However, the planners and residents working to rebuild Los Angeles will not start with a blank slate. Existing roads, infrastructure and plots of land will all shape how the city is rebuilt. Some residents may want to rebuild immediately on the same plot, while some may be willing to sell their land to create a buffer zone.
On January 13, Mayor Bass issued an executive order that will expedite permits for “like-for-like” reconstruction and exempts these from reviews that would slow down the reconstruction process. Governor Newsom has also relaxed permitting rules under the California Environmental Quality Act to expedite reconstruction.
Moritz says exactly how L.A. chooses to rebuild is a “question of social values.” “This is no longer a question of science. Shouldn't we as a society be able to pay attention to where and how people are building or rebuilding, so that it is safer and has less impact from a public funding perspective in the future? “Because a lot of these incidents will happen again.”
Wildfires have become larger and more destructive in California in recent years. About 7.08 million acres of land burned in California between 2009 and 2018 – more than double the figure the area burned The incidence of fires in urban areas also increased between 1979 and 1988. About 22,000 acres of land burned in the 10 years between 1979 and 1988 were within the so-called wildland/urban interface – areas where habitat is close to the wildfire-prone nature of land. This increased to 32,000 acres by 2009–2018.
One result of all this is that California officials have good maps of high-risk areas. Many areas affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires were classified as very high fire risk areaWhich means new developments in these areas will need to take steps to reduce the risk of wildfires spreading to homes, including planting fire-resistant vegetation and trimming other trees and shrubs away from homes.
But the demand for housing is so high in cities like Los Angeles that developers often build in these high fire-danger areas. After wildfires, developers slow down construction in high-risk areas for a while, but after a few years they return to previous rates of growth, says Nicholas Irwin, who studies real estate economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. But let's come back. ,
Cities and local officials need to think about ways to discourage development in high-risk areas, Irwin says. One approach would be to increase development taxes in fire-prone areas, but another approach would be to encourage developers to build more homes and apartments in underserved urban areas.
“We need denser development, especially in places like Los Angeles. The property market there is out of control, and it's getting worse,'' he says. “We need to think about ways to rebuild that allow more units to be built to help affordability, but also about ways that are more resilient to future wildfire risks “
Laying power lines can also go a long way in protecting homes from the dangers of forest fire. the fire that destroyed heaven shines Power line failures have sparked at least seven of California's other most destructive wildfires. Burying power lines isn't cheap, and those costs are passed along At utility customers, many of whom do not live in wildfire risk areas.
“It's the little things that will make a difference in the long run,” says Irwin. Burying power lines, encouraging denser development, and creating more defensible communities. But these long-term investments require changing how people think about living in wildfire-risk areas and recognizing that more resilient communities come at a cost. “I don't know if we'll learn anything,” says Irwin.