Wildfire risk in Del Norte County: where it is highest, and why
Wildfire risk in Del Norte County varies a lot from place to place. Across the places we scored, the middle value is 61.0, with scores running from 15.7 in Smith River up to 80.9 near Klamath.
Del Norte 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 Del Norte County scores High or worse
We scored 155 points across Del Norte County on the same 0–100 scale a Satelife address report uses, and they do not land in one place. 12% of them come out Very High, while 14% are Low. Which end your own parcel sits at is not something a county map can tell you.
12%
60%
15%
14%
Very High12% · 18 of 155 pointsHigh60% · 93 of 155 pointsModerate15% · 23 of 155 pointsLow14% · 21 of 155 points
Safest end we measured15.7near Smith River · Low
Middle of the county61High — half of Del Norte County is above this
Most exposed end we measured80.9near Klamath · Very High
And the federal models agree it is a fire county
Relatively LowFEMA National Risk Index — wildfire risk rating · index score 85.7 / 100
$650k / yrFEMA NRI — expected annual loss from wildfire · rated Relatively Low
1.15%USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities — mean annual burn probability · 90th-percentile cell 2.40%
8.71 ftUSFS WRC — mean conditional flame length · 84% of the county carries burnable fuel
FEMA NRI also rates Del Norte County: all-hazards risk Relatively High · social vulnerability Relatively Moderate · community resilience Relatively Low · annualised wildfire frequency 0.0015.
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 Del Norte 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 Del Norte County
Most scored locations fall in the High tier, with 93 points in that tier. There are also places in Very High, Moderate, and Low tiers, so risk is not uniform across the county.
For county-wide context, FEMA’s National Risk Index rates Del Norte County’s wildfire risk as “Relatively Low,” while its all-hazards risk rating is “Relatively High.”
Fire record
Where the fires actually were
Since 1984, 171,302 acres have burned in Del Norte County, and that is 21.9% of the county. The county has had 60 fire perimeters in that period.
The largest fire listed here is Oak (2017), at 91,125 acres, and it was not partly in Del Norte County. The most recent large fire is Holiday (2023).
Other major fires that were partly in Del Norte County include Biscuit (2002) and Slater (2020).
Biscuit Fire, 2002 — Del Norte County.
Photo: Image by Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA-GSFC · Public domain
60mapped fire perimeters centred in the county since 1984
171,302acres inside those perimeters since 1984
21.9%of the county's area, as a share of 3,162 km²
Holiday 2023most 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
Oak Fire201791,125 acres
Kelly Fire202389,326 acres in totalcrossed into the county
Biscuit Fire2002501,082 acres in totalcrossed into the county
Slater Fire2020157,430 acres in totalcrossed into the county
Mosquito Fire202334,188 acres
Mill Fire200865,882 acres in totalcrossed into the county
Eclipse Complex Fire201790,864 acres in totalcrossed into the county
Blue 2 Fire200817,552 acres
Perimeter sources: NIFC Interagency Fire Perimeter History · WFIGS Interagency Perimeters · largest on record: Oak 2017.
Perimeters are simplified for display; acreage is the figure the source records.
Communities
Where in the county you are matters most
Among named communities, Crescent City has the lowest middle wildfire risk score at 21.6, while Gasquet is much higher at 66.8. That gap shows how different risk can be within one county.
Hiouchi (51.3) and Klamath (50.7) are both around the middle of the community scores shown here, while Smith River is lower at 38.7.
The largest named community here is Crescent City, with a population of 7,860, and Smith River is listed at 866. Community size and wildfire risk score are separate measures, so both are worth checking for a specific home search.
Gasquetvillage
66.8 High
Hiouchivillage
51.3 High
Klamathvillage
50.7 High
Smith Rivervillage · 866 people
38.7 Moderate
Crescent Citytown · 7,860 people
21.6 Low
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 scores are lower near Smith River and higher near Klamath. The terrain middle value is 40.0, with values from 5.0 in Smith River to 65.0 near Klamath.
Vegetation and fuels are generally elevated in the county’s scored locations. The middle value is 70.0, with a low of 5.0 in Klamath and a high of 80.0 near Gasquet.
