapped fire perimeters centred in the county since 1984

564,850 acres inside those perimeters since 1984

9.6% of the county's area, as a share of 23,713.8 km²

Gallineta 2023 most recent large fire on record

Before 20002000s2010s2020s 

Fire perimeters coloured by decade. Select a perimeter for its name, year and size.

Named fires on record

-   **Bighorn Fire**2020119,541 acres
-   **Sawmill Fire**201747,027 acres
-   **Aspen Fire**200369,370 acres
-   **Contreras Fire**202229,482 acres
-   **Burro Fire**201727,238 acres
-   **Bullock Fire**200228,957 acres
-   **Encinos Fire**202014,983 acres
-   **Brown Fire**201615,408 acres

Perimeter sources: NIFC Interagency Fire Perimeter History · WFIGS Interagency Perimeters · largest on record: Bighorn 2020. Perimeters are simplified for display; acreage is the figure the source records.

Communities

## Where in the county you are _matters most_

Tucson, the largest city at 550,306 people, has a typical wildfire-risk score of 33.2, while Oro Valley is higher at 49.5.

Marana is 44.3 and Sahuarita is 32.9, with Vail at 45.5.

Ajo is 42.8, and Sells / Komkcʼeḍ ʼe-Wa:ʼosidk is 47.0.

Among smaller villages shown here, Wahak Hotrontk is 56.9 and Haivana Nakya is 54.9.

Sasabe village · 54 people

66.1 _High_

Wahak Hotrontk village

56.9 _High_

Haivana Nakya village

54.9 _High_

San Miguel village

51.2 _High_

Green Valley town

50 _High_

Gu Vo village

50 _High_

Oro Valley town · 47,070 people

49.5 _Moderate_

Pascua Pueblo village

48.1 _Moderate_

Hickiwan village

47.4 _Moderate_

Corona de Tucson village · 5,675 people

47.3 _Moderate_

16 more communities in Pima County

Sells / Komkcʼeḍ ʼe-Wa:ʼosidk town

47 _Moderate_

Topawa / Ḍo Bawui village

46.4 _Moderate_

Santa Rosa / Kaij Mek village

45.8 _Moderate_

Vail village · 13,604 people

45.5 _Moderate_

Marana town · 62,302 people

44.3 _Moderate_

Pisinemo village

44.1 _Moderate_

San Xavier / Wa:k village

44 _Moderate_

Ajo town · 3,039 people

42.8 _Moderate_

Catalina village · 7,551 people

42.7 _Moderate_

Picture Rocks village · 9,551 people

42.2 _Moderate_

Avra Valley village · 5,569 people

41.9 _Moderate_

Lukeville village

41.5 _Moderate_

Why village

35.2 _Moderate_

South Tucson village · 5,571 people

33.6 _Moderate_

Tucson city · 550,306 people

33.2 _Moderate_

Sahuarita town · 25,259 people

32.9 _Moderate_

The score is the median of the sampled points nearest that community — a community-scale indicator, not a score for any individual property in it. Population comes from the community's own record where the source carries one.

Terrain & fuels

## Terrain, vegetation and _fuels_

Terrain contributes to risk in many parts of the county. Terrain scores run from 40.0 in Lukeville to 65.0 near Sasabe.

Vegetation and fuels also contribute strongly in many places, with 80.0 in San Miguel and 20.0 in South Tucson.

Where terrain and fuels are both higher, wildfire risk is generally higher as well.

65 median terrain score (max 65 near Sasabe)

80 median vegetation & fuels score (max 80 near San Miguel)

Fire weather

## Fire weather across _Pima County_

Fire weather could not be measured across Pima County.

It was measured at one place, near Sasabe, where the score was 65.7. That single reading is not enough to describe fire weather in other parts of the county.

Separately, a U.S. Forest Service wildfire model reports a mean annual burn probability of 0.36% for the county, with 1.05% at the 90th percentile cell.

In that same model, 82.5% of the county is in places that can burn.

Fire weather was measured at 1 of the 176 sampled points (near Sasabe, 65.7) — too few to publish as a county range, so no high/low is shown here.

What drives it

## Which part of the risk _moves_, and which doesn't

Risk is not the same across communities. Sasabe has a typical score of 66.1, while Tucson is lower at 33.2.

Green Valley is at 50.0 and Oro Valley at 49.5, while Marana is at 44.3.

On the lower end among named places, Why is 35.2 and South Tucson is 33.6.

Each bar is what one part of the score covers across Pima County, on the same 0–100 scale. A long bar is a part of the risk that depends on where you are; a short one is the same almost everywhere.

Terrain

40–65 highest near Sasabe

Vegetation & fuels

20–80 highest near San Miguel

Hazard zone

10–75.4 highest near Marana

Fire history

5–95 highest near Sasabe

Fire weather

65.7 at one point highest near Sasabe

Overall score

25.5–80.7 highest near Sasabe

The tick on each bar is the middle value. Tier boundaries — Moderate at 25, High at 50, Very High at 75 — are the faint lines behind them.

