{
  "title": "Wildfire Risk in Alpine County, CA 2026 | Satelife",
  "description": "Wildfire risk in Alpine County spans a wide range across the places we scored. Scores run from 41.8 near Markleeville to 79.4 in Markleeville, with a county median of 63.2.",
  "image": "https://satelife.ai/images/wildfire-risk/alpine-county/generated/alpine-county-locator.webp",
  "canonical": "https://satelife.ai/wildfire-risk/california/alpine-county/",
  "content": "[Home](/)›[Wildfire Risk](/wildfire-risk/)›[California](/wildfire-risk/california/)›Alpine County\n\nAlpine County, California\n\n# Wildfire risk in Alpine County: _where it is highest_, and why\n\nWildfire risk in Alpine County spans a wide range across the places we scored. Scores run from 41.8 near Markleeville to 79.4 in Markleeville, with a county median of 63.2.\n\n[Score my Alpine County address →](#score-my-address) [How risky is this county? ↓](#risk-at-a-glance)\n\nBefore 20002000s2010s2020sCommunity\n\nAlpine County — the largest fires on record, at their perimeter centres, with the county’s main communities. Select a marker for its detail.\n\nAt a glance\n\n## Half of Alpine County scores _High_ or worse\n\nWe scored 152 points across Alpine County on the same 0–100 scale a Satelife address report uses, and they do not land in one place. 7% of them come out Very High, while 8% are Moderate. Which end your own parcel sits at is not something a county map can tell you.\n\n85%\n\n**Very High** 7% · 11 of 152 points **High** 85% · 129 of 152 points **Moderate** 8% · 12 of 152 points\n\nSafest end we measured 41.8 near Markleeville · Moderate\n\nMiddle of the county 63.2 High — half of Alpine County is above this\n\nMost exposed end we measured 79.4 near Markleeville · Very High\n\n### And the federal models agree it is a fire county\n\nRelatively Moderate FEMA National Risk Index — wildfire risk rating · index score 89.1 / 100\n\n$1.2M / yr FEMA NRI — expected annual loss from wildfire · rated Relatively Moderate\n\n0.59% USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities — mean annual burn probability · 90th-percentile cell 1.38%\n\n6.32 ft USFS WRC — mean conditional flame length · 99% of the county carries burnable fuel\n\nFEMA NRI also rates Alpine County: all-hazards risk Very Low · social vulnerability Relatively Moderate · community resilience Relatively Moderate · annualised wildfire frequency 0.0102.\n\nSources: 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.\n\nWhat does your Alpine County address score?\n\nA county range shows the spread. Your parcel sits somewhere inside it — the report says where, and what to do about it.\n\nFree to request · PDF report with a 0–100 score, the drivers behind it, and a mitigation plan\n\nLocal context\n\n## What the data says about _Alpine County_\n\nMost scored locations fall in the High tier: 129 points are High, while 11 are Very High. FEMA’s National Risk Index rates the county’s wildfire risk as \"Relatively Moderate\" overall.\n\nFire record\n\n## Where the fires _actually were_\n\nThe largest fire in this county’s records is the Tamarack fire in 2021 at 67,054 acres. It is also the most recent large fire.\n\nOther major fires tied to Alpine County include the Caldor fire (2021), 221,784 acres, and the Donnell fire (2018), 36,461 acres. Both are listed as partly in the county.\n\nSince 1984, Alpine County has had 150,942 acres burn within mapped perimeters. That equals 32% of the county, across 55 fire perimeters.\n\n![Tamarack Fire (2021) in Alpine County, California - Tamarack Fire from Turtle Rock Park Campground in Markleeville, California](/images/wildfire-risk/alpine-county/photos/tamarack-fire-2021-07-17-16-22-02-822-cdt.webp)\n\n**Tamarack Fire, 2021** — Alpine County. Photo: United States Forest Service · [Public domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tamarack_Fire_-_2021_07_17-16.22.02.822-CDT.jpg)\n\n![Slink Fire (2020) in Alpine County, California - Wildland firefighters for the Slink Fire at morning briefing at Antelope Valley Fire Department in Coleville, California. The Slin](/images/wildfire-risk/alpine-county/photos/20200902-fs-humboldt-toiyabe-nf-cpet5a8479-50298182711.webp)\n\n**Slink Fire, 2020** — Alpine County. Photo: Intermountain Region US Forest Service · [Public domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20200902_FS-Humboldt-Toiyabe_NF-CPET5A8479_\\(50298182711\\).jpg)\n\n55 mapped fire perimeters centred in the county since 1984\n\n150,942 acres inside those perimeters since 1984\n\n32.0% of the county's area, as a share of 1,910 km²\n\nTamarack 2021 most recent large fire on record\n\nBefore 20002000s2010s2020s \n\nFire perimeters coloured by decade. Select a perimeter for its name, year and size.