{
  "title": "Wildfire Risk in San Luis Obispo County, CA 2026 | Satelife",
  "description": "Across San Luis Obispo County, wildfire risk leans high rather than low. The middle score for the places we scored is 61.4.",
  "image": "https://satelife.ai/images/wildfire-risk/san-luis-obispo-county/generated/san-luis-obispo-county-locator.webp",
  "canonical": "https://satelife.ai/wildfire-risk/california/san-luis-obispo-county/",
  "content": "[Home](/)›[Wildfire Risk](/wildfire-risk/)›[California](/wildfire-risk/california/)›San Luis Obispo County\n\nSan Luis Obispo County, California\n\n# Wildfire risk in San Luis Obispo County: _where it is highest_, and why\n\nAcross San Luis Obispo County, wildfire risk leans high rather than low. The middle score for the places we scored is 61.4.\n\n[Score my San Luis Obispo County address →](#score-my-address) [How risky is this county? ↓](#risk-at-a-glance)\n\nBefore 20002000s2010s2020sCommunity\n\nSan Luis Obispo 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 San Luis Obispo County scores _High_ or worse\n\nWe scored 172 points across San Luis Obispo 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 10% are Low. Which end your own parcel sits at is not something a county map can tell you.\n\n12%\n\n59%\n\n19%\n\n**Very High** 12% · 20 of 172 points **High** 59% · 102 of 172 points **Moderate** 19% · 33 of 172 points **Low** 10% · 17 of 172 points\n\nSafest end we measured 8.8 near Oceano · Low\n\nMiddle of the county 61.4 High — half of San Luis Obispo County is above this\n\nMost exposed end we measured 85.1 near Nipomo · Very High\n\n### And the federal models agree it is a fire county\n\nRelatively High FEMA National Risk Index — wildfire risk rating · index score 98.3 / 100\n\n$17.4M / yr FEMA NRI — expected annual loss from wildfire · rated Relatively High\n\n1.66% USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities — mean annual burn probability · 90th-percentile cell 3.91%\n\n5.71 ft USFS WRC — mean conditional flame length · 91% of the county carries burnable fuel\n\nFEMA NRI also rates San Luis Obispo County: all-hazards risk Relatively High · social vulnerability Relatively Low · community resilience Very High · annualised wildfire frequency 0.0081.\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 San Luis Obispo 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 _San Luis Obispo County_\n\nMost scored locations land in the High tier (102 points), with fewer in Low (17 points).\n\nCountywide context from FEMA’s National Risk Index is “Relatively High” for wildfire risk and “Relatively High” for expected annual loss.\n\nFire record\n\n## Where the fires _actually were_\n\nSince 1984, 714,813 acres have burned in San Luis Obispo County. That equals 31% of the county.\n\nThe largest fire listed here is Gifford (2025), at 131,614 acres. The most recent large fire is Hwy 46 E On Ramp / Hwy 41 N Off Ramp (2026).\n\nThis county record includes 396 fire perimeters since 1984. Structure-loss detail is not provided for every fire; Camp (2018) appears without that detail.\n\n![Madre Fire (2025) in San Luis Obispo County, California - The 8,000-acre Madre Fire, burning in San Luis Obispo County, California](/images/wildfire-risk/san-luis-obispo-county/photos/madre-fire-burns-on-july-2-2025.webp)\n\n**Madre Fire, 2025** — San Luis Obispo County. Photo: U.S. Forest Service in conjunction with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office · [Public domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Madre_Fire_burns_on_July_2,_2025.jpg)\n\n396 mapped fire perimeters centred in the county since 1984\n\n714,813 acres inside those perimeters since 1984\n\n31.0% of the county's area, as a share of 9,318.4 km²\n\nHwy 46 E On Ramp / Hwy 41 N Off Ramp 2026 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-   **Gifford Fire**2025131,614 acres\n-   **Madre Fire**202580,779 acres\n-   **Highway 58 Fire**1996106,970 acres\n-   **Chimney Fire**201646,234 acres\n-   **Las Pilitas Fire**198584,271 acres\n-   **Logan Fire**199749,490 acres\n-   **Weferling Fire**196051,451 acres\n-   **Hwy 41 Fire**199450,729 acres\n\nPerimeter sources: NIFC Interagency Fire Perimeter History · WFIGS Interagency Perimeters · largest on record: Gifford 2025. 