The planners and citizens working to rebuild Los Angeles aren’t starting from scratch, however. Existing roads, infrastructure, and land will shape how the city is rebuilt. Some residents may want to immediately rebuild on the same plot, while some may be willing to sell their land to create a buffer zone. On January 13th, Mayor Bass issued an executive order that will expedite permits for “like for like” rebuilding. and exempts this from the review that will slow down the rebuilding process. Governor Newsom has also relaxed allowing regulations under the California Environmental Quality Act to speed up rebuilding. Exactly how LA then chooses to build is “a question of social value,” said Moritz. “This is no longer a question of science. Shouldn’t we as a society be able to consider where and how people build or rebuild, to make it safer and less impactful from a public funding perspective down the road? Because many of these events will happen again. Guess -about 7.08 million hectares burned in California between 2009 and 2018-more than double the area burned between 1979 and 1988. The number of fires encroaching into urban areas has risen greatly 1979 and 1988 about 22,000 hectares of land burned in the so-called wildland / urban-area interface that is prone to fire. In 2009-2018 that increased to 32,000 hectares. One result of all this is that the California authorities have a map that’s good about high-risk areas.Many areas affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires are classified as very high fire danger zones, which means development new to the area should take steps to reduce the risk of fire spreading from wild vegetation to homes, including planting fire-resistant vegetation. and keep trees and other shrubs trimmed and away from the house. just a zone. After the wildfire, construction slows down in high-risk areas for some, but after a few years they return to the previous rate of development, said Nicholas Irwin, who studies real estate economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. .Cities and local authorities should think about ways to discourage development in high-risk areas, said Irwin. One way would be to increase development taxes in fire-prone areas, but another would be to incentivize developers to fill in — building more houses and apartments in underutilized urban areas. The property market there is out of control, and it will only get worse,” he said. “We have to think about a way to rebuild that allows more units to be built to help costs, but also a way that is more resistant to the risk of future fires. The fire that destroyed Paradise was triggered by a fault in the power line, as well as at least seven other wildfires burying power lines is not cheap, and the cost is passed on to utility customers, many of whom live in areas at risk of wildfires, encouraging denser development, and building more sustainable communities period This will require a change in the way people think about living in wildfire risk zones and accept that more resilient communities will come at a cost. “I just don’t know if we’re going to learn anything,” Irwin said.
