In Los Angeles, historical patterns of housing development contribute to the severity of the disaster, O’Neill added.
“Residences and communities are located in or abutting the wildland-urban interface, where wildfire problems are the worst, because of policy choices made decades ago that are difficult to undo,” said O’Neill. “Where people currently live complicates state and local government efforts to meet the dual challenges of reducing wildfire risk and eliminating a severe housing shortage. California’s policymakers have been tackling these dual challenges for years, passing law to increase urban housing supply and regulation to address fire risk. But the state’s housing crisis is so severe that it is not possible to prohibit all building in the wildland-urban interface—communities are already in place.”
Unfortunately, it is also not easy for people to move—even if they want to. As climate change has drastically impacted the landscape, there remains too little housing in areas that may be the safest to live in today. This is partly due to local-level zoning decisions. In some parts of the state, the difficulty of building housing in lower risk areas contributes to why some continue to live in higher risk areas.
“Policy has to prioritize increasing housing supply where it is safest to live,” says O’Neill. “But it is also true that when neighborhoods burn, people look to rebuild. It is equally critical to invest in material innovation and design to withstand wildfire where the risk remains high.”
When assessing future fire risk, infrastructure to combat fires must also be considered. Szeptycki, who was formerly the executive director of Water in the West at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University, chafes at the suggestions the recent shortage of water to fight the fires is due to cutbacks in water deliveries to southern California to protect threatened and endangered species in the Bay Delta, California’s primary water supply hub.
“Water deliveries to Southern California have no relationship at all with difficulties in fighting these explosive fires,” Szeptycki stated. “First, L.A.’s fire hydrant system is just not designed to fight these explosive wildfires. This system was designed for fighting house fires, not wildfires. Second, Southern California reservoirs are currently at normal or above normal levels, and indeed are close to full, largely due to the significant wet season in 2023-24.”
The changing environment has made this a disaster of epic proportions for Los Angeles -- and America.
“The County of Los Angeles is a beautiful place with vibrant cities and neighborhoods; people will rebuild,” said O’Neill. “What researchers and scientists can do, what the Environmental Institute is doing, is contribute to solutions. Policy-relevant research can identify ways to rebuild to adapt to the risks posed by our changing climate. At the same time, work on strategies to reduce emissions and build more housing where it is safest for people to live remains paramount.”