As the Pacific Palisades, Altadena, and the broader Los Angeles community continue to reckon with the toll of the January 2025 wildfires, a broad coalition of housing, fire science, insurance and policy experts has urged Los Angeles to rebuild using Chapter 7A building code.
This group has written a letter to Gov. Newsom, Senate and Assembly leaders, Los Angeles Mayor Bass, Supervisor Kathryn Barger and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors urging them to act now to ensure the rebuilding process incorporates simple, clear and actionable construction and landscaping requirements that will reduce wildfire risk.
Roy Wright, President and CEO of the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) said: “Ensuring the next generation of homes in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena are survivable and insurable is not a barrier to rebuilding – it is a necessity.
“The good news is that a path to a brighter, safer and more insurable future for Los Angeles residents is available, affordable and achievable.”
“We must rebuild survivable homes and communities that can withstand the wildfires we know they will again face so homeowners have a home to return to.
“Insurable means homes and neighborhoods that carriers are willing and have the capacity and tools to insure because homeowners have undertaken meaningful and verifiable risk reduction actions.”
Chapter 7A is the required code for building design and construction in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI).
These established and tested code requirements include many of the wildfire mitigation actions that collectively reduce the risk of home ignitions from embers, flames and radiant heat.
Dan Dunmoyer, President and CEO of the California Building Industry Association shared: “California has the tools to rebuild with wildfire resilience: California Building Code Chapter 7A.
“Under current law the Pacific Palisades will already be required to build to Chapter 7A. We must go the extra step and rebuild Altadena to this more resilient code.
“The status quo is not good enough; the Altadena community must be rebuilt using Chapter 7A.”
The coalition further called upon public policy decision makers to speed up enforcement of newly released Zone 0 Defensible Space regulations.
Dr. Michael Gollner, Director of the Berkeley Fire Research Lab, Associate Professor, Deb Faculty Fellow at the University of California, Berkley said: “Wildfire science is clear: removing combustible material from the five feet around a home is among the most important mitigation actions a homeowner can take.
“It reduces the risk that wind-blown embers will ignite the home via burnable material like fences that connect to structures and adds breaks between connective fuels that allow wildfires to spread into communities.
“It is a step forward that the Zone 0 regulations are being rolled out, but existing homeowners should be incentivized to implement these changes and not wait three years to enforce these changes.
“Los Angeles city and county officials should adopt and enforce local Zone 0 requirements as soon as possible and apply them throughout the rebuilding phase.”
A broad coalition of housing, fire science, insurance and policy experts are urging Los Angeles to rebuild using the Chapter 7A building code.
Dan Dunmoyer, President and CEO of the California Building Industry Association said the California Building Code Chapter 7A is the tool to rebuild with wildfire resilience.
