Building to Coexist with Fire: Community Risk Reduction Measures for New Development in California

Abstract

Where communities are built on the landscape, and how they are designed, are very important issues in determining how vulnerable they will be to wildfire-related losses. Despite this fact, there is currently little codified guidance for where and how to build our communities in California, aside from building codes for individual structures and a few requirements for road access and water supplies. We therefore surveyed the literature and drew from the professional experience of both firefighters and planners to compile this series of community-scale risk reduction measures (RRMs). This document includes guidance on the following: inclusion of fire professionals in the planning process; the spatial placement of communities; how communities are laid out to minimize exposure; and key defensibility, ignition, and evacuation concerns. Examples are provided for each RRM, along with some consideration of challenges associated with their implementation. Our hope is that this guidance will be helpful for agency personnel involved in evaluating and approving future development in California. Because there is a pressing need for additional housing in California, communities must be built with design principles that make them safer to inhabit and less vulnerable to inevitable wildfires.