{
  "title": "Wildfire Risk in Modoc County, CA 2026 | Satelife",
  "description": "Wildfire risk varies a lot across Modoc County. Across the places we scored, the overall score runs from 21.3 in unincorporated Modoc County to 76.7 near Alturas, with a county middle point of 62.0.",
  "image": "https://satelife.ai/images/wildfire-risk/modoc-county/generated/modoc-county-locator.webp",
  "canonical": "https://satelife.ai/wildfire-risk/california/modoc-county/",
  "content": "[Home](/)›[Wildfire Risk](/wildfire-risk/)›[California](/wildfire-risk/california/)›Modoc County\n\nModoc County, California\n\n# Wildfire risk in Modoc County: _where it is highest_, and why\n\nWildfire risk varies a lot across Modoc County. Across the places we scored, the overall score runs from 21.3 in unincorporated Modoc County to 76.7 near Alturas, with a county middle point of 62.0.\n\n[Score my Modoc County address →](#score-my-address) [How risky is this county? ↓](#risk-at-a-glance)\n\nBefore 20002000s2010s2020sCommunity\n\nModoc 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 Modoc County scores _High_ or worse\n\nWe scored 154 points across Modoc 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 1% are Low. Which end your own parcel sits at is not something a county map can tell you.\n\n76%\n\n20%\n\n**Very High** 3% · 4 of 154 points **High** 76% · 117 of 154 points **Moderate** 20% · 31 of 154 points **Low** 1% · 2 of 154 points\n\nSafest end we measured 21.3 near unincorporated Modoc County · Low\n\nMiddle of the county 62 High — half of Modoc County is above this\n\nMost exposed end we measured 76.7 near Alturas · 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 92.9 / 100\n\n$1.8M / yr FEMA NRI — expected annual loss from wildfire · rated Relatively Moderate\n\n0.61% USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities — mean annual burn probability · 90th-percentile cell 1.18%\n\n4.54 ft USFS WRC — mean conditional flame length · 95% of the county carries burnable fuel\n\nFEMA NRI also rates Modoc County: all-hazards risk Very Low · social vulnerability Relatively High · community resilience Relatively Low · annualised wildfire frequency 0.0053.\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 Modoc 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 _Modoc County_\n\nMost scored locations fall in the High tier. The count is 117 High, compared with 31 Moderate and 4 Very High.\n\nFor county-wide context, FEMA’s National Risk Index rates Modoc County’s wildfire risk as Relatively Moderate, and its expected annual wildfire loss as Relatively Moderate.\n\nFire record\n\n## Where the fires _actually were_\n\nFire has been a recurring part of Modoc County’s landscape. Since 1984, recorded fire perimeters in and around the county total 387,821 acres across 332 perimeters, and 14.5% of the county has burned since 1984.\n\nThe largest fire named for this county set is Steele (2017), at 45,704 acres.\n\nThe most recent large fire is Mammoth (2025).\n\nOther major fires tied to this county record include Barry Point (2012) at 92,958 acres and Caldwell (2020), which is partly in the county, at 80,852 acres.\n\n![Barry Point Fire (2012) in Modoc County, California - A dozer operator constructs a fire break on the California side of the Barry Point Fire. Hand and engine crews conduct mop-up oper](/images/wildfire-risk/modoc-county/photos/barry-point-fire-15-7826275236.webp)\n\n**Barry Point Fire, 2012** — Modoc County. Photo: Bureau of Land Management · [Public domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Barry_Point_Fire_15_\\(7826275236\\).jpg)\n\n![Stone Fire (2018) in Modoc County, California - Photo by Andrew Mueller, BLM.](/images/wildfire-risk/modoc-county/photos/stone-fire-in-the-applegate-field-office-47494935921.webp)\n\n**Stone Fire, 2018** — Modoc County. Photo: