Fire-Adaptive Infrastructure - California Climate and Energy Collaborative

Barrier 5: Fire-Adaptive Infrastructure

Barrier Statement

Conventional infrastructure and land management are ill-equipped to address today’s extreme wildfires, slow landscape recovery, and new fire risks.

Filterable Database

How communities are experiencing this barrier

View the details on what communities have shared with SLECC from across the state.

Key challenge discussed in - Los Angeles

Landscape recovery after wildfire is complex and requires patience, creating tension between immediate action and long term resilience. Historically, the Los Angeles region adapted to fire, but the current intensity and frequency are unprecedented, so even land managers “don’t always know how the landscape is going to respond”

Key challenge discussed in - San Diego

Community trust and land management: Indigenous speakers emphasized that state-led decisions not grounded in traditional ecological knowledge have contributed to risks of massive wildfires and ecological destruction, showing a mismatch between conventional infrastructure approaches and place-based fire stewardship

Key challenge discussed in - San Diego

Infrastructure and siting conflicts: Community members noted concerns about battery storage and other clean energy infrastructure catching fire, underscoring that even “green” solutions can pose new fire-related risks, particularly for tribes and ecologically sensitive areas

Key challenge discussed in - Statewide

Tension between fire resilience measures like tree and vegetation removal for defensible space and using vegetation and trees as resilience measure to address other climate impacts like extreme heat (shading, less hardscape, etc)

Key challenge discussed in - Statewide

Fire resilience efforts are limited by fragmented coordination and dispersed information. Projects with overlapping goals—like vegetation management, grid hardening, and community resilience—operate in silos, making it difficult to align priorities, share data, and deliver integrated, multi-benefit outcomes.

Local Solution Opportunities

SLECC stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.

Local Solution

Implement rain gardens, bioswales, shallow depressions, and cisterns to capture and store water for soil health and fire resilience.

Existing Examples of Progress:

Further Progress Pathways

Region(s): Los Angeles

Local Solution

Establish defensible space buffers (5–30 ft, up to 1 mile in WUI) with climate-appropriate native plants covering 80% of the landscape at maturity.

Existing Examples of Progress:

Further Progress Pathways

Region(s): Los Angeles

Local Solution

Integrate graywater systems and oversized cisterns for irrigation during drought and wildfire red-flag warnings.

Existing Examples of Progress:

Further Progress Pathways

Region(s): Los Angeles

State Solution Opportunities

SLECC stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.

State Solution

Ensure climate bond (Prop 4) and CAL FIRE/Cal OES wildfire resilience funds are accessible to lower-capacity groups and communities.

Existing Examples of Progress:

Further Progress Pathways

Region(s): Los Angeles

State Solution

Increase state cost-share for resilience upgrades to 70–80% (instead of 10–30%).

Existing Examples of Progress:

Further Progress Pathways

Region(s): Los Angeles

State Solution

Align and stack incentives across agencies to simplify access and reduce barriers.

Existing Examples of Progress:

Further Progress Pathways

Region(s): Los Angeles

Solution Spotlight

Advanced digital twin modeling systems have been developed to help first responders anticipate wildfire spread in San Diego. These tools integrate topography, vegetation moisture, and wind data to predict where fires will move faster, highlighting a gap between traditional infrastructure and the need for more adaptive, data-driven approaches

Help us strengthen our knowledge base!

Help us to expand our database. Either share new ideas, best practices or general feedback via this form, or click on a particular item to share additional feedback, information, examples of progress on that particular item.

Feedback Form

Additional Resources

Please share any additional resources you would like to include by emailing eecoordinator@civicwell.org.