--- 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/" --- [Home](/)›[Wildfire Risk](/wildfire-risk/)›[California](/wildfire-risk/california/)›San Luis Obispo County San Luis Obispo County, California # Wildfire risk in San Luis Obispo County: _where it is highest_, and why Across San Luis Obispo County, wildfire risk leans high rather than low. The middle score for the places we scored is 61.4. [Score my San Luis Obispo County address →](#score-my-address) [How risky is this county? ↓](#risk-at-a-glance) Before 20002000s2010s2020sCommunity San Luis Obispo 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 San Luis Obispo County scores _High_ or worse We 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. 12% 59% 19% **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 Safest end we measured 8.8 near Oceano · Low Middle of the county 61.4 High — half of San Luis Obispo County is above this Most exposed end we measured 85.1 near Nipomo · Very High ### And the federal models agree it is a fire county Relatively High FEMA National Risk Index — wildfire risk rating · index score 98.3 / 100 $17.4M / yr FEMA NRI — expected annual loss from wildfire · rated Relatively High 1.66% USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities — mean annual burn probability · 90th-percentile cell 3.91% 5.71 ft USFS WRC — mean conditional flame length · 91% of the county carries burnable fuel FEMA 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. 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 San Luis Obispo 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 _San Luis Obispo County_ Most scored locations land in the High tier (102 points), with fewer in Low (17 points). Countywide context from FEMA’s National Risk Index is “Relatively High” for wildfire risk and “Relatively High” for expected annual loss. Fire record ## Where the fires _actually were_ Since 1984, 714,813 acres have burned in San Luis Obispo County. That equals 31% of the county. The 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). This county record includes 396 fire perimeters since 1984. Structure-loss detail is not provided for every fire; Camp (2018) appears without that detail. ![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) **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) 396 mapped fire perimeters centred in the county since 1984 714,813 acres inside those perimeters since 1984 31.0% of the county's area, as a share of 9,318.4 km² Hwy 46 E On Ramp / Hwy 41 N Off Ramp 2026 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 - **Gifford Fire**2025131,614 acres - **Madre Fire**202580,779 acres - **Highway 58 Fire**1996106,970 acres - **Chimney Fire**201646,234 acres - **Las Pilitas Fire**198584,271 acres - **Logan Fire**199749,490 acres - **Weferling Fire**196051,451 acres - **Hwy 41 Fire**199450,729 acres Perimeter 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. Communities ## Where in the county you are _matters most_ Among named communities, higher typical scores appear around San Miguel (73.9) and Heritage Ranch (71.0). Paso Robles is also elevated at 64.8. Atascadero (63.4), Shandon (62.2), and Los Osos (62.0) also sit on the higher side of the county pattern. Lower typical scores appear in Morro Bay (13.3), Baywood Park (13.4), and Grover Beach (16.7). Cuesta-by-the-Sea (13.4), Oceano (14.4), and Shell Beach (16.7) are in that same lower range. San Miguel village · 3,172 people 73.9 _High_ Heritage Ranch village 71 _High_ Paso Robles town · 29,793 people 64.8 _High_ Atascadero town · 30,330 people 63.4 _High_ Shandon village · 1,168 people 62.2 _High_ Los Osos village 62 _High_ Creston village 58.3 _High_ San Luis Obispo city · 47,339 people 55.9 _High_ San Simeon village 55.6 _High_ Arroyo Grande town · 18,441 people 51.5 _High_ 12 more communities in San Luis Obispo County Templeton town 51 _High_ Nipomo village 51 _High_ Cayucos village 47.8 _Moderate_ Cambria town · 6,032 people 40.7 _Moderate_ Pismo Beach village · 8,072 people 36.7 _Moderate_ Avila Beach village · 1,697 people 33.4 _Moderate_ Grover Beach town · 12,701 people 16.7 _Low_ Shell Beach village 16.7 _Low_ Oceano village · 7,183 people 14.4 _Low_ Baywood Park village 13.4 _Low_ Cuesta-by-the-Sea village 13.4 _Low_ Morro Bay town · 10,135 people 13.3 _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 run from 20.0 near Nipomo to 65.0 in unincorporated San Luis Obispo County, with a middle value of 40.0. Vegetation and fuels are also spread out: 5.0 near Oceano up to 80.0 near Nipomo, and a middle value of 65.0. Hazard-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. Fire 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. 