“In both the Eaton and Palisades Fires, I did not see many homes
that survived without evidence of some type of defensive action.”
Lessons from the 2025 Los Angeles Wildfires
By Yana Valachovic, UC Cooperative Extension advisor, visited Palisades and Eaton Fires
The UC ANR fire expert highlights materials, components and actions that saved homes from LA fires
The following are some highlights from an article written by Yana Valachovic, County Director – Forest Advisor, University of California Cooperative Extension. Yana presents her important findings in this illuminating article.
We recommend you click on the link below and read the whole article.
Home loss during wildfires occurs when part of a building ignites due to one or more of three wildfire exposures:
- Direct flame contact
- Radiant heat
- Embers
Embers can ignite materials on or attached to the building, enter through vents or open windows, or ignite vegetation and combustible materials nearby, resulting in flames touching the building. Radiant heat from nearby burning materials can break windows or directly ignite portions of the building.
Post-fire studies and laboratory experiments offer essential information about how local construction and landscaping practices affect building and property vulnerabilities. Assessments following the 2025 firestorms in Los Angeles provide key information and add to the body of research following other destructive wildfires in California, Colorado, and Hawaii over the last decade.
In the article Yana goes on to ask:
- Were there unique vulnerabilities in the homes in Altadena and Palisades?
- What can we learn from surviving homes?
- Rebuilding considerations:
– Home hardening
– Landscaping and vegetation management
– Zones 0, 1, and 2 - What about retrofitting a home?
– Break the pathways
– Prevent radiant heat exposure
Conclusions
The Eaton and Palisades fires provide further urgency to retrofit existing structures to match the wildfire exposures of the last decade and to rebuild Los Angeles and other fire-impacted areas to a better standard. The good news is that research has demonstrated that by careful attention to the following points we can mitigate the wildfire risks to our homes:
- the selection, location, and maintenance of vegetation and other combustibles on the property (i.e., the defensible space on the property)
- implementing retrofits to “harden” the home
- implementing an ongoing maintenance program, it is possible to substantially improve the odds that a home will survive a future wildfire.
These actions do not have to be costly, but they require an understanding the three types of exposures a home will experience when threatened by a wildfire.
