What we’re learning

Learning from the fires

What we’re learning about wildfire prevention and mitigation

Everyone’s heard the old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure—and that absolutely applies to wildfire. Some experts estimate a 60:1 ratio of benefit to cost for investments in wildfire mitigation. But it’s critical that you deploy the right kind of prevention because some of the options out there can be confusing, and some are better than others.

The Los Angeles Times wrote a prescient article about wildfire mitigation in Pacific Palisades in 2019; the physics then are the same physics today, and the ideas are as important now as ever.

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2019-10-03/wildfire-defense-fire-proof-home-hardening-sprinklers

Earlier this month, Scientific American published a four-minute read on the dangers we face today, with a focus on how our recent drought (no significant rain since April 2024), has made the wildfires more uncontrollable.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/palisades-and-eaton-fires-show-rising-dangers-of-fast-moving-fires/

Even more recently, State Fire Marshall Daniel Berlant told POLITICO that CAL FIRE’s long-delayed updates to Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/03beab8511814e79a0e4eabf0d3e7247/ will be delayed even further because the fire officials in southern California have been so overwhelmed, and don’t have the bandwidth to review and adopt these maps that quantify risk at a city and parcel level of detail. The maps for incorporated areas like Agoura Hills were last updated in 2008, and do not include gradients of “high” or “moderate” risk.  It’s critical that we make decisions with the best possible information, and these updated fire hazard severity zone maps will provide that.

The City of Agoura Hills is continuing work on a Community Wildfire Risk Assessment to detail the threats we face at a local level. Part of that project is a survey asking all of us about our experiences, concerns, and needs.  That survey should be available by late February, and we will provide more information and promote it heavily when appropriate. More background is available at https://www.agourahillscity.org/department/city-manager/emergency-preparedness/wildfire-preparedness/community-wildfire-risk-assessment-project

We continue to recommend highly the individual home risk assessments as provided by our partners at the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains. These FREE site reviews provide invaluable information about things you can improve now, often at little or no cost, to improve your odds in the next wildfire event.    https://www.rcdsmm.org/what-we-do/home-ignition-zone-evaluations/

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