40 median terrain score (max 65 near unincorporated San Luis Obispo County) 65 median vegetation & fuels score (max 80 near Nipomo) Fire weather ## Fire weather across _San Luis Obispo County_ Fire 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. What drives it ## Which part of the risk _moves_, and which doesn't Wildfire risk varies sharply by location, from 8.8 near Oceano to 85.1 near Nipomo. Very High risk is present in the county (20 points), but High is much more common (102 points). Moderate (33 points) and Low (17 points) are also present, mostly in pockets rather than dominating the county. Each 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. Terrain 20–65 highest near unincorporated San Luis Obispo County Vegetation & fuels 5–80 highest near Nipomo Hazard zone 10–96 highest near Nipomo Fire history 5–95 highest near unincorporated San Luis Obispo County Overall score 8.8–85.1 highest near Nipomo 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 20 40 65 near Nipomo unincorporated San Luis Obispo County 172 Vegetation & fuels 5 65 80 near Oceano near Nipomo 172 Hazard zone 10 70 96 near Oceano near Nipomo 172 Fire history 5 50 95 near Oceano unincorporated San Luis Obispo County 172 Composite 8.8 61.4 85.1 near Oceano near Nipomo 172 Independently 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. Source: USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities v2.0 (ImageServer, county extent). CAL 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. 172 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. For a property ## What a county range means for _one address_ In 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%. The same model indicates 91.4% of the county can burn, and mean conditional flame length is 5.71 feet. FEMA’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”. Across 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. Find out where your San Luis Obispo 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 San Luis Obispo County Every 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. **Very High** 1 ZIP - [93252 81](/wildfire-risk/zip/93252/) **High** 16 ZIPs - [93254 71](/wildfire-risk/zip/93254/) - [93453 Creston70](/wildfire-risk/zip/93453/) - [93432 Creston68](/wildfire-risk/zip/93432/) - [93426 Heritage Ranch66](/wildfire-risk/zip/93426/) - [93420 Arroyo Grande64](/wildfire-risk/zip/93420/) - [93465 Templeton62](/wildfire-risk/zip/93465/) - [93461 Shandon62](/wildfire-risk/zip/93461/) - [93446 Paso Robles62](/wildfire-risk/zip/93446/) - [93451 San Miguel61](/wildfire-risk/zip/93451/) - [93405 San Luis Obispo58](/wildfire-risk/zip/93405/) - [93409 San Luis Obispo58](/wildfire-risk/zip/93409/) - [93422 Atascadero57](/wildfire-risk/zip/93422/) - [93452 San Simeon56](/wildfire-risk/zip/93452/) - [93428 Cambria53](/wildfire-risk/zip/93428/) - [93454 Nipomo51](/wildfire-risk/zip/93454/) - [93430 Cayucos50](/wildfire-risk/zip/93430/) **Moderate** 4 ZIPs - [93424 Avila Beach46](/wildfire-risk/zip/93424/) - [93401 San Luis Obispo42](/wildfire-risk/zip/93401/) - [93442 Morro Bay28](/wildfire-risk/zip/93442/) - [93449 Shell Beach27](/wildfire-risk/zip/93449/) **Low** 4 ZIPs - [93402 Los Osos23](/wildfire-risk/zip/93402/) - [93444 Nipomo23](/wildfire-risk/zip/93444/) - [93445 Oceano20](/wildfire-risk/zip/93445/) - [93433 Grover Beach17](/wildfire-risk/zip/93433/) **No sampled point inside** 7 ZIPs [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/) Grouped 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. ZIP areas are Census 2020 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas intersecting the county boundary. Where to go next ## San Luis Obispo 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 San Luis Obispo County address PDF + score + mitigation plan](/#cta) FAQ ## Frequently asked questions about _San Luis Obispo County wildfire risk_ Has much of San Luis Obispo County burned since the 1980s? Yes. Since 1984, 714,813 acres have burned, which is 31% of the county. What are the key fires to know from this county summary? The 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). Where are overall scores highest and lowest? The highest score shown is 85.1 near Nipomo, and the lowest is 8.8 near Oceano. Are lower scores limited to just one coastal town? No. Morro Bay (13.3), Baywood Park (13.4), and Oceano (14.4) are all on the lower end in this county view. Is fire weather included in these county measurements? No. Fire weather was not measured for this county in this summary. This 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. ## 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.