In 2020, California wildfires destroyed nearly a fifth of homes they came in contact with.
Fewer homes in California are surviving wildfires, indicating that increasingly destructive wildfires and continued construction in hazardous areas are overtaking efforts to protect homes from fires, writes Noah Haggerty in the Los Angeles Times.
"While the entire American West saw a decrease in the percentage of homes surviving wildfire, California saw a particularly pronounced drop." According to experts, this shows that landscaping rules and building codes aimed at improving fire safety have worked for individual homes, but have not reduced the overall devastation.
Meanwhile, hotter and faster-moving fires reduce the chances that homes will survive, making it harder for firefighters to reach properties in time. And of new properties built in California between 2020 and 2022, 80% were located in areas with high fire risk (compared with just 28% in the 1920s). This counteracts any steps a homeowner may take to protect their property, Haggery notes. "A home’s location can often override the steps residents take to protect their properties."
Read the full story: The percentage of homes surviving wildfires is dropping
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