California leaders vow to rebuild swiftly, but this could expose homes to the risk of fire once more.

 Experts warn that rebuilding fire-damaged neighborhoods to resemble their previous form could leave residents vulnerable to future wildfires.

Burned homes near the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Jan. 9

Jan. 22, 2025, 4:00 PM GMT+6

As wildfires continue to burn in Southern California, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass are both committed to swiftly rebuilding the thousands of homes that have been destroyed.

“This is no time for urban planning exercises that could delay things for 15 years. We need people back in their homes,” said Steve Soboroff, businessman and former police commissioner overseeing the city's rebuilding efforts, during a Friday news conference.

However, reconstructing Pacific Palisades and other fire-ravaged neighborhoods as they were could leave residents vulnerable to future fires, according to urban planners, engineers, and disaster experts. To create fire-resilient communities—especially as climate change leads to more frequent and intense wildfires—experts suggest limiting development in high-risk zones, establishing buffer zones between properties and wildland, and increasing space between homes.

“We often say, ‘Don’t let a disaster go to waste.’ This is the time for change,” said Stephen Miller, a law professor at Northern Illinois University who specializes in sustainable development and land use.

This stance contrasts with Soboroff’s focus on speed.

“The planning of Pacific Palisades is beautiful. The community works beautifully. It doesn’t need rethinking; it needs rebuilding,” Soboroff said on Friday. He did not respond to a request for further comment. (Soboroff is also the father of NBC News correspondent Jacob Soboroff.)

Given these statements and past examples, urban planners are doubtful that essential safety changes will be made in the rebuild.

“Right now, it feels like they’re focusing entirely on speed, not on thoughtful deliberation,” said Andrew Rumbach, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute.

When NBC News asked about these concerns, Bass’s spokesperson, Zach Seidl, pointed to the mayor's comments from last week: "We must rebuild in a way that ensures fire resilience and makes our community stronger. We need to assess building codes, learn from past mistakes, and rebuild better.”

How to Rebuild Better In an ideal scenario, Miller said, developers would redesign Pacific Palisades to minimize construction in high-risk areas, such as steep, brush-covered hillsides. For example, San Diego bans building on steep hillsides to slow wildfire spread uphill.

Increasing the space between homes beyond the Los Angeles fire code’s minimum would reduce the risk of fires spreading through embers. Miller also suggested creating a buffer zone between homes and wildland areas, filled with nonflammable vegetation.

Planting more native species, such as succulents or sage, on public land near residential areas can also reduce the risk of fire spread, unlike the palm trees that fueled fires in Pacific Palisades. Malibu even banned planting new palm trees in 2020 after lessons learned from the 2018 Woolsey Fire.

For private yards, experts recommend spacing shrubs and plants at least 15 feet apart and using nonflammable materials like gravel or concrete in walkways instead of mulch. For construction, fire-resistant materials such as brick, stone, or concrete are preferred over wood. Other suggestions include avoiding wood siding or fences and installing dual-pane windows and internal sprinkler systems.

Many of these strategies are already part of California’s fire code, enacted in 2008, as well as Los Angeles-specific amendments. As such, many of the rebuilt homes will likely comply with newer codes that require fire-resistant materials like treated wood and tempered glass. The California code also mandates vegetation management to reduce combustible materials on properties.

“The codes today are much better than when these neighborhoods were originally built. If they rebuild to these codes, it will significantly improve resilience,” Rumbach noted.

Homeowners could also choose to exceed these requirements, such as using more metal in construction or adding concrete perimeter walls for better fire protection. Lawmakers could offer incentives for such upgrades.

However, rebuilding for maximum resilience might require residents in some areas to relocate. One solution is transferring development rights from high-risk areas to safer locations, but this approach is unlikely to be implemented, experts say. These strategies are not quick fixes.

“It’s unrealistic to expect communities that have been built over decades and destroyed in days to completely change their construction methods overnight,” said Erica Fischer, a structural engineering professor at Oregon State University.

Nevertheless, Rumbach emphasized that Los Angeles has more resources than many communities affected by past wildfires. Newsom has already proposed $2.5 billion for recovery efforts.

“It’s a large metro area with all the resources needed for recovery,” Rumbach said. “But it will still take years, even in the best-case scenario.”

Some experts question whether rebuilding in Pacific Palisades is wise at all.

“We need to carefully consider whether this is the place to rebuild,” said Jonah Susskind, senior research associate at SWA, a design firm. “This community and infrastructure will almost certainly burn again.”

Repeating Past Mistakes In Los Angeles, Bass has authorized actions to allow residents to rebuild homes in their previous style and size. These include waiving requirements for new buildings to use electricity instead of gas for heating and appliances, streamlining project reviews, and waiving hearings on zoning compliance.

Newsom has also suspended environmental permitting requirements that could delay construction, although experts argue these requirements also help mitigate wildfire risks.

Both Newsom and Bass have faced intense pressure to act quickly. Republican leaders, including President Donald Trump, have criticized Newsom for failing to prevent the fires, while Bass has been criticized by politicians and celebrities for mismanaging the city’s resources and being out of the country when the fires began. Seidl defended Bass, stating she is “leading our city through one of its worst crises in history” and highlighting the misinformation surrounding the situation.

Adding to the pressure, Los Angeles is set to host the 2028 Summer Olympics, which creates an impractical deadline for recovery efforts.

Newsom and Bass are not alone in pushing to rebuild communities in their original forms. After the 2021 Marshall Fire in Colorado, local officials exempted homeowners from green building codes.

“There was immense public pressure to roll back energy codes and resiliency measures,” Rumbach explained. “Now, homes are being rebuilt as suburban tract housing, which could burn down again if another wildfire hits.”

Long-term, designing fire-resistant homes and neighborhoods will require more research into the most effective mitigation measures.

While rigorous lab tests exist for evaluating how buildings withstand earthquakes and hurricanes, there is no comparable data for wildfires, Fischer said.

“The science on wildfire resistance is still catching up,” she noted. “We don’t yet have comprehensive data to back up mitigation strategies for wildfires.”

The complexity of wildfire spread—driven by factors like weather, climate, terrain, vegetation, and building techniques—makes it difficult to apply lessons from one fire to the next.

However, Fischer said progress is being made as civil engineers collaborate with wildfire experts and ecologists to understand fire impacts on structures.