blmcalifornia · [Public domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stone_Fire_in_the_Applegate_Field_Office_\\(47494935921\\).jpg)\n\n332 mapped fire perimeters centred in the county since 1984\n\n387,821 acres inside those perimeters since 1984\n\n14.5% of the county's area, as a share of 10,820.1 km²\n\nMammoth 2025 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-   **Barry Point Fire**201292,958 acres\n-   **Steele Fire**201745,704 acres\n-   **Caldwell Fire**202080,852 acres in totalcrossed into the county\n-   **Stone Fire**201839,584 acres\n-   **Scarface Fire**197778,191 acres\n-   **Cove Fire**201730,891 acres\n-   **Pine Fire**199930,578 acres\n-   **Tucker Fire**201914,259 acres\n\nPerimeter sources: NIFC Interagency Fire Perimeter History · WFIGS Interagency Perimeters · largest on record: Steele 2017. 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\nAmong named communities, Alturas has the highest overall wildfire-risk middle score at 60.2, followed by Cedarville at 58.8 and Adin at 55.8.\n\nCanby’s middle score is 54.2, below the county middle point of 62.0, which shows why county-wide averages can miss local differences.\n\nFor broader community context, FEMA’s National Risk Index rates Modoc County’s social vulnerability as Relatively High and community resilience as Relatively Low.\n\nAlturas town · 2,919 people\n\n60.2 _High_\n\nCedarville village · 514 people\n\n58.8 _High_\n\nAdin village · 205 people\n\n55.8 _High_\n\nCanby village\n\n54.2 _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 are fairly tight in Modoc County, ranging from 55.0 near Adin to 65.0 in unincorporated Modoc County.\n\nVegetation and fuels show a much wider spread. Scores run from 5.0 near Alturas to 80.0 near Adin, with a middle value of 74.0.\n\nIn practical terms, that means differences in vegetation and fuels are a bigger contributor to place-to-place risk differences here than terrain alone.\n\n65 median terrain score (max 65 near unincorporated Modoc County)\n\n74 median vegetation & fuels score (max 80 near Adin)\n\nFire weather\n\n## Fire weather across _Modoc County_\n\nFire-weather scores are consistently elevated across the places we scored, but they do still vary. They range from 54.5 near Cedarville to 63.6 near Adin, with a middle value of 63.0.\n\nA separate U.S. Forest Service wildfire model shows a mean annual burn probability of 0.61% and a 90th-percentile cell value of 1.18%. It also indicates that 95% of the county is in burnable area.\n\n54.5 lowest fire-weather score — near Cedarville\n\n63.6 highest fire-weather score — near Adin\n\nWhat drives it\n\n## Which part of the risk _moves_, and which doesn't\n\nRisk is not uniform from one part of the county to another. The highest overall score, 76.7, is near Alturas, while the lowest, 21.3, is in unincorporated Modoc County.\n\nPast fire exposure also swings widely by location: the fire-history score goes from 5.0 in unincorporated Modoc County to 95.0 near Alturas.\n\nEven nearby areas can differ sharply in mapped hazard intensity. Around Adin, the hazard-zone score reaches 90.0 near town, while a scored point at Adin is 10.0.\n\nEach bar is what one part of the score covers across Modoc 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\n55–65 highest near unincorporated Modoc County\n\nVegetation & fuels\n\n5–80 highest near Adin\n\nHazard zone\n\n10–90 highest near Adin\n\nFire history\n\n5–95 highest near Alturas\n\nFire weather\n\n54.5–63.6 highest near Adin\n\nOverall score\n\n21.3–76.7 highest near Alturas\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\n55\n\n65\n\n65\n\nnear Adin\n\nunincorporated Modoc County\n\n154\n\nVegetation & fuels\n\n5\n\n74\n\n80\n\nnear Alturas\n\nnear Adin\n\n154\n\nHazard zone\n\n10\n\n69.5\n\n90\n\nAdin\n\nnear Adin\n\n154\n\nFire