\n\nNamed fires on record\n\n-   **Tamarack Fire**202167,054 acres\n-   **Slink Fire**202026,752 acres\n-   **Washington Fire**201517,790 acres\n-   **Donnell Fire**201836,461 acres in totalcrossed into the county\n-   **Caldor Fire**2021221,784 acres in totalcrossed into the county\n-   **McCormick Fire**20174,423 acres\n-   **Indian Fire**198417,771 acres in totalcrossed into the county\n-   **Acorn Fire**19876,354 acres\n\nPerimeter sources: NIFC Interagency Fire Perimeter History · WFIGS Interagency Perimeters · largest on record: Tamarack 2021. Perimeters are simplified for display; acreage is the figure the source records.\n\nCommunities\n\n## Where in the county you are _matters most_\n\nMarkleeville (population 191) has a median wildfire risk score of 68.6.\n\nBear Valley (population 128) has a median score of 53.8.\n\nFor county-wide context, FEMA’s National Risk Index rates Alpine County’s expected annual wildfire loss as \"Relatively Moderate,\" and its community resilience rating as \"Relatively Moderate.\"\n\nMarkleeville village · 191 people\n\n68.6 _High_\n\nBear Valley village · 128 people\n\n53.8 _High_\n\nThe 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.\n\nTerrain & fuels\n\n## Terrain, vegetation and _fuels_\n\nTerrain scores range from 30.0 near Bear Valley to 65.0 near Markleeville, with a median of 55.0. That shows meaningful slope/topography differences between scored locations.\n\nVegetation and fuels scores are generally higher: 46.3 in Bear Valley at the low end and 80.0 near Bear Valley at the high end, with a median of 74.6.\n\nFire history also varies sharply, from 5.0 near Bear Valley to 95.0 near Markleeville. The median fire-history score is 50.0.\n\n55 median terrain score (max 65 near Markleeville)\n\n74.6 median vegetation & fuels score (max 80 near Bear Valley)\n\nFire weather\n\n## Fire weather across _Alpine County_\n\nFire weather was measured in Alpine County, and the spread is fairly tight in the scored locations: 54.3 at the low end and 62.1 at the high end.\n\nA separate USFS burn-probability product reports a mean annual burn probability of 0.59% and a 90th-percentile cell value of 1.38%. It also indicates that 99.2% of the county can burn.\n\n54.3 lowest fire-weather score — near Bear Valley\n\n62.1 highest fire-weather score — near Bear Valley\n\nWhat drives it\n\n## Which part of the risk _moves_, and which doesn't\n\nRisk varies a lot inside the county. The highest scored location is in Markleeville at 79.4, while the lowest scored location is near Markleeville at 41.8.\n\nAt the community level, Markleeville’s median score is 68.6. Bear Valley’s median is 53.8.\n\nSo two places in the same county can sit in different parts of the risk range, even when both are in mountain terrain.\n\nEach bar is what one part of the score covers across Alpine 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.\n\nTerrain\n\n30–65 highest near Markleeville\n\nVegetation & fuels\n\n46.3–80 highest near Bear Valley\n\nHazard zone\n\n28.2–90 highest near Markleeville\n\nFire history\n\n5–95 highest near Markleeville\n\nFire weather\n\n54.3–62.1 highest near Bear Valley\n\nOverall score\n\n41.8–79.4 highest near Markleeville\n\nThe 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.\n\nShow every number behind these bars\n\nLayer\n\nMin\n\nMedian\n\nMax\n\nLowest place\n\nHighest place\n\nPoints\n\nTerrain\n\n30\n\n55\n\n65\n\nnear Bear Valley\n\nnear Markleeville\n\n152\n\nVegetation & fuels\n\n46.3\n\n74.6\n\n80\n\nBear Valley\n\nnear Bear Valley\n\n152\n\nHazard zone\n\n28.2\n\n73.8\n\n90\n\nnear Bear Valley\n\nMarkleeville\n\n152\n\nFire history\n\n5\n\n50\n\n95\n\nnear Bear Valley\n\nnear Markleeville\n\n152\n\nFire weather\n\n54.3\n\n54.3\n\n62.1\n\nnear Bear Valley\n\nnear Bear Valley\n\n152\n\nComposite\n\n41.8\n\n63.2\n\n79.4\n\nnear Markleeville\n\nMarkleeville\n\n152\n\nIndependently of Satelife's layers, the USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities grid puts the county's mean annual burn probability at **0.59%** (90th percentile cell: **1.38%**), with a mean conditional flame length of **6.32 ft**. **99%** of the 24,676 grid cells inside the county carry burnable fuel at all.