--- title: "Wildfire Risk in Imperial County, CA 2026 | Satelife" description: "Wildfire risk in Imperial County spans a wide range across the places we scored. The overall score runs from 11.7 to 77.8, with a middle value of 39.1. That means conditions can look very different from one part of the county to another." image: "https://satelife.ai/images/wildfire-risk/imperial-county/generated/imperial-county-locator.webp" canonical: "https://satelife.ai/wildfire-risk/california/imperial-county/" --- [Home](/)›[Wildfire Risk](/wildfire-risk/)›[California](/wildfire-risk/california/)›Imperial County Imperial County, California # Wildfire risk in Imperial County: _where it is highest_, and why Wildfire risk in Imperial County spans a wide range across the places we scored. The overall score runs from 11.7 to 77.8, with a middle value of 39.1. That means conditions can look very different from one part of the county to another. [Score my Imperial County address →](#score-my-address) [How risky is this county? ↓](#risk-at-a-glance) Before 20002000s2010s2020sCommunity Imperial 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 Imperial County scores _Moderate_ or worse We scored 165 points across Imperial County on the same 0–100 scale a Satelife address report uses, and they do not land in one place. 1% of them come out Very High, while 22% are Low. Which end your own parcel sits at is not something a county map can tell you. 69% 22% **Very High** 1% · 1 of 165 points **High** 8% · 14 of 165 points **Moderate** 69% · 114 of 165 points **Low** 22% · 36 of 165 points Safest end we measured 11.7 near Salton City · Low Middle of the county 39.1 Moderate — half of Imperial County is above this Most exposed end we measured 77.8 near Ocotillo · Very High ### And the federal models agree it is a fire county Relatively Low FEMA National Risk Index — wildfire risk rating · index score 76 / 100 $184k / yr FEMA NRI — expected annual loss from wildfire · rated Relatively Low 0.04% USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities — mean annual burn probability · 90th-percentile cell 0.11% 1.61 ft USFS WRC — mean conditional flame length · 36% of the county carries burnable fuel FEMA NRI also rates Imperial County: all-hazards risk Relatively High · social vulnerability Very High · community resilience Very Low · annualised wildfire frequency 0.0008. 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 Imperial 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 _Imperial County_ Most scored places fell in the Moderate tier, with 114 points there. Low came next with 36 points, while High had 14 and Very High had 1. For county-wide context, FEMA’s National Risk Index rates Imperial County’s wildfire risk as Relatively Low and its wildfire expected annual loss as Relatively Low. In the same FEMA system, the county’s all-hazards risk is rated Relatively High. Fire record ## Where the fires _actually were_ Since 1984, fire perimeters in Imperial County add up to 49 incidents and 8,717 acres. That equals 0.3% of the county area burned over that period. The largest fire listed here is Island Lake (2013), at 2,109 acres. The most recent large fire is West Main (2023), at 1,028 acres. 49 mapped fire perimeters centred in the county since 1984 8,717 acres inside those perimeters since 1984 0.3% of the county's area, as a share of 11,562.6 km² West Main 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 - **Island Lake Fire**20132,109 acres - **West Main Fire**20231,028 acres - **Clip Fire**20211,068 acres - **Draper Fire**2017833 acres - **Broadway Fire**2025841 acres in totalcrossed into the county - **Inkopah Fire**2007699 acres - **Foster Fire**2026236 acres - **Highline Fire**2013262 acres Perimeter sources: NIFC Interagency Fire Perimeter History · WFIGS Interagency Perimeters · largest on record: Island Lake 2013. 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, scored risk is lower in El Centro (15.6) and sits somewhat higher in Calexico (20.5) and Brawley (21.1). Several smaller communities score higher, including Niland (38.7), Slab City (43.4), and Winterhaven (49.2). That spread is why local address-level context matters inside the same county. Winterhaven village · 390 people 49.2 _Moderate_ Slab City village · 200 people 43.4 _Moderate_ Ocotillo village 40.5 _Moderate_ Dixieland village 40.1 _Moderate_ Niland village · 756 people 38.7 _Moderate_ Salton City village · 5,155 people 37.1 _Moderate_ Heber village 30.6 _Moderate_ Calipatria village · 6,515 people 24.5 _Low_ Holtville town · 5,605 people 23.7 _Low_ Imperial town · 20,263 people 22.9 _Low_ 5 more communities in Imperial County Seeley town 22.4 _Low_ Brawley town · 26,416 people 21.1 _Low_ Calexico town · 38,633 people 20.5 _Low_ Westmorland village · 2,014 people 20.4 _Low_ El Centro city · 44,322 people 15.6 _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 range from 5.0 in Heber to 65.0 near Ocotillo, with a county middle of 20.0. In plain terms, slope and landform exposure are much stronger in some areas than others. Vegetation and fuels are generally higher than terrain in this county: scores run from 5.0 near Westmorland up to 80.0 in Heber, with a middle of 70.0. That pattern contributes to wildfire risk in places where burnable cover is more continuous. 