Publication: L.A. Times

UCLA Expert: Daniel Swain: Assistant Researcher and Climate Specialist, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Synopsis: Changing climate could one day force California to abandon entire towns in high-risk fire zones in the mountains.

UCLA News: “Whatever risk tolerances that we collectively decided were acceptable, for whatever reason, in whatever context, are no longer valid,” Swain said. That’s because Californians built communities and infrastructure “in a particular historical context that no longer exists… The problem is, these are places that were already high-risk, but the risks have dramatically escalated from high to extreme. It’s getting increasingly likely that we see these small towns in high-risk zones wiped off the map every passing year.”

Read more at L.A. Times.