Nevada County has one of the highest concentrations of homes in the state at risk for wildfires. That’s according to a firm known as Verisk Analytics. It also includes Alpine, Trinity, Tuolomne, and Mariposa Counties in that group, with around 80-percent of all homes having high to extreme risks. The Chief Operating Officer for the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, Jamie Jones, is not surprised…

click to listen to Jamie Jones

The report says Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino, Ventura, and Alameda Counties have the largest number of homes at risk. Fire advisors around the state also point out that many homes don’t actually burn from the front of a blaze but from embers landing on roofs filled with rain gutter debris. Jones agrees that’s a major source…

click to listen to Jamie Jones

The report used three factors to determine risk. That includes how close a property is to forests, shrubs, and trees…whether it’s near hilly or mountainous terrain, and if it’s hard to reach, or isolated. In all, about two-million homes, or 15-percent of all units in the state, are at high risk. Jones says a lot of progress has been made in Nevada County, that they now have 23 firewise communities, with more requesting to be one. But she says there’s still a lot of work to be done.