Communities At Risk

To help protect people and their property from potential catastrophic wildfire, the National Fire Plan directs funding to be provided for projects designed to reduce the fire risks to communities. A fundamental step in achieving this goal was the identification of communities that are at high risk of damage from wildfire. These high risk communities identified within the wildland-urban interface, the area where homes and wildlands intermix, were published in the Federal Register in 2001. At the request of Congress, the Federal Register notice only listed those communities neighboring federal lands. The list represents the collaborative work of the 50 states and five federal agencies using a standardized process, whereby states were asked to submit all communities within their borders that met the criteria of a structure at high risk from wildfire.

With California's extensive urban Wildland-Urban Interface situation, the list of communities extends beyond just those adjacent to Federal lands. There are 1,289 communities currently on the Communities at Risk List. The California State Forester (CAL FIRE Director) has assigned the role of managing the list to the California Fire Alliance ( Alliance). The Alliance has recently developed a process whereby communities can be added or removed from the list of "communities at risk" to wildfire.

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