Fires are still burning, severe wind warnings are rife, and in devastated communities, residents are searching through rubble for belongings and pets.
Ultimately decisions will have to be made – by citizens, elected officials, developers and planners – about what happens in this scorched earth.
People living and losing in the communities devastated by these fires – the deadliest in Los Angeles County’s history – will eventually decide to move to a better place or rebuild their homes and neighborhoods. In the Palisades, some had been living there for decades and others not long at all. In Altadena, generations of families lived in their homes. Regardless of what the residents say, all of us – including state, county and city leaders – must be careful not to drive them away again by preventing them from rebuilding.
However, with a series of devastating fires in the last few decades before this latest one, we should all understand right now that we have to make changes in the way we live and build.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll never rebuild in a wildfire-ravaged area. It means creating fire breaks and buffer zones to provide some sort of barrier between development and wild land. It means building with fire-resistant materials and fireproofing.
Every devastating, large-scale urban fire caused by wildfires in California has taught cities something about how to build and manage communities better.
Building codes have changed over the years, and newer homes are more fire resistant. But that doesn’t begin to solve everything.
“The construction industry has been saying, ‘Surely we can build safely in these neighborhoods,'” said JP Rose, policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity who worked to support legislation regulating construction in high-risk areas. “It cannot be accepted that these codes are not sufficient because buildings that were built in the right way burned down. We are literally playing with fire if we refuse to see that these really work and put our faith in them.”
One thing that hasn’t changed is where Californians want to live. For decades it has lived on top of the hills, tucked into the valleys or spread out in the foothills. And it’s not always about looks. People live in communities they know, perhaps where they grew up, close to family and friends, close to their work.
Rebuilding in fire-prone areas may mean moving power lines underground, widening roads for easier access and exit during a fire, or installing outdoor sprinklers on rooftops. A few of these ideas aren’t cheap – but they aren’t fire ravages either.
In the coming days there will be much debate about whether there were enough firefighters during the fire and whether enough were deployed further when hurricane warnings in the dry region predicted danger.
“The death and destruction caused by the recent wildfires should have been reminder enough that California cannot continue to expand into a wildfire danger zone. So far, California leaders have refused to act. What will it take?” The editorial board wrote that more than five years ago.
But if we want to continue living here and build more housing – which we already desperately needed before thousands of fire victims were left homeless – we must design thoughtfully for what promises to be a very challenging environment.
We must also continue to think and act as neighbors, supporting those who want to rebuild. There are a lot of problems ahead. And returning citizens need to be part of the solutions.
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