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Thousands of residents in Los Angeles County have lost their homes to the multiple fires that sparked as early as Tuesday, Jan. 7. While hundreds of miles away from the blazes, local residents of the Peninsula are seeing the news and feel concerned about what would happen if a fire were to burn in their own neighborhoods. Questions are swirling in their minds like: Are there enough evacuation routes? What will new development mean for fire risk in their town?
According to the Western Fire Chiefs Association, California’s fire season has historically been between May and October, but with climate change has come rising temperatures and less rainfall. The fire season is starting earlier and ending later.
“We used to think of fire as a season, but what we’re really finding it’s a year-round issue,” said Seth Schalet, CEO of Santa Clara County FireSafe Council.
It’s widely known that California is prone to wildfires, but the risk is even higher in wildland urban interface communities such as Woodside, West Menlo Park, Portola Valley and Los Altos Hills. WUIs are areas where nature and human development meet and when more people move into these zones, wildfire risks increase.
“It is devastating to watch the news on the L.A. fire,” said Portola Valley Mayor Judith Hasko during a Jan. 8 Town Council meeting. “This further underscores the importance of continuing our focus as a WUI community on fire safety matters.”
While fire can strike from natural causes such as lightning, the Congressional Research Service reports that nearly 90% of wildfires from 2018 to 2022 were human-caused.
The fires in Los Angeles were fueled by a catastrophic mix of 80 to 100 mph winds, an ongoing drought and dry vegetation, said Schalet. It’s still unknown the exact cause of each fire, but investigations are underway.
There is a lot to learn from the tragedies of the L.A. fires, but locally, fire officials and city administrators are continually exploring different fire mitigation strategies, evacuation routes and evaluating emergency response, he added.
Fears about evacuation
The Pacific Palisades fire has caught the attention of Portola Valley residents, who are questioning whether their own town, nestled in the hills, would be safe to evacuate in case of a fire.
As towns and cities face pressures to develop more housing under the state-mandated housing element, evacuation and fire safety have been a key concern for many residents as town officials continue to approve housing plans.
The Southern California neighborhood, which has lost over 20,000 acres to fire as of Tuesday, Jan. 14, is also a WUI nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains. It has similar topography as Portola Valley and Woodside.
“In light of the situation in Southern California, I would like to remind the Town Council that we have an evacuation problem here in Portola Valley,” said town resident Dale Pfau, during a council meeting on Jan. 8.
Pfau, who served as the chair of the town’s Emergency Preparedness Committee and is currently the chair of the Evacuation Subcommittee, said Portola Valley’s evacuation plan was updated in June 2024, providing guidance on traffic management, notifying residents, evacuation procedures, identifying refuge areas and more.
In 2022, the town commissioned Fehr & Peers, a San Francisco-based transportation planning consultant, to produce a Traffic Capacity Study. The town’s Emergency Preparedness Committee continues to use the F&P report to improve evacuation planning, added Pfau.
During public comment, residents shared fears about how they would evacuate if Alpine Road and Portola Road are not able to be accessed. The community has expressed concern about traffic congestion in these areas. With the recent approval of Stanford University’s Portola Terrace housing development on Alpine Road, the town will be conducting a traffic study in this area.
Town resident Caroline Vertongen commented on the need for a water assessment in the town, considering that fire hydrants in Los Angeles were lacking water when they were needed the most.
“Many streets are too narrow for the big fire trucks, many fire hydrants are out of water, the water pressure is too low,” said Vertongen. “All the projects on Alpine and Portola Road will reduce the water pressure for everybody above [the road].”
Vertongen asked the council for an updated town Safety Element, which was last updated in 2022.
Despite decades of conversations and education around evacuation, Portola Valley resident David Cardinal said he’s not sure if anyone is ever prepared to evacuate quickly if a fire were to strike. He questions how many people will actually leave when a warning is issued and whether they will be ready to jump in a car when they’re told to.
“I think the road structures, emergency response plan, traffic control, that’s all good, but people still have some responsibility,” said Cardinal. “That was an issue in the Pacific Palisades fires. A lot of people didn’t want to leave, they got stuck and at that point it’s kind of on them in a way.”
Home insurance
According to a Jan. 14 article in The Guardian, the losses from the Los Angeles fires will cost around $250 billion, which could be the costliest wildfire to occur in American history.
