why LA’s urban sprawl made wildfires inevitable – and how it should rebuild

[Stalin]

no-one emerges from the current debacle with any credit

"..A century of foolhardy development, including public subsidies for rebuilding in the firebelt, hugely contributed to this tragedy, writes our architecture critic. LA must rethink – and build upwards not outwards

Crime don’t climb” is one of the glib mottoes long used by Los Angeles real estate agents to help sell the multimillion dollar homes in the hills that surround the sprawling metropolis. Residents of the lush ridges and winding canyons can rest assured, in their elevated green perches – safely removed from the smog-laden, supposedly crime-ridden flatlands beneath.

What the realtors neglect to mention, however, is that, while crime rarely ascends the hills, flames certainly do. And that the very things that make this sun-soaked city’s dream homes so attractive – lush landscaping, quaint timber construction, raised terrain and narrow, twisting lanes – are the very things that make them burn so well. They create blazing infernos that, as we have seen over the past week, are tragically difficult to extinguish.

more at https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/jan/15/criminally-reckless-la-wildfires-urban-sprawl

for good measure, a remaster of "The Last Resort: by the eagles

comrade stalin
moscow

 

[Gabriel_Bell]

Who could know more about architecture in a sunny desert climate more than a Russian?
LA has a more strict building code than most American cities, because of the threat of both earthquakes and fires.

 

[Stalin]

er..the writer is from the UK and a double first at Cambridge

Did you actually read the whole article ?

Oliver Wainwright - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

comrade stalin
moscow

 

[Stalin]

more

Researchers who studied structure loss in California wildfires from 2013 to 2018 found that enclosed eaves, vent screens and multi-pane windows have all been proven to prevent wind-born embers from penetrating a house. While sprinklers may not be able to stop an enormous wildfire, fire suppression systems can slow a fire’s progress.

“As we’ve seen in LA and with the Marshall fire and Camp fire and Lahaina fire, what truly characterizes the process of a home burning down, is largely the result of embers that fly miles ahead of that wildfire,” said Kimiko Barrett, a wildlife researcher at the non-profit Headwaters Economics. “They account for 90% of structural loss in a wildfire.”

California already has some of the strictest building rules, colloquially known as Chapter 7A, when it comes to new homes in high-risk fire regions and they’re designed to improve a house’s chance of survival. While regulations and building codes are effective, they don’t apply to homes built before 2008, when Chapter 7A was adopted. This means that even homes designed to withstand fire are vulnerable when wildfires spread to older homes nearby.

Houses made from chemically-treated synthetic materials, which have become common since the 1980s, are especially vulnerable since the home itself acts as fuel for a fire, as do the many petroleum-based products inside, ranging from furniture and carpet to appliances and electronics. Once they start to burn, the energy release becomes so intense that homes release radiant heat and in a high-wind scenario, propagate structure-to-structure spread.

‘It was built for this’: how design helped spare some homes from the LA wildfires

As fires set LA ablaze, some houses are left standing amid ashes thanks to concrete walls, class A wood – and luck

www.theguardian.com

comrade stalin
california

 

[Stalin]

i am surprised that such a serious issue is given such scant attention on this site

more...

Hurricane-force winds howled across Los Angeles’ hillsides on Tuesday, sweeping flames through dry and dead vegetation that had gone months without measurable rain. Separately, the conditions might not have been as notable. Together, they created a tragedy. Cascades of embers rained on to communities nestled in the canyons, creating firestorms that left full neighborhoods in ruin.

“We are not strangers to fire. We are not strangers to Santa Anas,” de Guzman said, referring to the strong gusts typical in southern California this time of year. “But we had a trifecta of factors that came together that supercharged the event.”

California has always been prone to extremes, quickly shifting between wet and dry, and its landscapes have evolved alongside boom-and-bust cycles of moisture. But the climate crisis has intensified these events, deepening droughts and periods of wetness, causing climate whiplash that can do more damage at both ends.

...

For more than a century, new housing developments have popped up in the fire-prone hills around Los Angeles. The new homes have beautiful views, surrounding greenery and proximity to hiking trails. It’s part of the city’s distinctive charm that rugged hills and canyons break up the endless urban sprawl, with pockets of homes hidden in the majestic landscape.

But that majestic landscape “needs to burn, and has burned for millennia”, said Char Miller, an environmental historian at Pomona College.

Add power lines, cars and humans to this beautiful yet fire-prone landscape, and the same thing happens decade after decade: neighborhoods go up in flames.

Periodic massive blazes – like the 1961 wildfire in Bel Air that destroyed nearly 500 homes and left future Republican president Richard Nixon standing with a hose on the roof of his house – have prompted warnings that Los Angeles needs to tackle “the very real problem of how a house is constructed, and where”, as the city’s fire department put it in a 1962 film.

But the repeated conflagrations have done little to stop the constant push of development into high-risk areas.

Local politicians of both parties have continued to sign off on new homes in wildfire zones, mortgage companies have helped people buy them, and, until recently, insurance companies have insured them, Miller said.

“This is really about capital, not government,” he said. Insurance companies have continued to sign off on risky developments, “because, at least until recently, their calculation was they’d still make profits if the houses burned”.

The perfect storm: why did LA’s wildfires explode out of control?

A combustible combination of factors laid the groundwork for disaster. Will LA learn the lessons from the fires as it moves forward?

www.theguardian.com

comrade stalin
moscow