An estimated 477,039 homes worth approximately $268 billion are at high risk — or a very high risk — of being damaged by wildfires, a new study from Zillow shows.
Riverside, California, is the metro area most at risk, with more than $40 billion worth of homes at least at high risk, according to the study, which pulled data of “at-risk” homes flagged by the U.S. Forest Service. Sacramento is the metro with the second-highest number of homes at high risk, with slightly less than 55,000.
Data credit: Zillow
In the past few years, California has seen some of the deadliest wildfires recorded in the state’s history. Last year’s Camp Fire killed at least 85 people and resulted in a record $16.5 billion in losses.
“Federal officials have warned that this year’s fire season could be worse than in 2018, when more than 80 people were killed and tens of thousands of structures were burned,” a spokesperson for Zillow said in a statement.
Fire season on the West Cost is expected to peak in August, according to National Interagency Fire Center’s monthly outlook release.
“With fine fuels fully cured across the West and high elevation larger fuels becoming adequately dry in August, fire season 2019 will peak in August across much of the West,” the outlook says. “A gradual decrease in fire activity is expected to begin by mid-September as the seasonal transition begins and as shortening days translate to shorter burn periods and better overall humidity recoveries overnight.”