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, higher typical scores appear around San Miguel (73.9) and Heritage Ranch (71.0). Paso Robles is also elevated at 64.8.\n\nAtascadero (63.4), Shandon (62.2), and Los Osos (62.0) also sit on the higher side of the county pattern.\n\nLower typical scores appear in Morro Bay (13.3), Baywood Park (13.4), and Grover Beach (16.7).\n\nCuesta-by-the-Sea (13.4), Oceano (14.4), and Shell Beach (16.7) are in that same lower range.\n\nSan Miguel village · 3,172 people\n\n73.9 _High_\n\nHeritage Ranch village\n\n71 _High_\n\nPaso Robles town · 29,793 people\n\n64.8 _High_\n\nAtascadero town · 30,330 people\n\n63.4 _High_\n\nShandon village · 1,168 people\n\n62.2 _High_\n\nLos Osos village\n\n62 _High_\n\nCreston village\n\n58.3 _High_\n\nSan Luis Obispo city · 47,339 people\n\n55.9 _High_\n\nSan Simeon village\n\n55.6 _High_\n\nArroyo Grande town · 18,441 people\n\n51.5 _High_\n\n12 more communities in San Luis Obispo County\n\nTempleton town\n\n51 _High_\n\nNipomo village\n\n51 _High_\n\nCayucos village\n\n47.8 _Moderate_\n\nCambria town · 6,032 people\n\n40.7 _Moderate_\n\nPismo Beach village · 8,072 people\n\n36.7 _Moderate_\n\nAvila Beach village · 1,697 people\n\n33.4 _Moderate_\n\nGrover Beach town · 12,701 people\n\n16.7 _Low_\n\nShell Beach village\n\n16.7 _Low_\n\nOceano village · 7,183 people\n\n14.4 _Low_\n\nBaywood Park village\n\n13.4 _Low_\n\nCuesta-by-the-Sea village\n\n13.4 _Low_\n\nMorro Bay town · 10,135 people\n\n13.3 _Low_\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 run from 20.0 near Nipomo to 65.0 in unincorporated San Luis Obispo County, with a middle value of 40.0.\n\nVegetation and fuels are also spread out: 5.0 near Oceano up to 80.0 near Nipomo, and a middle value of 65.0.\n\nHazard-zone scores range from 10.0 near Oceano to 96.0 near Nipomo. That wide gap contributes to block-by-block differences in wildfire risk.\n\nFire weather was not measured for this county. Instead, the measured fire-history scores run from 5.0 near Oceano to 95.0 in unincorporated San Luis Obispo County.\n\n40 median terrain score (max 65 near unincorporated San Luis Obispo County)\n\n65 median vegetation & fuels score (max 80 near Nipomo)\n\nFire weather\n\n## Fire weather across _San Luis Obispo County_\n\nFire weather was not measured at the sampled points in San Luis Obispo County. The other four indicators on this page were, and the bars below show what they found.\n\nWhat drives it\n\n## Which part of the risk _moves_, and which doesn't\n\nWildfire risk varies sharply by location, from 8.8 near Oceano to 85.1 near Nipomo.\n\nVery High risk is present in the county (20 points), but High is much more common (102 points).\n\nModerate (33 points) and Low (17 points) are also present, mostly in pockets rather than dominating the county.\n\nEach bar is what one part of the score covers across San Luis Obispo 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\n20–65 highest near unincorporated San Luis Obispo County\n\nVegetation & fuels\n\n5–80 highest near Nipomo\n\nHazard zone\n\n10–96 highest near Nipomo\n\nFire history\n\n5–95 highest near unincorporated San Luis Obispo County\n\nOverall score\n\n8.8–85.1 highest near Nipomo\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\n20\n\n40\n\n65\n\nnear Nipomo\n\nunincorporated San Luis Obispo County\n\n172\n\nVegetation & fuels\n\n5\n\n65\n\n80\n\nnear Oceano\n\nnear Nipomo\n\n172\n\nHazard zone\n\n10\n\n70\n\n96\n\nnear Oceano\n\nnear Nipomo\n\n172\n\nFire history\n\n5\n\n50\n\n95\n\nnear Oceano\n\nunincorporated San Luis Obispo County\n\n172\n\nComposite\n\n8.8\n\n61.4\n\n85.1\n\nnear Oceano\n\nnear Nipomo\n\n172\n\nIndependently of Satelife's layers, the USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities grid puts the county's mean annual burn probability at **1.66%** (90th percentile cell: **3.91%**), with a mean conditional flame length of **5.71 ft**. **91%** of the 21,054 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 **54** of the 172 sampled points — the zones cover Local Responsibility Areas. At **47** of them the USFS grid above supplied the hazard reading instead; at the remaining 7 the hazard weight is renormalised away rather than scored as low.