Wildfire risk in Humboldt County: where it is highest, and why
Wildfire risk is not the same everywhere in Humboldt County. In the places we scored, overall risk runs from 12.7 near Shelter Cove to 78.9 near Myers Flat, with a county median of 53.8.
Humboldt 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 Humboldt County scores High or worse
We scored 176 points across Humboldt 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 15% are Low. Which end your own parcel sits at is not something a county map can tell you.
52%
25%
15%
Very High7% · 13 of 176 pointsHigh52% · 92 of 176 pointsModerate25% · 44 of 176 pointsLow15% · 27 of 176 points
Safest end we measured12.7near Shelter Cove · Low
Middle of the county53.8High — half of Humboldt County is above this
Most exposed end we measured78.9near Myers Flat · Very High
And the federal models agree it is a fire county
Relatively ModerateFEMA National Risk Index — wildfire risk rating · index score 95.5 / 100
$3.0M / yrFEMA NRI — expected annual loss from wildfire · rated Relatively Moderate
0.47%USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities — mean annual burn probability · 90th-percentile cell 1.46%
4.98 ftUSFS WRC — mean conditional flame length · 79% of the county carries burnable fuel
FEMA NRI also rates Humboldt County: all-hazards risk Relatively High · social vulnerability Relatively High · community resilience Relatively Moderate · annualised wildfire frequency 0.0017.
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 Humboldt 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 Humboldt County
Most scored locations fall in the High tier: 92 points are High, compared with 44 Moderate and 27 Low. There are also 13 Very High points, so higher-exposure pockets are present.
Since 1984, 308,768 acres have burned in the county, which equals 12% of county land area. That burn history is a major part of how risk looks on the map today.
Fire record
Where the fires actually were
The county’s largest fire listing is Megram (1999), at 125,072 acres. The most recent large fire listed for the county is Mp18 (2026).
Other major fires tied to Humboldt County include Red (2020), which burned partly in the county, and Campbell (2022), also partly in the county at 30,133 acres. The county record also shows 289 fire perimeters since 1984.
Taken together, those events add up to 308,768 acres burned since 1984, or 12% of the county.
289mapped fire perimeters centred in the county since 1984
308,768acres inside those perimeters since 1984
12.0%of the county's area, as a share of 10,427.6 km²
Mp18 2026most 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
Megram Fire1999125,072 acres
Red Fire2020143,887 acres in totalcrossed into the county
Campbell Fire202230,133 acres in totalcrossed into the county
Ammon Fire202211,465 acres
Half Fire200815,130 acres
Corral Fire201312,541 acres
Blake Fire201511,439 acres
Healy Logging Co. Fire195522,509 acres
Perimeter sources: NIFC Interagency Fire Perimeter History · WFIGS Interagency Perimeters · largest on record: Megram 1999.
Perimeters are simplified for display; acreage is the figure the source records.
Communities
Where in the county you are matters most
Among larger population centers, Eureka (18.2), Arcata (20.0), and McKinleyville (30.0) are lower than many inland communities. Fortuna is higher at 39.3.
Several smaller inland communities score much higher, including Hoopa / na:tinixw at 64.6 and Myers Flat at 64.1. Garberville is 52.2, showing that mid-to-high exposure is common outside the lowest-scored coastal areas.
There are also moderate coastal and near-coastal results, such as Trinidad at 37.0 and Ferndale at 33.5. So community name alone is not enough; local conditions still matter.
Willow Creekvillage · 1,700 people
74.6 High
Orleans;Panámnikvillage
72 High
Hoopa / na:tinixwvillage
64.6 High
Myers Flatvillage · 146 people
64.1 High
Mirandavillage
56.5 High
Scotiavillage · 681 people
54.7 High
Garbervillevillage
52.2 High
Petroliavillage · 600 people
50.9 High
Blue Lakevillage · 1,110 people
47 Moderate
Fortunatown · 11,208 people
39.3 Moderate
16 more communities in Humboldt County
Rio Dellvillage · 3,173 people
39.3 Moderate
Pine Hillvillage
37.7 Moderate
Trinidadvillage · 314 people
37 Moderate
Ridgewood Heightsvillage
34.8 Moderate
Ferndalevillage · 1,396 people
33.5 Moderate
Orickvillage · 357 people
30.3 Moderate
McKinleyvilletown · 15,177 people
30 Moderate
Shelter Covevillage
28.4 Moderate
Loletavillage · 783 people
27 Moderate
Cuttenvillage · 3,223 people
26.8 Moderate
Rosewoodvillage
25.8 Moderate
Humboldt Hillvillage
25 Moderate
Bayviewvillage
20.1 Low
Arcatatown · 17,231 people
20 Low
Eurekacity · 26,512 people
18.2 Low
Myrtletownvillage · 4,882 people
17.8 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 contributes unevenly across Humboldt County. Terrain scores run from 5.0 near Shelter Cove to 65.0 at Shelter Cove, with a median of 40.0.
