As thousands of California families are mourning the loss of their homes to the latest destructive fires in Los Angeles, some are calling for a blanket moratorium in San Diego County on developing new housing in areas that are potentially at risk of wildfire.
While wildfire is an inevitable feature of our landscape and concerns regarding the risk of loss are understandable, particularly in the aftermath of the recent tragedies, a moratorium like this is a bad idea. Rather than increasing fire protection, it would prevent the development of fire adapted neighborhoods that can make existing communities safer while doing nothing to alleviate our worsening housing crisis.
While often used interchangeably, the potential for wildfire (hazard) and the probability of structure loss (risk) as a result of wildfire are fundamentally different. California is a fire dependent landscape and over a 100-year period there is a high potential for wildfire in many parts of the state.
However, it is only when these inevitable wildfires encounter unprepared homes or clusters of unprepared homes capable of supporting structure-to-structure conflagration that wildfire loss occurs. In short, the risk of wildfire loss is an engineering and adaptation problem.
Thanks to advances in fire science, we can build and retrofit homes that, when combined with defensible space, are highly resistant to wildfire. When well understood, science-based mitigations are completed at scale, it is possible to build and retrofit communities that can be in or adjacent to a wildfire perimeter without experiencing structure loss.
At the single-parcel level these mitigations can be incorporated into built features of the home following the standards included in the California Building Code Chapter 7A since 2008. Retrofitting existing homes is expensive and can be a lengthy process due to the need to generate support for change from residents. Further, it is often not practical to retrofit previous design decisions such as road widths.
While it would be ideal to carry out retrofits throughout existing communities, the risk of loss can also be reduced by establishing surrounding buffers in the form of new communities that are built intentionally to co-exist with a fire dependent landscape and are sited in a manner that disrupts fire spread.
New fire-resistant master planned communities allow for a comprehensive approach that layers proven and complimentary fire science mitigations that we know can dramatically reduce the risk of structure loss. Homes in master planned communities built to the current California Building Code Chapter 7A standard are resistant to embers, incorporate fire safe landscaping, and use non-combustible fences to prevent direct flame contact.
Wide streets support simultaneous egress of residents and ingress of firefighters while acting as internal fire breaks, strategic siting of community amenities such as dog parks and sports fields, combined with perimeter landscaping choices utilizing non-burnable features such as vineyards, orchards, and pedestrian or bike paths can rapidly provide sufficient mitigation value that the community becomes a fire-safe island.
To achieve comprehensive fire safety, all existing communities in San Diego and across the state should be retrofitted with proven fire safety measures. Recognizing the enormity of this project, the simultaneous development of master planned communities that create both much needed new homes and form fire-resistant buffers that protect existing communities is a prudent approach.
This is a long-term solution to living in a fire dependent state that, in the face of California’s housing crisis, feels like a two for one.
Dan Dunmoyer is president and CEO of the California Building Industry Association. Dave Winnacker is the former Fire Chief of the Moraga-Orinda Fire District. He retired from that position in December 2024.
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