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“MAnd a husband opinion “Glow on the hill,” Lori Bilotta explains. Standing in the backyard of her Pasadena home she points to Eaton Canyon, where the Eaton Fire broke out on Jan. 7. In the few seconds it took Bob, her husband, to scream “Fire!”, the… Flames It was long as it was. Then “the whole mountain exploded. There were flames everywhere.” The couple grabbed their two Siamese cats and headed south to safety. Miraculously, their house survived.
The Eaton Fire is one of many fires sweeping through Los Angeles County. At least 25 people died and more than 12,000 buildings were destroyed. Parts of Altadena, a neighborhood engulfed in flames by wind-blown embers, looked as if a bomb had exploded. All that was left in the ashes were the remains of a toy truck, a swing, and a very sturdy lemon tree.
A week later, the fires were still burning, although firefighters had made progress in containing them. Experts already expect they will prove it More expensive In American history, largely because of where it broke out. With nearly 10 million people, Los Angeles The county is more populous than 40 of America’s 50 states. Many Angelenos live in picturesque neighborhoods set against mountains that are highly vulnerable to wildfires. A typical home in Pacific Palisades, an upscale area destroyed by the fire, cost more than $3 million before the fire.
Even as fire crews battle the flames, locals are asking two questions. How can Los Angeles better prepare for this disaster? How will it change the second city in America?
Fires are common around Los Angeles Because of its terrain and dryness, several factors added to its destructive power. Climate change has increased fire danger. California is witnessing more “weather fluctuations”, as fires break out after heavy rains. Los Angeles has been hit by atmospheric river flooding over the past two years, resulting in heavier rains than usual. And its plants flourished. But the lack of rain since May has dried out the plants and caused them to burn.
Research by Patrick Brown of the Breakthrough Institute suggests that removing flammable vegetation around Los Angeles could reduce fire severity in 2050 by approximately 15% compared to today. But federal and state laws often require burdensome environmental reviews that can delay prescribed burns for years.
The city’s building code is strict, requiring new homes to be reasonably fire-resistant. but NIMBYModernity makes it difficult to build new homes at all, so many existing homes existed before the stricter rules. Old neighborhoods, filled with houses with flammable wooden panels, extend into the hillsides. Narrow roads meander through canyons, leaving little room for fire trucks. In unincorporated parts of Los Angeles In counties, such as Altadena, nearly 90% of homes were built before 1990. In fact, the largest share of homes were built in the 1950s during the Los AngelesPost-war building boom.
It was also hampered by politics in California Los AngelesFire response. Not that water was being diverted from cities to save “a basically worthless fish called a smelt,” as Donald Trump claimed. But the state’s tendency to make policy by ballot (e.g., referendum) has made it difficult to fund public services, such as anti-terrorism. Fires distorted California’s home insurance market. In 1978, Californians voted to lower the property tax rate and limit future increases. To compensate for the fiscal deficit, cities imposed fees on development projects, raising the cost of construction New.
In 1988, another ballot initiative, Proposition 103, limited how much insurance companies could raise their rates. So insurance premiums do not reflect the real (and escalating) risk of having inadequately fire-resistant homes in the most fire-prone areas.
Many insurance companies have left the state because they cannot afford reinsurance costs. California’s insurance commissioner last week banned insurers for a year from canceling insurance policies for customers living in fire-affected areas, making the state less attractive to insurers.
When the smoke clears, the fires could change Los Angeles in many ways. There will be political repercussions at first. Mayor Karen Bass traveled to Ghana despite warnings about hot weather. Her absence while the city burns may not sit well with voters, and Bass faces re-election next year. Its response to the fires will feature prominently in that campaign.
Some residents may leave. A recent poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California (Beck), a think tank, reports that a quarter of Angelenos have considered moving to avoid the effects of climate change. However, Americans more broadly are moving into risky areas, not away from them. Greater threat to Los AngelesThe population growth of Angelenos is because housing costs may rise as Angelenos displaced by fires look for a place to live. The survey included about 47% of Los Angeles residents PPIC In 2023 they said they considered leaving because of housing costs.
Another big question is whether the city will be built back better. Hosting some World Cup games in 2026, the Super Bowl in 2027 and the Olympic Games in 2028 will turn heads. Officials will want to show the world that Los Angeles He has recovered. Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California, says he is organizing a “Marshall Plan” for the city, a reference to the aid America sent to Europe to rebuild after World War II. “We already have a team looking at the reimagining Los Angeles 2.0,” he says. To that end, he issued an executive order to streamline the process of rebuilding homes in burned areas.
The new homes will be subject to up-to-date fire codes, which will help. Stephanie Pinsetle, who directs the California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA, believes the city should seize this opportunity to ease the housing shortage by building denser, mixed-use neighborhoods. You can have luxury apartments, she suggests, “but then have places where a cleaning lady can actually live without her having to take an hour-and-a-half bus across town.”
Looking across the charred Eaton Valley, Mr. Pilotta points out a few mansions on the hilltop across the road. After a major fire destroyed them in 1993, a larger one was built in their place. It is believed that the same thing will happen this time. “There will be more big houses there,” he says. “This is just a guess.” ■
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