\n\n172 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 90%. 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\nIn the USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities model, mean annual burn probability for the county is 1.66%, and the 90th-percentile cell is 3.91%.\n\nThe same model indicates 91.4% of the county can burn, and mean conditional flame length is 5.71 feet.\n\nFEMA’s National Risk Index rates the county “Relatively High” for wildfire risk and “Relatively High” for all-hazards risk, while social vulnerability is “Relatively Low” and community resilience is “Very High”.\n\nAcross 172 sampled points in San Luis Obispo County, the score runs from 8.8 to 85.1 — 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 San Luis Obispo 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 San Luis Obispo County\n\nEvery one of the 32 ZIP areas that touch San Luis Obispo 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**Very High** 1 ZIP\n\n-   [93252 81](/wildfire-risk/zip/93252/)\n\n**High** 16 ZIPs\n\n-   [93254 71](/wildfire-risk/zip/93254/)\n-   [93453 Creston70](/wildfire-risk/zip/93453/)\n-   [93432 Creston68](/wildfire-risk/zip/93432/)\n-   [93426 Heritage Ranch66](/wildfire-risk/zip/93426/)\n-   [93420 Arroyo Grande64](/wildfire-risk/zip/93420/)\n-   [93465 Templeton62](/wildfire-risk/zip/93465/)\n-   [93461 Shandon62](/wildfire-risk/zip/93461/)\n-   [93446 Paso Robles62](/wildfire-risk/zip/93446/)\n-   [93451 San Miguel61](/wildfire-risk/zip/93451/)\n-   [93405 San Luis Obispo58](/wildfire-risk/zip/93405/)\n-   [93409 San Luis Obispo58](/wildfire-risk/zip/93409/)\n-   [93422 Atascadero57](/wildfire-risk/zip/93422/)\n-   [93452 San Simeon56](/wildfire-risk/zip/93452/)\n-   [93428 Cambria53](/wildfire-risk/zip/93428/)\n-   [93454 Nipomo51](/wildfire-risk/zip/93454/)\n-   [93430 Cayucos50](/wildfire-risk/zip/93430/)\n\n**Moderate** 4 ZIPs\n\n-   [93424 Avila Beach46](/wildfire-risk/zip/93424/)\n-   [93401 San Luis Obispo42](/wildfire-risk/zip/93401/)\n-   [93442 Morro Bay28](/wildfire-risk/zip/93442/)\n-   [93449 Shell Beach27](/wildfire-risk/zip/93449/)\n\n**Low** 4 ZIPs\n\n-   [93402 Los Osos23](/wildfire-risk/zip/93402/)\n-   [93444 Nipomo23](/wildfire-risk/zip/93444/)\n-   [93445 Oceano20](/wildfire-risk/zip/93445/)\n-   [93433 Grover Beach17](/wildfire-risk/zip/93433/)\n\n**No sampled point inside** 7 ZIPs\n\n[93224](/wildfire-risk/zip/93224/) · [93407 San Luis Obispo](/wildfire-risk/zip/93407/) · [93408 San Luis Obispo](/wildfire-risk/zip/93408/) · [93410 San Luis Obispo](/wildfire-risk/zip/93410/) · [93434 Nipomo](/wildfire-risk/zip/93434/) · [93458 Nipomo](/wildfire-risk/zip/93458/) · [93920](/wildfire-risk/zip/93920/)\n\nGrouped from 25 of 32 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## San Luis Obispo 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 San Luis Obispo County address PDF + score + mitigation plan](/#cta)\n\nFAQ\n\n## Frequently asked questions about _San Luis Obispo County wildfire risk_\n\nHas much of San Luis Obispo County burned since the 1980s?\n\nYes. Since 1984, 714,813 acres have burned, which is 31% of the county.\n\nWhat are the key fires to know from this county summary?\n\nThe largest fire listed is Gifford (2025) at 131,614 acres. The most recent large fire is Hwy 46 E On Ramp / Hwy 41 N Off Ramp (2026).\n\nWhere are overall scores highest and lowest?\n\nThe highest score shown is 85.1 near Nipomo, and the lowest is 8.8 near Oceano.\n\nAre lower scores limited to just one coastal town?\n\nNo. Morro Bay (13.3), Baywood Park (13.4), and Oceano (14.4) are all on the lower end in this county view.\n\nIs fire weather included in these county measurements?\n\nNo. Fire weather was not measured for this county in this summary.\n\nThis page is generated from a San Luis Obispo County data pack assembled on 2026-08-18 (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."
}