20 median terrain score (max 65 near Ocotillo) 70 median vegetation & fuels score (max 80 near Heber) Fire weather ## Fire weather across _Imperial County_ Fire-weather scores are consistently elevated across the places scored, ranging from 57.0 in Salton City to 67.0 near Slab City, with a middle value of 59.3. A separate USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities product reports a mean annual burn probability of 0.04% and a 90th-percentile cell value of 0.11%. It also shows 36.2% of the county as burnable in that model; this is a modeled burn-probability view, not a fire-weather score. 57 lowest fire-weather score — near Salton City 67 highest fire-weather score — near Slab City What drives it ## Which part of the risk _moves_, and which doesn't Risk is not uniform between communities. In the places scored, El Centro is on the lower end at 15.6, while Winterhaven is higher at 49.2. You also see big shifts within local areas. The highest scored location is near Ocotillo at 77.8, while the lowest scored location is in Salton City at 11.7, even though Salton City’s community middle score is 37.1. Each bar is what one part of the score covers across Imperial 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 5–65 highest near Ocotillo Vegetation & fuels 5–80 highest near Heber Hazard zone 10–53.1 highest near Salton City Fire history 5–95 highest near Winterhaven Fire weather 57–67 highest near Slab City Overall score 11.7–77.8 highest near Ocotillo 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 20 65 Heber near Ocotillo 165 Vegetation & fuels 5 70 80 near Westmorland Heber 165 Hazard zone 10 10 53.1 near Ocotillo near Salton City 165 Fire history 5 5 95 near Ocotillo Winterhaven 165 Fire weather 57 59.3 67 Salton City near Slab City 165 Composite 11.7 39.1 77.8 Salton City near Ocotillo 165 Independently of Satelife's layers, the USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities grid puts the county's mean annual burn probability at **0.04%** (90th percentile cell: **0.11%**), with a mean conditional flame length of **1.61 ft**. **36%** of the 33,477 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 **92** of the 165 sampled points — the zones cover Local Responsibility Areas, and most of this county is state or federal land. At **30** of them the USFS grid above supplied the hazard reading instead; at the remaining 62 the hazard weight is renormalised away rather than scored as low. 165 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 property context, hazard-zone scores are low in many places, with a middle value of 10.0, but they rise to 53.1 near Salton City. So this factor can change a lot by location. Fire-history scores are low in many scored places (middle 5.0), but they reach 95.0 in Winterhaven. This layer reflects where past fire footprints are more present and where they are less present. Across 165 sampled points in Imperial County, the score runs from 11.7 to 77.8 — 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 Imperial 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 Imperial County Every one of the 23 ZIP areas that touch Imperial 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. **Moderate** 12 ZIPs - [92283 Winterhaven46](/wildfire-risk/zip/92283/) - [92266 45](/wildfire-risk/zip/92266/) - [92257 Slab City40](/wildfire-risk/zip/92257/) - [92259 Ocotillo40](/wildfire-risk/zip/92259/) - [92004 Salton City39](/wildfire-risk/zip/92004/) - [92274 Salton City38](/wildfire-risk/zip/92274/) - [92227 Brawley37](/wildfire-risk/zip/92227/) - [92250 Holtville36](/wildfire-risk/zip/92250/) - [92251 Seeley33](/wildfire-risk/zip/92251/) - [92275 Salton City30](/wildfire-risk/zip/92275/) - [92233 Calipatria28](/wildfire-risk/zip/92233/) - [92231 Heber27](/wildfire-risk/zip/92231/) **Low** 4 ZIPs - [92243 El Centro21](/wildfire-risk/zip/92243/) - [92273 Seeley16](/wildfire-risk/zip/92273/) - [92249 Heber16](/wildfire-risk/zip/92249/) - [92281 Westmorland16](/wildfire-risk/zip/92281/) **No sampled point inside** 7 ZIPs [85328](/wildfire-risk/zip/85328/) · [85364 Winterhaven](/wildfire-risk/zip/85364/) · [85365](/wildfire-risk/zip/85365/) · [91934 Ocotillo](/wildfire-risk/zip/91934/) · [92036](/wildfire-risk/zip/92036/) · [92222 Winterhaven](/wildfire-risk/zip/92222/) · [92225](/wildfire-risk/zip/92225/) Grouped from 16 of 23 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 ## Imperial County wildfire risk _in context_ [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 Imperial County address PDF + score + mitigation plan](/#cta) FAQ ## Frequently asked questions about _Imperial County wildfire risk_ Is wildfire risk the same everywhere in Imperial County? No. Scores in the places we scored range from 11.7 to 77.8, so risk conditions vary substantially by location. What are the key recent fire facts for this county? Since 1984, 49 fire perimeters have burned 8,717 acres in the county, or 0.3% of county area. The largest listed fire is Island Lake (2013), and the most recent large fire is West Main (2023). What does FEMA say about county-wide wildfire risk? FEMA’s National Risk Index rates Imperial County’s wildfire risk as Relatively Low and wildfire expected annual loss as Relatively Low. FEMA’s all-hazards risk rating for the county is Relatively High. Are fire-weather conditions low here because some towns have lower overall scores? Not necessarily. Fire-weather scores are high and fairly tight across the county’s scored places (57.0 to 67.0), while overall wildfire risk still varies because other factors differ by location. This page is generated from a Imperial 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. [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.