Riverside County leads the nation for the number of properties at risk of being burned in a wildfire, according to a new report released Monday by the First Street Foundation.
The report found 684,400 properties in the county with at least a 0.03% risk this year, or a cumulative risk of 1% over a 30-year period. This represents 77.2% of the county's properties with at least a 0.03% risk this year.
The report analyzes the results of a first-of-its-kind wildfire risk model, developed by the non-profit foundation and its partners in a public-private collaboration. The model assesses each property’s risk based on a broad array of data and information, including property type, building materials, terrain and proximity to historic fires.
In 2020, Riverside County experienced its largest fire in over a decade when the Apple Fire burned over 33,000 acres in Cherry Valley.