Altadena’s East Alta Loma Drive seen from above on Feb. 11, 2025. The area on the north side, right, is in a designated fire hazard zone while the south side, left, is not. Homes on both sides of the road burned in the Eaton Fire.
Photographer: Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg
Fire Danger in LA Is All Around, But Signals to Residents Are Mixed
The recent wildfires destroyed thousands of homes that sat outside government hazard zones.
In the era of cutting-edge computer modeling, satellite data and AI, there has never been more abundant information on the danger that wildfire poses to homes in the Los Angeles area. But that didn’t necessarily help thousands of homeowners correctly assess their personal risk.
Many homes that burned in the Eaton Fire lay outside the boundaries of state- or local-designated “very high” fire hazard severity zones, Bloomberg Green found after analyzing inspection reports by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, for more than 20,000 residential properties in areas affected by the recent wildfires.