Top-20 Wildfire-Exposed Community Microgrid Candidates
Small California communities at the wildland edge · physical grid-risk screening
Twenty small California communities at the wildland edge — where homes meet
fire-prone wildland — screened as candidates for a self-contained local power island (a microgrid)
on physical grid risk alone. These are the places where a local power island most reduces the harm
from wildfire-driven outages.
How these communities were chosen. Each is ranked on four physical signals —
how much of it sits in a wildfire-hazard zone, its exposure to wildfire power shutoffs, how far it is
from the grid, and whether it has a critical facility worth keeping powered — geography-first,
smallest-community-first, one community per county.
How each community was scored
Each candidate is a small community that falls inside a Very-High or High fire-hazard zone
(CAL FIRE's wildfire-risk rating of the land) — a place a single local power island could plausibly
serve on its own. 839 such communities across all 58 counties were evaluated; the top community per
county yields this statewide top-20.
Wildfire hazard
35%
Share of the community in a Very-High/High fire-hazard zone
Power-shutoff risk
25%
In a state fire-threat district (shut off during fire weather)
Grid isolation
20%
Distance to the nearest transmission line
Critical facility
20%
A facility worth keeping powered, plus room to build
Loading the 20 communities…
Portfolio synthesis — the 20 together