> Well known by people who pay attention, yet ignored by people who make policy at the local level.
It is not ignored by local policy folks:
> Molly Mowery, an author of a 2020 report for Los Angeles County on how to reduce wildfire risk, said that the county now takes wildfire into account when reviewing new housing development plans. The problem, she said, is that nearly 90 percent of the county’s housing stock was built before 1990, before many subdivision or building code requirements for wildfire hazards took effect. Once fire enters these communities, the homes are the fuel.
But to a certain extent government can only do what the citizens want to be done:
> Nic Arnzen, a town council member in Altadena, where thousands of homes, businesses, restaurants and parks were lost in the Eaton Fire, said the unincorporated community in Los Angeles County was trying to address fire risks. Less than a month ago, the town council chair wrote a letter to Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, recommending she adopt a controversial land-use plan that would direct development away from the Altadena foothills “and other high fire hazard zones.”
> It had been a subject of debate for months. Residents concerned about the community’s vulnerability to an inferno roaring off the slope of the San Gabriel Mountains favored the plan. But others didn’t want to lose the ability to develop their properties in the hills. […]
It is not ignored by local policy folks:
> Molly Mowery, an author of a 2020 report for Los Angeles County on how to reduce wildfire risk, said that the county now takes wildfire into account when reviewing new housing development plans. The problem, she said, is that nearly 90 percent of the county’s housing stock was built before 1990, before many subdivision or building code requirements for wildfire hazards took effect. Once fire enters these communities, the homes are the fuel.
* https://archive.is/https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/20...
But to a certain extent government can only do what the citizens want to be done:
> Nic Arnzen, a town council member in Altadena, where thousands of homes, businesses, restaurants and parks were lost in the Eaton Fire, said the unincorporated community in Los Angeles County was trying to address fire risks. Less than a month ago, the town council chair wrote a letter to Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, recommending she adopt a controversial land-use plan that would direct development away from the Altadena foothills “and other high fire hazard zones.”
> It had been a subject of debate for months. Residents concerned about the community’s vulnerability to an inferno roaring off the slope of the San Gabriel Mountains favored the plan. But others didn’t want to lose the ability to develop their properties in the hills. […]
* Ibid.