Show every number behind these bars

Layer

Min

Median

Max

Lowest place

Highest place

Points

Terrain

40

65

65

Lukeville

near Sasabe

176

Vegetation & fuels

20

80

80

South Tucson

San Miguel

176

Hazard zone

10

32.3

75.4

near Sasabe

Marana

176

Fire history

5

5

95

San Miguel

near Sasabe

176

Fire weather\*

—

—

65.7

—

near Sasabe

1

Composite

25.5

47.8

80.7

Pascua Pueblo

near Sasabe

176

\*Fire weather returned a reading at only 1 of the 176 sampled points. The one value measured is shown under Max with the place beside it; there is no county range to report, so the other columns are left blank.

Independently of Satelife's layers, the USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities grid puts the county's mean annual burn probability at **0.36%** (90th percentile cell: **1.05%**), with a mean conditional flame length of **3.81 ft**. **83%** of the 29,015 grid cells inside the county carry burnable fuel at all.

Source: USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities v2.0 (ImageServer, county extent).

CAL FIRE has no mapped Fire Hazard Severity Zone at **176** of the 176 sampled points — the zones cover Local Responsibility Areas, and most of this county is state or federal land. At **137** of them the USFS grid above supplied the hazard reading instead; at the remaining 39 the hazard weight is renormalised away rather than scored as low.

176 sample points on a ~2.3 km grid, plus one at the centre of each community, weighted with the Satelife county profile v1 · median layer coverage 90%. Scores are 0–100 and comparable within the county, not across states.

For a property

## What a county range means for _one address_

Property-level context can change quickly inside the same county. Hazard-zone scores range from 75.4 in Marana to 10.0 near Sasabe.

Fire-history scores are also uneven: near Sasabe is 95.0, while San Miguel is 5.0.

For countywide framing, FEMA’s National Risk Index rates Pima County’s wildfire expected annual loss as "Relatively High," and the U.S. Forest Service model shows a mean conditional flame length of 3.81 feet.

Across 176 sampled points in Pima County, the score runs from 25.5 to 80.7 — two neighbouring parcels can sit in different tiers. A county number is the middle of that spread; it says nothing about which end yours is at.

Find out where your Pima County parcel sits

Slope, the fuel touching the structure, the road out, the fire history within a mile — measured at your address, not averaged across the county.

Free to request · PDF report with a 0–100 score, the drivers behind it, and a mitigation plan

Coverage

## ZIP codes we cover in Pima County

Every one of the 65 ZIP areas that touch Pima County — we run address-level reports in all of them. They are grouped by the median score of the points we sampled inside each, which is a neighbourhood-scale indicator and **not** a score for any property: two homes in the same ZIP routinely land in different tiers.

**Very High** 1 ZIP

-   [85633 Sasabe76](/wildfire-risk/zip/85633/)

**High** 10 ZIPs

-   [85601 Sasabe72](/wildfire-risk/zip/85601/)
-   [85619 Oro Valley67](/wildfire-risk/zip/85619/)
-   [85611 65](/wildfire-risk/zip/85611/)
-   [85602 Vail62](/wildfire-risk/zip/85602/)
-   [85735 Pascua Pueblo58](/wildfire-risk/zip/85735/)
-   [85645 Green Valley55](/wildfire-risk/zip/85645/)
-   [85658 Marana54](/wildfire-risk/zip/85658/)
-   [85639 Topawa / Ḍo Bawui51](/wildfire-risk/zip/85639/)
-   [85634 Sells / Komkcʼeḍ ʼe-Wa:ʼosidk50](/wildfire-risk/zip/85634/)
-   [85614 Green Valley50](/wildfire-risk/zip/85614/)

**Moderate** 19 ZIPs

-   [85737 Oro Valley50](/wildfire-risk/zip/85737/)
-   [85746 Pascua Pueblo49](/wildfire-risk/zip/85746/)
-   [85641 Vail48](/wildfire-risk/zip/85641/)
-   [85736 Haivana Nakya48](/wildfire-risk/zip/85736/)
-   [85622 Green Valley47](/wildfire-risk/zip/85622/)
-   [85341 Lukeville46](/wildfire-risk/zip/85341/)
-   [85321 Why45](/wildfire-risk/zip/85321/)
-   [85750 Tucson44](/wildfire-risk/zip/85750/)
-   [85739 Catalina43](/wildfire-risk/zip/85739/)
-   [85743 Picture Rocks42](/wildfire-risk/zip/85743/)
-   [85653 Avra Valley42](/wildfire-risk/zip/85653/)
-   [85713 South Tucson35](/wildfire-risk/zip/85713/)
-   [85714 South Tucson34](/wildfire-risk/zip/85714/)
-   [85712 Tucson33](/wildfire-risk/zip/85712/)
-   [85701 Tucson33](/wildfire-risk/zip/85701/)
-   [85629 Green Valley33](/wildfire-risk/zip/85629/)
-   [85711 South Tucson32](/wildfire-risk/zip/85711/)
-   [85716 Tucson32](/wildfire-risk/zip/85716/)
-   [85757 Pascua Pueblo26](/wildfire-risk/zip/85757/)