Despite widespread concerns on the impact the fires will have on statewide home insurance, Michael Soller, Deputy Commissioner for Communications at California Department of Insurance, said the state does not “expect to see any immediate effects as a result of these wildfires.”
The state’s first priority is to make sure insurance claims are getting paid to victims of the L.A. fires, Soller added.
Residents in WUI areas have lost home insurance plans and seen high premium rates as climate change impacts continue to worsen, increasing risks of wildfires and natural disasters.
“The only bill I raced to pay the instant I got it this year was our home insurance for 2025 from State Farm,” said Cardinal, who like many residents worry about their plans being canceled.
The majority of homeowners who lost their coverage plans have resorted to the state’s FAIR Plan, but Soller said new state regulations could help bring residents back into the regular insurance market. The FAIR Plan is an insurance of last resort and offers limited coverage to those who won’t be insured by other companies.
From 2022 to 2023, the FAIR Plan reported an 18% increase in new and renewed policies but Sotter explained that these new laws aim to get people off of FAIR.
In December 2024, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced that the state finalized its Sustainable Insurance Strategy — California’s largest insurance reform in 30 years. New regulations have already gone into effect.
For the first time, insurance companies are required to write more policies in areas with higher risks for natural disasters. In exchange, companies will be able to utilize a computer tool called catastrophe modeling, which will allow them to assess risk before writing policies. The state hopes to see these modeling tools create more stability in rates.
If companies do not abide by these regulations, which are already in effect, the state can revoke the privilege of using the tool, reexamine its rates and conduct an investigation in all its operations.
“We’re going to hold them accountable for writing these policies,” said Soller.
New regulations will take into account climate change, an aspect that “was not on the radar” when previous laws were written in the 1980s. Soller said the goal for these updated policies is to support the state as it continues to experience “hotter and drier summers and wetter winters.”
Local fire mitigation efforts
While the Peninsula has been victim to wildfires in the past, “the risk is much different than Southern California,” said Schalet.
Across the Peninsula, local fire jurisdictions are proactively clearing vegetation and dry brush to prevent the spread of wildfire.
In Woodside, Palo Alto and on Stanford University land, fire departments are also utilizing artificial intelligence to detect early signs of wildfires and provide alerts to first responders. AI wildfire sensor technology is able to recognize fires before they are visible.
The project was led by the Santa Clara County FireSafe Council through special funding from the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate.
There are currently 50 AI sensors installed in WUI areas around the south Peninsula.
In these areas, cities are also working on making escape routes more accessible by widening roads and reducing vegetation.
Local fire departments are also actively engaging and creating Firewise communities to educate and promote wildfire prevention techniques such as creating defensible spaces around homes.
Menlo Park Fire Protection District will become the first in the U.S. to use a hands-free augmented reality tool that will make navigating through smoke, darkness and high heat easier.
What can residents do to prepare for an emergency?
San Mateo and Santa Clara County officials encourage the public to sign up for the countywide emergency alert systems.
San Mateo County residents can register for SMC Alert and Santa Clara County locals can join AlertSCC. The alert system will send warnings and up-to-date information on emergency situations including fire, weather, utility accidents, and more directly to your mobile device, landline and email.
Emergency management officials also say it’s important for households to have an evacuation plan with a location for all members of the family to meet when an emergency occurs. Residents should also have a “go bag” prepared with important documents, medication, change of clothes, first aid kit and other necessities.
Homeowners can also do their part in fire mitigation efforts by maintaining their defensible space, which is the buffer between a structure and the trees and vegetation around it.
According to FIRE SAFE San Mateo County, maintaining these areas can slow down or stop the spread of wildfire and protect your home. In order to do so, residents can remove dead and dry vegetation around their homes, mow lawns, and create a separation between vegetation and flammable outdoor structures such as fences, patios and furniture.
These actions can also qualify homeowners for a discount on home insurance premiums.
“Maintaining your defensible space is the best way that you can protect your home. Part of the challenge that we’re seeing in L.A. is if your neighbor doesn’t maintain their defensible space, they create a weakness in the chain of protecting your house, even though the 90 mph winds certainly made those defensible space efforts more limited,” said Schalet.
Forming good relationships with your neighbors can be helpful in emergencies, he added.
Residents can also consider hardening their homes with fire resistant windows, ignition resistant building materials in walls and decks and building roofs with fire resistant materials.