history\n\n5\n\n40\n\n95\n\nunincorporated Modoc County\n\nnear Alturas\n\n154\n\nFire weather\n\n54.5\n\n63\n\n63.6\n\nnear Cedarville\n\nnear Adin\n\n154\n\nComposite\n\n21.3\n\n62\n\n76.7\n\nunincorporated Modoc County\n\nnear Alturas\n\n154\n\nIndependently of Satelife's layers, the USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities grid puts the county's mean annual burn probability at **0.61%** (90th percentile cell: **1.18%**), with a mean conditional flame length of **4.54 ft**. **95%** of the 39,634 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 **92** of the 154 sampled points — the zones cover Local Responsibility Areas, and most of this county is state or federal land. At **91** of them the USFS grid above supplied the hazard reading instead; at the remaining 1 the hazard weight is renormalised away rather than scored as low.\n\n154 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\nFor property-level discussions, the county pattern is mostly High tier, but not exclusively so. The scored-point counts are 117 High, 31 Moderate, and 4 Very High.\n\nIndividual sites can sit far apart on risk even within the same county market: the county-wide scored range runs from 21.3 to 76.7.\n\nAt the county level, another indicator to keep in mind is modeled fire behavior potential: mean conditional flame length is 4.54 feet, and 95% of the county is in area that can burn.\n\nAcross 154 sampled points in Modoc County, the score runs from 21.3 to 76.7 — 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.\n\nFind out where your Modoc 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 Modoc County\n\nEvery one of the 19 ZIP areas that touch Modoc 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** 12 ZIPs\n\n-   [97635 69](/wildfire-risk/zip/97635/)\n-   [96054 Adin66](/wildfire-risk/zip/96054/)\n-   [96108 Alturas63](/wildfire-risk/zip/96108/)\n-   [96116 Alturas63](/wildfire-risk/zip/96116/)\n-   [96015 Canby61](/wildfire-risk/zip/96015/)\n-   [96101 Alturas59](/wildfire-risk/zip/96101/)\n-   [96134 58](/wildfire-risk/zip/96134/)\n-   [96112 Cedarville56](/wildfire-risk/zip/96112/)\n-   [96110 Cedarville55](/wildfire-risk/zip/96110/)\n-   [96056 Adin53](/wildfire-risk/zip/96056/)\n-   [96104 Cedarville51](/wildfire-risk/zip/96104/)\n-   [96006 Adin50](/wildfire-risk/zip/96006/)\n\n**Moderate** 1 ZIP\n\n-   [96115 Cedarville45](/wildfire-risk/zip/96115/)\n\n**No sampled point inside** 6 ZIPs\n\n[89412](/wildfire-risk/zip/89412/) · [96009 Adin](/wildfire-risk/zip/96009/) · [96119 Adin](/wildfire-risk/zip/96119/) · [97623](/wildfire-risk/zip/97623/) · [97630](/wildfire-risk/zip/97630/) · [97632](/wildfire-risk/zip/97632/)\n\nGrouped from 13 of 19 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## Modoc 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 Modoc County address PDF + score + mitigation plan](/#cta)\n\nFAQ\n\n## Frequently asked questions about _Modoc County wildfire risk_\n\nIs wildfire risk the same everywhere in Modoc County?\n\nNo. Across the places we scored, overall risk runs from 21.3 in unincorporated Modoc County to 76.7 near Alturas.\n\nWhat are the key fire-history facts for the county?\n\nRecorded perimeters since 1984 total 387,821 acres, and 14.5% of Modoc County has burned since 1984.\n\nWhat are the most important named fires to know here?\n\nThe largest fire in this county set is Steele (2017) at 45,704 acres. The most recent large fire is Mammoth (2025).\n\nHow does FEMA rate Modoc County for wildfire?\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\nAre fire-weather conditions measured for this county?\n\nYes. Fire-weather scores were measured across the county’s scored locations, ranging from 54.5 near Cedarville to 63.6 near Adin.\n\nThis page is generated from a Modoc 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."
}