But planners and residents working to rebuild Los Angeles won't be starting from a blank slate. Existing roads, infrastructure and land plots will shape how the city is rebuilt. Some residents may want to rebuild right on that land, while some may be willing to sell their land to create a buffer zone.
On January 13, Mayor Bass issued an executive order that would Quick licensing to rebuild “like for like” and exempting these reviews will slow down the rebuilding process. Governor Newsom also relaxed permitting regulations under the California Environmental Quality Act to speed up the rebuilding process.
Exactly how LA chooses to rebuild is a “question of social values,” Moritz said. “It is no longer a scientific question. Shouldn't we as a society consider where and how people are building or rebuilding, so that it is safer and less vulnerable from a public funding perspective going forward? Because many such events will recur.”
Wildfires in California have grown larger and more damaging in recent years. About 7.08 million acres burned in California from 2009 to 2018—more than double burned area from 1979 to 1988. The number of fires spreading to urban areas also increased. In the 10 years from 1979 to 1988, about 22,000 acres of land burned in the so-called wildland/urban interface—areas where housing is close to nature that is prone to wildfires. By 2009–2018, this number increased to 32,000 acres.
One result of all this is that the California government has good maps of high-risk areas. Many areas affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires are classified as Area with very high risk of fire and explosionThis means that new developments in these areas must take steps to minimize the risk of fire spreading from wild vegetation into homes, including planting fire-resistant vegetation and pruning any trees. any trees or other bushes and keep them away from the house.
However, housing demand in cities like Los Angeles is so high that developers often have to build in these very high fire risk areas. Nicholas Irwin, who studies real estate economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said that after a wildfire, developers tend to slow down construction in high-risk areas for a while. period, but after a few years, they return to their previous growth rate. .
Irwin said cities and local governments need to come up with ways to prevent development in high-risk areas. One way is to raise development taxes in fire-prone areas, but another is to encourage developers to invest — building more homes and apartments in underused urban areas.
“We really need denser development, especially in places like Los Angeles. The real estate market there is out of control and getting even worse,” he said. “We need to think about ways of rebuilding that allow for more apartments to be built to support affordability but also ways that are more resilient to future bushfire risk.”
Burying power lines can also go a long way in protecting homes against the risk of wildfires. The fire was destructive Heaven has brightened due to power line failures, as well as at least seven other of California's most destructive wildfires. Burying power lines isn't cheap, and Those costs are passed for utility customers, many of whom do not live in areas at risk of wildfires.
“It's these little things that make a difference in the long run,” says Irwin. Bury power lines, encourage denser development, and build more resilient communities. But these long-term investments require changing the way people think about living in bushfire risk zones and accepting that more resilient communities will pay a price. “I just don't know if we learned anything,” Irwin said.