Wildfire risk in Yolo County: where it is highest, and why
Wildfire risk in Yolo County spans a wide range across the places we scored. The lowest score is 13.4 in Davis, the highest is 83.2 near Esparto, and the county’s middle score is 22.2.
Yolo 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 Yolo County scores Low or worse
We scored 156 points across Yolo County on the same 0–100 scale a Satelife address report uses, and they do not land in one place. 10% of them come out Very High, while 59% are Low. Which end your own parcel sits at is not something a county map can tell you.
21%
11%
59%
Very High10% · 15 of 156 pointsHigh21% · 32 of 156 pointsModerate11% · 17 of 156 pointsLow59% · 92 of 156 points
Safest end we measured13.4near Davis · Low
Middle of the county22.2Low — half of Yolo County is above this
Most exposed end we measured83.2near Esparto · Very High
And the federal models agree it is a fire county
Relatively LowFEMA National Risk Index — wildfire risk rating · index score 87 / 100
$988k / yrFEMA NRI — expected annual loss from wildfire · rated Relatively Moderate
1.04%USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities — mean annual burn probability · 90th-percentile cell 3.43%
4.25 ftUSFS WRC — mean conditional flame length · 76% of the county carries burnable fuel
FEMA NRI also rates Yolo County: all-hazards risk Relatively Moderate · social vulnerability Relatively Low · community resilience Relatively High · annualised wildfire frequency 0.0046.
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 Yolo 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 Yolo County
Most places we scored fell in the Low tier, with 92 locations in that tier. There are also pockets in Moderate, High, and Very High tiers, so local differences matter inside the county.
FEMA’s National Risk Index rates Yolo County’s wildfire risk as “Relatively Low.” In the same index, FEMA rates expected annual loss from wildfire as “Relatively Moderate.”
Fire record
Where the fires actually were
Since 1984, 198,832 acres have burned in Yolo County, and 30.6% of the county has burned in that period. The county has had 52 fire perimeters since 1984.
The largest fire listed here is the County fire in 2018, at 89,836 acres. The most recent large fire is Sand (2019).
Other major fires connected to the county include the Rocky fire (2015, 69,438 acres, partly in county) and the Rumsey fire (2004, 38,763 acres, partly in county).
County Fire, 2018 — Yolo County.
Photo: The National Guard
Staff Sgt. Edward Siguenza/California National Guard · Public domainRocky Fire, 2015 — Yolo County.
Photo: Staff Sgt. Edward Siguenza · Public domain
52mapped fire perimeters centred in the county since 1984
198,832acres inside those perimeters since 1984
30.6%of the county's area, as a share of 2,631.3 km²
Sand 2019most 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
County Fire201889,836 acres
Rocky Fire201569,438 acres in totalcrossed into the county
Rumsey Fire200438,763 acres in totalcrossed into the county
Zam Assist Fire200613,969 acres
Jerusalem Fire201525,118 acres in totalcrossed into the county
Langes Peak Fire198114,448 acres
Sixteen Fire199937,893 acres in totalcrossed into the county
Monticello Fire20146,599 acres
Perimeter sources: NIFC Interagency Fire Perimeter History · largest on record: County 2018.
Perimeters are simplified for display; acreage is the figure the source records.
Communities
Where in the county you are matters most
The largest cities shown here cluster at the lower end of county risk. Davis and Woodland both have a middle score of 18.9, and West Sacramento is 20.0.
Smaller communities vary more. Winters is much higher at 42.8, Esparto is 26.7, and Knights Landing is 18.9.
For homeowners, buyers, and agents, that means city name alone does not tell the full story. Nearby locations in the same county can land in very different wildfire-risk tiers.
Wintersvillage · 7,315 people
42.8 Moderate
Espartovillage · 3,572 people
26.7 Moderate
West Sacramentotown · 44,162 people
20 Low
Daviscity · 66,850 people
18.9 Low
Woodlandtown · 55,468 people
18.9 Low
Knights Landingvillage
18.9 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-related wildfire risk is low in flatter areas and higher in rougher ground. The terrain score is 20.0 near Davis and reaches 65.0 near Esparto, with a county middle of 20.0.
Vegetation and fuels show a broader spread. That score is 20.0 in Davis and climbs to 80.0 near Esparto, with a middle value of 45.5.
State hazard-zone scoring is also uneven: 10.0 near Davis and 94.7 near Esparto, with a middle of 10.0.
Fire-history scoring runs from 5.0 near Davis to 95.0 in Winters, with a county middle of 5.0.
20median terrain score (max 65 near Esparto)
45.5median vegetation & fuels score (max 80 near Esparto)
Fire weather
Fire weather across Yolo County
Fire weather was not measured at the sampled points in Yolo 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
Risk is not uniform across Yolo County. The highest score we found, 83.2, is near Esparto, while the lowest, 13.4, is in Davis.
Among named communities, Winters stands out with a middle local score of 42.8, while Davis and Woodland are both 18.9. That gap shows how quickly risk can change from one part of the county to another.
West Sacramento sits at 20.0 and Esparto at 26.7, between the lowest and highest community values shown here.
Each bar is what one part of the score covers across Yolo 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
20–65highest near Esparto
Vegetation & fuels
20–80highest near Esparto
Hazard zone
10–94.7highest near Esparto
Fire history
5–95highest near Winters
Overall score
13.4–83.2highest near Esparto
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
20
65
near Davis
near Esparto
156
Vegetation & fuels
20
45.5
80
Davis
near Esparto
156
Hazard zone
10
10
94.7
near Davis
near Esparto
156
Fire history
5
5
95
near Davis
Winters
156
Composite
13.4
22.2
83.2
Davis
near Esparto
156
Independently of Satelife's layers, the USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities grid puts the county's mean annual burn probability at 1.04% (90th percentile cell: 3.43%), with a mean conditional flame length of 4.25 ft. 76% of the 19,447 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 8 of the 156 sampled points — the zones cover Local Responsibility Areas. At 8 of them the USFS grid above supplied the hazard reading instead.
156 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
Fire weather was not measured for Yolo County in this scoring.
What is available includes modeled burn probability from the USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities product: mean annual burn probability is 1.04%, and the 90th percentile cell is 3.43%.
That same USFS product indicates 75.6% of the county can burn, and mean conditional flame length is 4.25 feet. These are county-scale indicators to use alongside the location-specific wildfire risk score for a property.
Across 156 sampled points in Yolo County, the score runs from
13.4 to 83.2 — 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 Yolo 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 Yolo County
Every one of the 36 ZIP areas that touch Yolo 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 Yolo County wildfire risk
Has much of Yolo County burned in recent decades?
Yes. Since 1984, 198,832 acres have burned, which is 30.6% of the county.
What are the most important fires to know here?
The largest is the County fire in 2018 at 89,836 acres. The most recent large fire is Sand (2019).
Is most of the county in a high wildfire-risk tier?
No. Most places we scored fell in the Low tier (92 locations), though some places are in Moderate, High, and Very High tiers.
Does this include fire weather for Yolo County?
No. Fire weather was not measured for Yolo County in this scoring. The available county-scale model output includes burn probability values of 1.04% (mean annual) and 3.43% (90th percentile cell).
How does FEMA rate wildfire risk for the county?
FEMA’s National Risk Index rates Yolo County’s wildfire risk as “Relatively Low,” and its wildfire expected annual loss rating as “Relatively Moderate.”
This page is generated from a Yolo 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.