Vegetation and fuels are generally elevated in the scored locations: the median is 67.2, with a high of 75.8 at Petrolia and a low of 5.0 at Shelter Cove.
Hazard-zone scores are also high in many places, with a median of 70.0 and a peak of 93.4 at Orleans;Panámnik. Fire-history scores vary sharply too, from 5.0 at Shelter Cove to 95.0 near Garberville.
40median terrain score (max 65 near Shelter Cove)
67.2median vegetation & fuels score (max 75.8 near Petrolia)
Fire weather
Fire weather across Humboldt County
Fire weather was measured across the county, and it varies less than some other wildfire-risk factors. Scores range from 51.2 near Orick to 58.6 at Shelter Cove, with a median of 57.4.
That tight range means fire weather is one important background condition countywide, while bigger place-to-place differences are more visible in factors like fuels, hazard zones, and prior fire history.
51.2lowest fire-weather score — near Orick
58.6highest fire-weather score — near Shelter Cove
What drives it
Which part of the risk moves, and which doesn't
Risk shifts a lot between communities. On the lower end, Eureka has a median score of 18.2 and Arcata is 20.0. Inland communities can be much higher, including Willow Creek at 74.6 and Orleans;Panámnik at 72.0.
Even nearby places can differ. Fortuna is 39.3 while Scotia is 54.7, and Blue Lake is 47.0. So buyers and owners usually need to look at neighborhood-level patterns, not just a county average.
Countywide extremes reinforce that spread: the lowest scored location is near Shelter Cove at 12.7, while the highest is near Myers Flat at 78.9.
Each bar is what one part of the score covers across Humboldt 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 Shelter Cove
Vegetation & fuels
5–75.8highest near Petrolia
Hazard zone
10–93.4highest near Orleans;Panámnik
Fire history
5–95highest near Garberville
Fire weather
51.2–58.6highest near Shelter Cove
Overall score
12.7–78.9highest near Myers Flat
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
near Shelter Cove
Shelter Cove
176
Vegetation & fuels
5
67.2
75.8
Shelter Cove
Petrolia
176
Hazard zone
10
70
93.4
Shelter Cove
Orleans;Panámnik
176
Fire history
5
20
95
Shelter Cove
near Garberville
176
Fire weather
51.2
57.4
58.6
near Orick
Shelter Cove
176
Composite
12.7
53.8
78.9
near Shelter Cove
near Myers Flat
176
Independently of Satelife's layers, the USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities grid puts the county's mean annual burn probability at 0.47% (90th percentile cell: 1.46%), with a mean conditional flame length of 4.98 ft. 79% of the 28,368 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 57 of the 176 sampled points — the zones cover Local Responsibility Areas. At 36 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.
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 100%. Scores are 0–100 and comparable within the county, not across states.
For a property
What a county range means for one address
FEMA’s National Risk Index rates Humboldt County’s wildfire risk as Relatively Moderate, and its wildfire expected annual loss as Relatively Moderate. In the same FEMA county ratings, all-hazards risk is Relatively High.
FEMA also rates social vulnerability in Humboldt County as Relatively High, while community resilience is Relatively Moderate. These are countywide ratings, not neighborhood ratings.
A separate national wildfire product reports a mean annual burn probability of 0.47%, with a 90th-percentile cell value of 1.46%. It also indicates 79% of the county can burn.
Across 176 sampled points in Humboldt County, the score runs from
12.7 to 78.9 — 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 Humboldt 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 Humboldt County
Every one of the 42 ZIP areas that touch Humboldt 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 Humboldt County wildfire risk
Is wildfire risk basically the same across Humboldt County?
No. In the places we scored, overall risk ranges from 12.7 near Shelter Cove to 78.9 near Myers Flat. Community medians also vary widely, from 18.2 in Eureka to 74.6 in Willow Creek.
What are the key recent and historic fires to know?
The largest fire listing is Megram (1999), at 125,072 acres. The most recent large fire listed is Mp18 (2026). Red (2020) and Campbell (2022) also burned partly in Humboldt County.
How much of the county has burned since 1984?
308,768 acres have burned since 1984, which is 12% of Humboldt County.
What does FEMA say about countywide wildfire risk?
FEMA’s National Risk Index rates Humboldt County’s wildfire risk as Relatively Moderate and wildfire expected annual loss as Relatively Moderate. FEMA rates the county’s all-hazards risk as Relatively High.
Does fire weather vary a lot within the county?
Less than many other factors here. Fire-weather scores run from 51.2 near Orick to 58.6 at Shelter Cove, with a median of 57.4.
This page is generated from a Humboldt 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.
