When a city burns, people often zoom in on houses, the individual cells that make up the fabric of a community. After the tragic fires in Los Angeles earlier this month, many publications, this one included, published essays, case studies, and guides shedding light on how to fire-proof a house. These guides are crucial tools for people whove lost their homes and for those who will be responsible for rebuilding them. But many experts are arguing that fire-proofing individual houses is not enough. They say we need to fire-proof entire communities.You can almost think of it as a domino effect, says Michael Gollner, an associate professor at UC Berkeleys Fire Research Lab. All it takes is for one house to burst into flames for those flamesor the embers they will produceto set the neighbors house on fire, and the neighbors neighbors houseuntil one by one, the houses end up falling like dominoes.This is what happened in L.A., where the fires recently burned more than40,000 acres, destroyed15,700 structures (including homes, schools, churches, synagogues, and various architectural gems), anddisplaced nearly 200,000 people who found themselves under evacuation orders.L.A. is not the first city to be ravaged by a wildfire, and tragic as it is, it will not be the last. Over the course of 2024, average global temperatures rose above 1.5 Celsius. This means that extreme weather events that are exacerbated by climate changelike wildfires, flash floods, and hurricanesare likely to occur more frequently, and with more intensity. If officials seize the opportunity, however, Los Angeles could become a model of resilience and provide a blueprint for a wildfire-adapted city of the future.An aerial image taken on January 25, 2025 shows homes damaged and destroyed by the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles. [Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images]The anatomy of a fire-adapted communityThere is no silver bullet for a fire-adapted city. Every city faces unique challenges that stem from its geographical location, topographical features, or economic constraints, and building a fire-adapted community requires a multifaceted, ever-evolving approach. As the U.S. Department of Agriculture notes on its website: A community doesnt achieve fire adapted community status or certification because the work to reduce wildfire risk never ends.But a few facts remain universal. First: There is no fire without fuel, and cities are practically mines of combustible materials. There are the obvious contendersgasoline-powered cars, wooden bungalows, dry vegetation. There are also the less obvious: palm trees (their dead fronds near the top are highly flammable) and juniper trees (they contain volatile oils). And perhaps the least obvious: highly flammable couchesmade of polyester fabric and polyurethane foam, aka plastic.The second point is a logical extension of the first: When fire is starved of fuel, it is easier to extinguish. In practical terms, a fire-adapted community is one that understands the value of buffers. These include hardscapes, nonflammable barriers like tall stucco walls, and landscapes that can be heavily irrigated in anticipation of a wildfire.The solution isnt to rip out all the trees, or to stop planting new ones. Trees play a crucial role in reducing the urban heat island effect that often chokes urban environments. They also provide shade and oxygen.A better option, according to Gollner, would be for city planners and landscape designers to follow a hopscotch pattern when rebuilding. You can have islands of trees and vegetation, but they need to be isolated, Gollner explains. When vegetation is isolated, fires can still start, but firefighters will have a better chance at containing isolated fires.Architect Michael Kovac points to his house, which survived the Palisades Fire due to fire-resilient features used in its construction. [Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images]The sprawl problemThe problem is that L.A. wasnt built with buffers in mind. While the city has a vast footprint, its buildable land is ultimately finite. Urban infilldeveloping vacant or underutilized land within the citycould be a solution to accommodate growth without expanding outward. But almost 80% of Los Angeles today iszoned exclusively for single-family homes, preventing the construction of multiunit housing in these areas.As a result, when demand for housing rises, new development ends up being pushed farther out to the edges of the cityand closer to what is known as the wildland urban interface zone. This zone (which encompasses both Altadena and the Pacific Palisades) is more vulnerable to wildfires.Over the years, many experts have argued that L.A. should rezone and built up, not out. But Gollnera self-described realistis reticent of such a radical approach. Were not going to cancel the sprawl. I dont see any shift in public sentiment thats going to change it, he says, adding, Instead, I want to focus on rebuilding it in a more resilient way so that this isnt going to happen again.One answer might be to create what Justin Hollander, a professor of urban and environmental policy and planning at Tufts University, has called new townsa kind of zoning overlay that stipulates a number of requirements for the developer of a new neighborhood. Unlike single-family zoning, which dictates how individual lots are to be used on a large parcel of land, an overlay would establish comprehensive requirements for the development of an entire community, including reliable public transit, safe pedestrian and bike paths, well-planned roadways, essential utilities, and community-wide fire-resistant features like buffers, appropriate landscapes, and so on. Hollander explains this zoning overlay would exist simultaneously with the underlying zoning while introducing new opportunities or restrictions.An approach like Hollanders might also encourage broader, interconnected thinking, discouraging planners and developers from addressing one disaster while inadvertently exacerbating another (like building wider evacuation roads, which improve fire access but can increase erosion and runoff, making mudslides more likely). When you work too hard to solve a single problem, that myopic viewpoint ends up detracting from holistic problem-solving, Hollander says.Today, Altadena operates under its own set of zoning and development rules, outlined in Title 22Planning and Zoning of the Los Angeles County Code.Hollander explains that Altadena would have to amend the rules to allow for new towns to be built by right, meaning developers wouldnt have to go through lengthy approval processes or seek special permits. Then the county would have to approve the modifications.As Hollander envisions it, overlay zoning would provide the community with a tool to guide the reconstruction of Altadena that isnt based on a lot-by-lot model of zoning, but on a larger area that would consider fire risks at a neighborhood level. Each individual property owner can not realistically account for all of these considerations, but a master planner could, he says.The process may seem administratively arduous, but it would pave the way for an intentionally designed community that is more connected, more walkable, and more resilient than it was before.The Malibu home of Nancy and Jim Evans (photographed on January 14, 2025) survived the Palisades Fire even though many neighboring homes didnt. After the previous house on the same lot burned down in a 1993 wildfire, Evans built a fire-resilient structure with a metal roof, steel-reinforced walls with cinderblock at the bottom, double-paned windows, and 6 feet of stone encircling the house, clear of vegetation. The rest of the yard is landscaped with fire-resilient succulents and oak trees. [Photo: Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images]The seeds of a resilient communityAlready, Los Angeles has set up special parking restrictions banning street parking on narrow roads, sharp curves, and key intersections when high winds signal fire danger.Local governments in the L.A. region have also adopteddefensible space rulesthat require property owners to clear away flammable vegetation and materials from their property to reduce fire risk. However, the ordinance applies only to houses in a so-called Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone.In 2020, state lawmakers passed a more aggressive, more restrictive fireproofing measure that specifically targets the first 5 feet around a home and bars things like brush and mulch, but also wooden fencing, furniture, and sheds. The bills aim is to create an ember-resistant zone within 5 feet of a house, which is known as Zone 0, but it has faced pushback and still hasnt been implemented. No one wants to cut down their petunias or juniper gasoline can next to their window, says Gollner, though such changes can make a real difference.What you do affects your neighbor, and your neighbors neighbor.California also has one of the countrys most stringent building codes. Chapter 7A of the building code passed in 2008 mandates fire-resistant siding, tempered glass, vegetation management, and vents for attics and crawl spaces that are specially designed to prevent embers from flying in.According to a 2021 study, the new building code has proven to reduce average structure loss risk during a wildfire by 40%. But the building code applies only to new homes. And in both Altadena and the Pacific Palisades, where the biggest fires occurred, the majority of the housing stock was built before Chapter 7A went into effect.Now vast swaths of these neighborhoods have been reduced to ashes, and anything that gets rebuilt will have to adhere to Chapter 7A. It is a painfully, unthinkably overwhelming situation. But as Gollner points out, it is also an opportunity to make a change for the future.