\n\nSource: USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities v2.0 (ImageServer, county extent).\n\nCAL FIRE has no mapped Fire Hazard Severity Zone at **137** of the 152 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.\n\n152 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 100%. Scores are 0–100 and comparable within the county, not across states.\n\nFor a property\n\n## What a county range means for _one address_\n\nProperty-level features were not measured at all in this county scoring.\n\nWhat is available is place-based wildfire risk. Most scored points are in the High tier (129), with smaller groups in Moderate (12) and Very High (11).\n\nThat means property context here comes from where a home sits in the county pattern, which ranges from 41.8 to 79.4 in the scored locations.\n\nAcross 152 sampled points in Alpine County, the score runs from 41.8 to 79.4 — 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.\n\nFind out where your Alpine County parcel sits\n\nSlope, the fuel touching the structure, the road out, the fire history within a mile — measured at your address, not averaged across the county.\n\nFree to request · PDF report with a 0–100 score, the drivers behind it, and a mitigation plan\n\nCoverage\n\n## ZIP codes we cover in Alpine County\n\nEvery one of the 10 ZIP areas that touch Alpine 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.\n\n**High** 3 ZIPs\n\n-   [96120 Markleeville68](/wildfire-risk/zip/96120/)\n-   [95223 Bear Valley61](/wildfire-risk/zip/95223/)\n-   [95646 Bear Valley60](/wildfire-risk/zip/95646/)\n\n**No sampled point inside** 7 ZIPs\n\n[89410 Markleeville](/wildfire-risk/zip/89410/) · [89449 Markleeville](/wildfire-risk/zip/89449/) · [89460 Markleeville](/wildfire-risk/zip/89460/) · [95364 Bear Valley](/wildfire-risk/zip/95364/) · [95666 Bear Valley](/wildfire-risk/zip/95666/) · [96107 Markleeville](/wildfire-risk/zip/96107/) · [96150 Markleeville](/wildfire-risk/zip/96150/)\n\nGrouped from 3 of 10 ZIP areas — the rest had no sample point fall inside them. The community shown is the nearest mapped place to the ZIP's centre.\n\nZIP areas are Census 2020 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas intersecting the county boundary.\n\nWhere to go next\n\n## Alpine County wildfire risk _in context_\n\n[California wildfire risk The statewide picture and every county page we publish](/wildfire-risk/california/) [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 Alpine County address PDF + score + mitigation plan](/#cta)\n\nFAQ\n\n## Frequently asked questions about _Alpine County wildfire risk_\n\nHow much of Alpine County has burned since 1984?\n\n150,942 acres have burned since 1984, and 32% of the county has burned across 55 mapped fire perimeters.\n\nWhat is the largest and most recent large fire in this county’s records?\n\nTamarack (2021) is both the largest and the most recent large fire, at 67,054 acres.\n\nWhich scored community is higher risk, Markleeville or Bear Valley?\n\nMarkleeville is higher by median score: 68.6 versus 53.8 for Bear Valley.\n\nWhat does FEMA say about wildfire risk in Alpine County?\n\nFEMA’s National Risk Index rates the county’s wildfire risk as \"Relatively Moderate\" and its expected annual wildfire loss as \"Relatively Moderate.\"\n\nIs fire weather measured here, and what about burn probability?\n\nYes. Fire weather scores were measured, ranging from 54.3 to 62.1 in the scored locations. Separately, the USFS product reports 0.59% mean annual burn probability and 1.38% at the 90th-percentile cell.\n\nThis page is generated from a Alpine County data pack assembled on 2026-08-19 (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.\n\n## What does _your parcel_ look like, layer by layer?\n\nA 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.\n\n[Start with your address →](/#cta)\n\n[![PRR](/images/prr.png)](/ficha-de-website-voucher-satelife.pdf)\n\n© 2024–2026 Satelife, Lda. All rights reserved.\n\nSatelife reports are for informational purposes only and do not constitute insurance, financial, or legal advice."
}