Lessons Learned from the Palisades and Eaton Fires

Yana Valachovic, County Director- Forest Advisor at University of California Cooperative Extension leads a one-hour webinar of her findings from the Palisades and Eaton Fires.

Many houses still stand among the blocks of fire-ravaged neighborhoods of both the Palisades and Eaton Fire footprints, each offering clues about what they and the humans who were around experienced during January 7-8, 2025. A squirt gun, a blender used to scoop water from a pool, fence panels on the ground with cut lines or broken edges, gates off their hinges, rub marks from fire hoses on cement, and a shovel in the yard. Each is a sign that someone, who may have been a resident or firefighter, was trying their best to protect a home or stop a fire from advancing through the bushes, leaves, and mulch surrounding each home.

Yana is trained to look for these signs and to see places where building materials and the elements of a home were tested by fire. Soon after the fires, she took two trips to the Eaton and Palisades Fires locations, to look for examples where surviving homes withstood the ferocity of fire and to look for signs of defensible space and home hardening in action. In each of these explorations, she found evidence that homes and their yards can be designed, maintained, and upgraded to ward off heat, embers, and flames.

During this webinar, she shares how fire mitigations, such as hardened homes and fuel reductions, helped homes and buildings survive the LA firestorms. This information is relevant to future rebuilding efforts and developing policy strategies and takes a broad look at critical fire adaptation strategies pertinent to wherever you live.

Thanks to the California Fire Science Consortium for hosting the webinar.