Christopher Flavelle

Even just managing the vegetation on your property in a way that is effective is not cheap. And then there's the community and sort of public level of cost.

Even just managing the vegetation on your property in a way that is effective is not cheap. And then there's the community and sort of public level of cost.

If you apply these rules more aggressively and you have more space between homes, so fires that are hard time jumping, and you have fewer homes getting built into the forest where the risk is highest, that reduces your fire risk, but it means fewer homes. And in California right now, as we all know, the housing crisis is really severe.

If you apply these rules more aggressively and you have more space between homes, so fires that are hard time jumping, and you have fewer homes getting built into the forest where the risk is highest, that reduces your fire risk, but it means fewer homes. And in California right now, as we all know, the housing crisis is really severe.

So the idea that you would try to combat wildfires by having fewer homes would help, but it would also make another problem Even worse. So the tradeoffs of trying to further squeeze the fire risk out of Los Angeles and out of California are real.

So the idea that you would try to combat wildfires by having fewer homes would help, but it would also make another problem Even worse. So the tradeoffs of trying to further squeeze the fire risk out of Los Angeles and out of California are real.

Yeah, it's hard to even say what California should do because arguably the homelessness crisis is as urgent or more urgent than the climate crisis and wildfires. There's really no good answer to these questions.

Yeah, it's hard to even say what California should do because arguably the homelessness crisis is as urgent or more urgent than the climate crisis and wildfires. There's really no good answer to these questions.

The fundamental question after any big fire in communities like this, the first question has always got to be, how will you rebuild? In fact, it's already started. Governor Newsom issued an order directing officials to look for ways to

The fundamental question after any big fire in communities like this, the first question has always got to be, how will you rebuild? In fact, it's already started. Governor Newsom issued an order directing officials to look for ways to

ease or suspend provisions of the building code that would make it easier to build back more quickly but also would not be unsafe what does that mean we don't know yet but in the past these fires often have been followed by attempts to weaken or loosen temporarily the standards around how you build For good reason.

ease or suspend provisions of the building code that would make it easier to build back more quickly but also would not be unsafe what does that mean we don't know yet but in the past these fires often have been followed by attempts to weaken or loosen temporarily the standards around how you build For good reason.

People want to rebuild as fast as they can, and they want to rebuild as inexpensively as they can. And governments just want to do their best to serve the needs of people who've lost their homes, right? It's the most obvious thing you could do. The problem is that sets you up against a future where these fires get worse.

People want to rebuild as fast as they can, and they want to rebuild as inexpensively as they can. And governments just want to do their best to serve the needs of people who've lost their homes, right? It's the most obvious thing you could do. The problem is that sets you up against a future where these fires get worse.

And so this is also the moment where people who study resilience and climate change will say, actually, this is a good time to tighten the standards so that when we build back, we build back homes that are more resistant to wildfires. But typically that takes longer.

And so this is also the moment where people who study resilience and climate change will say, actually, this is a good time to tighten the standards so that when we build back, we build back homes that are more resistant to wildfires. But typically that takes longer.

So historically, often those two forces are in opposition after a fire and usually the people calling for easing the standards win out. But this time is different because the scale is bigger and because there's no longer really a debate about climate change. No one is saying that we won't have more of these fires.

So historically, often those two forces are in opposition after a fire and usually the people calling for easing the standards win out. But this time is different because the scale is bigger and because there's no longer really a debate about climate change. No one is saying that we won't have more of these fires.

So the question that I'll be watching is to what degree do state and local officials and homeowners use this time to say this really is worth taking a moment and finding a way to build back in a tougher environment because we know the fires will get worse.

So the question that I'll be watching is to what degree do state and local officials and homeowners use this time to say this really is worth taking a moment and finding a way to build back in a tougher environment because we know the fires will get worse.