We don't invent a proprietary risk score. Each section of a Parcel Risk Report reports the official categorical hazard zone or class published by a federal or California state agency, labeled by how precisely it applies to the property — so your client knows exactly what's specific to their parcel.
Sources
Each hazard is pulled live from the authoritative source below and cited in the report itself.
| Hazard | Authoritative source | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Wildfire (FHSZ, incl. AB-38) | CAL FIRE / Office of the State Fire Marshal — Fire Hazard Severity Zones (Gov. Code §51178, PRC §4202) | Parcel-precise |
| Flood | FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL) | Parcel-precise |
| Earthquake fault zone | California Geological Survey — Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zones (PRC §2622) | Parcel-precise |
| Seismic hazard zone | California Geological Survey — Seismic Hazard Zones, liquefaction & landslide (PRC §2696) | Parcel-precise |
| Dam-failure inundation | Cal OES / California DWR Division of Safety of Dams (DSOD) — inundation maps (Gov. Code §8589.5) | Parcel-precise |
| Seismic Design Category (supplemental — not a probability) | USGS Seismic Design Maps (ASCE 7) — building-design ground-motion category, provided as supplemental engineering context, not a statutory NHD determination | Point estimate |
| Multi-hazard baseline | FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) | Census tract |
| Radon | EPA Map of Radon Zones | County |
| Sea-level rise (coastal) | NOAA Office for Coastal Management — Sea Level Rise Viewer | Coastal segment |
| Air quality | EPA AirNow | Point estimate |
| Geocoding | U.S. Census Bureau Geocoder (2020 tract vintage) | Parcel |
The statutory §1103.2 seismic determinations (the Alquist-Priolo fault zone and the seismic hazard zone) are mapped by the California Geological Survey, and the dam-failure inundation determination by Cal OES / DWR DSOD — not USGS. The USGS Seismic Design Category is shown separately as supplemental engineering context (an ASCE 7 building-design category), and is not a probabilistic risk score.
Principles
Every finding is labeled with its true spatial precision. A county-level radon zone is never presented as a parcel-specific fact — the report tells your client which findings are specific to their property and which are area baselines.
We report the official FEMA flood zone, CAL FIRE severity class, and FEMA NRI rating. We do not publish a personalized probabilistic risk number — those obscure the underlying official classifications.
We use the current, adopted hazard maps (for example, the in-effect CAL FIRE Fire Hazard Severity Zones), and each report records the dataset vintage and a source link so any figure can be traced.
Statutory NHD
Plain talk about where a Parcel Risk Report fits in a transaction.
California's statutory Natural Hazard Disclosure (NHD) is the seller's and agent's disclosure under Civil Code §1103 et seq., delivered on the prescribed §1103.2 Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement. It covers six specific mapped zones (two seismic, two fire, two flood).
We produce that statutory §1103.2 Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement for residential (1–4 unit) properties, alongside a parcel-level hazard report. The statutory disclosure is not a substitute for a FEMA flood determination, a fire-agency defensible-space inspection, or any insurance underwriting decision. California does not license or register NHD providers; our reports are E&O insured.
Where our report and the statutory NHD overlap, we build on the same official agency sources the NHD relies on — FEMA for flood, CAL FIRE / OSFM for the Fire Hazard Severity Zones, the California Geological Survey for the Alquist-Priolo fault zones (PRC §2622) and seismic hazard zones (PRC §2696), and Cal OES / DWR DSOD for dam-failure inundation (Gov. Code §8589.5). The USGS Seismic Design Category (ASCE 7) is shown separately as supplemental engineering context, not a §1103.2 determination. Our added value is a plain-English, parcel-level explanation plus the AB-38 defensible-space and home-hardening walkthrough for High and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone parcels.