How does FireRiskHere know where you are?
FireRiskHere figures out roughly where you are from your internet connection, without asking permission. This is fast, doesn’t require a location prompt, and works on every device — but it’s not precise. This guide explains how it works, how close it usually gets, and how to search by city or address if it lands somewhere off.
How it works
When you load FireRiskHere, your device’s IP address arrives at the server with the request. Cloudflare (the network FireRiskHere runs on) looks up that IP address in a database of known IP-to-location mappings and returns an approximate latitude, longitude, and US state. FireRiskHere uses those coordinates to figure out what’s nearby.
For a typical home or mobile connection, the location is usually accurate to the city or the nearby metro area — usually within 20–40 miles. It’s almost never accurate to your street.
What it can and can’t tell
What IP-based geolocation can tell:
- The country you’re in.
- The US state, if you’re in the US.
- The general metro area or city.
What it can’t tell:
- Your exact street, address, or building.
- Whether you’re at home, at work, or on the road.
- Whether you’ve recently moved within the same city.
IP geolocation isn’t GPS. GPS uses satellites, is accurate to within a few meters, and requires permission from your device. FireRiskHere uses IP geolocation only — no permission prompt, no GPS, no battery cost.
What happens with a VPN
If you’re using a VPN, FireRiskHere sees the location of the VPN’s exit server, not your real location. A VPN that routes through a Los Angeles server makes FireRiskHere think you’re in Los Angeles, even if you’re somewhere else entirely. The same is true for some corporate networks, certain mobile carriers, and similar setups that route traffic through hub locations far from the user.
This isn’t a bug — it’s how IP-based geolocation works.
How to search if the result is off
If your IP-derived area is wrong, or if you want to check fires near a different location (a relative’s town, a vacation spot, a property), use the search box on the home page. Type a city, ZIP code, or address; FireRiskHere looks up the location and re-runs the same nearby-fires check against it.
The search updates the verdict, the nearest-fire line, and the local map — the same result as if you were physically there.
For the formal description of how the geolocation is read and used, see the methodology page.