**No sampled point inside** 35 ZIPs

[85131 Avra Valley](/wildfire-risk/zip/85131/) · [85145 Avra Valley](/wildfire-risk/zip/85145/) · [85616](/wildfire-risk/zip/85616/) · [85621](/wildfire-risk/zip/85621/) · [85623 Catalina](/wildfire-risk/zip/85623/) · [85624](/wildfire-risk/zip/85624/) · [85631 Catalina](/wildfire-risk/zip/85631/) · [85637 Corona de Tucson](/wildfire-risk/zip/85637/) · [85643](/wildfire-risk/zip/85643/) · [85648 Green Valley](/wildfire-risk/zip/85648/) · [85654 Marana](/wildfire-risk/zip/85654/) · [85704 Oro Valley](/wildfire-risk/zip/85704/) · [85705 Tucson](/wildfire-risk/zip/85705/) · [85706 South Tucson](/wildfire-risk/zip/85706/) · [85707 South Tucson](/wildfire-risk/zip/85707/) · [85708 South Tucson](/wildfire-risk/zip/85708/) · [85709 San Xavier / Wa:k](/wildfire-risk/zip/85709/) · [85710 South Tucson](/wildfire-risk/zip/85710/) · [85715 Tucson](/wildfire-risk/zip/85715/) · [85718 Oro Valley](/wildfire-risk/zip/85718/) · [85719 Tucson](/wildfire-risk/zip/85719/) · [85721 Tucson](/wildfire-risk/zip/85721/) · [85723 South Tucson](/wildfire-risk/zip/85723/) · [85724 Tucson](/wildfire-risk/zip/85724/) · [85726 South Tucson](/wildfire-risk/zip/85726/) · [85730 Vail](/wildfire-risk/zip/85730/) · [85734 San Xavier / Wa:k](/wildfire-risk/zip/85734/) · [85741 Oro Valley](/wildfire-risk/zip/85741/) · [85742 Oro Valley](/wildfire-risk/zip/85742/) · [85745 Tucson](/wildfire-risk/zip/85745/) · [85747 Vail](/wildfire-risk/zip/85747/) · [85748 Vail](/wildfire-risk/zip/85748/) · [85749 Tucson](/wildfire-risk/zip/85749/) · [85755 Catalina](/wildfire-risk/zip/85755/) · [85756 San Xavier / Wa:k](/wildfire-risk/zip/85756/)

Grouped from 30 of 65 ZIP areas — the rest had no sample point fall inside them. The community shown is the nearest mapped place to the ZIP's centre.

ZIP areas are Census 2020 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas intersecting the county boundary.

Where to go next

## Pima County wildfire risk _in context_

[Arizona wildfire risk The statewide picture and every county page we publish](/wildfire-risk/arizona/) [Wildfire risk by state Every state and county we cover](/wildfire-risk/) [How Satelife calculates wildfire risk Data sources, layers, score composition, honest limits](/wildfire-risk/methodology/) [Create a wildfire evacuation plan Zones, egress routes, refuge areas](/wildfire-evacuation-plan/) [Run a report for a Pima County address PDF + score + mitigation plan](/#cta)

FAQ

## Frequently asked questions about _Pima County wildfire risk_

How much of Pima County has burned since 1984?

A total of 564,850 acres has burned since 1984, which equals 9.6% of the county.

What are the most important recent fire names to know here?

The largest listed fire is Bighorn (2020) at 119,541 acres. The most recent large fire is Gallineta (2023).

Is wildfire risk mostly low across the county?

No. Most scored locations are in Moderate (99 points), and many are in High (72 points).

Do we have fire-weather scores for the whole county?

No. Fire weather was measured at only one location, near Sasabe, with a score of 65.7, so it could not be measured across the county.

What does FEMA say about countywide wildfire risk?

FEMA’s National Risk Index rates Pima County’s wildfire risk as "Relatively High" and its wildfire expected annual loss as "Relatively High."

This page is generated from a Pima County data pack assembled on 2026-09-05 (pack v1.0). Scores are sampled across the county, not measured at any individual address, and are informational decision support — not a substitute for official evacuation orders, a fire-agency hazard determination, or an insurer's underwriting judgement. Data versions: fema\_nri 1.20.0 (Dec 2025) · landfire per adapter · nifc\_history All Years View · wfigs current · wrc v2.0 (2024) · zcta Census 2020.

## What does _your parcel_ look like, layer by layer?

A county range shows the spread. An address-level Satelife report shows where in that spread your property actually sits — PDF, per-layer score, and a prioritized mitigation plan.

[Start with your address →](/#cta)

[![PRR](/images/prr.png)](/ficha-de-website-voucher-satelife.pdf)

© 2024–2026 Satelife, Lda. All rights reserved.

Satelife reports are for informational purposes only and do not constitute insurance, financial, or legal advice.