Taken together, steeper terrain and heavier fuels are associated with higher wildfire risk in parts of the county, especially away from the lowest-scoring coastal locations.
40median terrain score (max 65 near Klamath)
70median vegetation & fuels score (max 80 near Gasquet)
Fire weather
Fire weather across Del Norte County
Fire-weather scores are fairly elevated across the scored locations, with less spread than some other factors. The middle value is 57.9, ranging from 51.2 near Klamath to 65.5 near Crescent City.
Separately from fire weather, the USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities model shows a mean annual burn probability of 1.15% and a 90th-percentile cell value of 2.40%. It also indicates that 83.7% of the county can burn.
51.2lowest fire-weather score — near Klamath
65.5highest fire-weather score — near Crescent City
What drives it
Which part of the risk moves, and which doesn't
Risk changes sharply across short distances in Del Norte County. The highest overall score we saw was 80.9 near Klamath, while the lowest was 15.7 in Smith River.
Some of the strongest differences show up in location-based risk factors. Hazard-zone scores reached 94.1 near Klamath, and fire-history scores reached 95.0 near Klamath, which is associated with higher overall risk in that area.
Each bar is what one part of the score covers across Del Norte 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
5–65highest near Klamath
Vegetation & fuels
5–80highest near Gasquet
Hazard zone
10–94.1highest near Klamath
Fire history
5–95highest near Klamath
Fire weather
51.2–65.5highest near Crescent City
Overall score
15.7–80.9highest near Klamath
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
5
40
65
Smith River
near Klamath
155
Vegetation & fuels
5
70
80
Klamath
near Gasquet
155
Hazard zone
10
71.5
94.1
Klamath
near Klamath
155
Fire history
5
40
95
Klamath
near Klamath
155
Fire weather
51.2
57.9
65.5
near Klamath
near Crescent City
155
Composite
15.7
61
80.9
Smith River
near Klamath
155
Independently of Satelife's layers, the USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities grid puts the county's mean annual burn probability at 1.15% (90th percentile cell: 2.40%), with a mean conditional flame length of 8.71 ft. 84% of the 24,094 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 109 of the 155 sampled points — the zones cover Local Responsibility Areas, and most of this county is state or federal land. At 88 of them the USFS grid above supplied the hazard reading instead; at the remaining 21 the hazard weight is renormalised away rather than scored as low.
155 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.
For a property
What a county range means for one address
For home decisions, the county pattern is mixed but leans higher: the High tier has the most scored points (93), and there are also Very High locations (18). That means two nearby properties can sit in different risk tiers.
Local conditions matter. Hazard-zone values range from 10.0 in Klamath to 94.1 near Klamath, which shows large shifts over short distances.
The USFS model’s mean conditional flame length is 8.71 feet. Along with local tier and location-specific factors, that helps describe how wildfire risk can differ from one property area to another.
Across 155 sampled points in Del Norte County, the score runs from
15.7 to 80.9 — 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 Del Norte 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 Del Norte County
Every one of the 10 ZIP areas that touch Del Norte 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.
Frequently asked questions about Del Norte County wildfire risk
How much of Del Norte County has burned in recent decades?
Since 1984, 171,302 acres have burned, which is 21.9% of the county.
What is the latest large fire mentioned for Del Norte County?
The most recent large fire is Holiday (2023). The largest fire listed here is Oak (2017) at 91,125 acres, and it was not partly in Del Norte County.
Does most of the county fall into a high wildfire-risk tier?
Yes. The High tier has the most scored locations, with 93 points. Other locations are in Very High, Moderate, and Low tiers.
Is FEMA saying Del Norte County has high wildfire risk?
FEMA’s National Risk Index rates the county’s wildfire risk as “Relatively Low.” In the same index, FEMA rates the county’s all-hazards risk as “Relatively High.”
Are fire weather and burn probability the same thing?
No. Fire weather is scored separately here. The USFS burn-probability figures are modelled burn-probability outputs, reported here as 1.15% mean annual burn probability and 2.40% at the 90th-percentile cell.
This page is generated from a Del Norte 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.
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.
