4 Lessons for Multifamily From the LA Fires
How design choices and technology can help prevent history from repeating itself, according to architects.
Hell paid Los Angeles a visit on Jan. 7, torching more than 37,000 acres, destroying more than 16,000 structures and, worst of all, ending 30 lives. Among the devastation, according to Realtor.com, were more than 100 condos, 678 apartments and more than 2,200 duplex and bungalow courtyard homes. It took firefighters nearly a month to fully contain the blazes in upscale Pacific Palisades and more working class Altadena, 33 miles inland.
The Los Angeles Times estimates that close to $30 billion in real estate was torched. Were your properties among them? Hopefully, not. A question for every developer, property owner and manager is what lessons can be learned from LA owners’ painful experience? Now that we’re six months on from the disaster, I asked experts across the industry for their insights.
There’s no question that some—maybe most or all—of the condo, townhome and apartment buildings damaged or destroyed in the fires will be rebuilt. There’s also no question that future wildfires will present more risks. Cal Fire’s March 2025 fire hazard severity map zones increased by 3.5 million acres since its 2011 release. Nearly one in 10 Californians now live in fire hazard zones, the publication notes.
READ ALSO: Wildfires Sharpen Focus on LA Multifamily
That has implications for owners across the state, and in other high risk regions of the country who may be planning new communities. You can make them more fire-resistant. New codes may actually mandate this. (Even if codes don’t mandate where your projects are located, it’s worth considering fire resistance both for long-term financial stability and marketing potential.) What does this look like?
Plan for resilience
Los Angeles-based Jirair Garabedian, senior architect with DAHLIN Architecture | Planning | Interiors, doesn’t want anyone guessing about what will work for developments in fire-prone areas. In his experience, overly optimistic approaches to fire access-related design can be problematic.
“I would recommend that my clients prioritize reviewing the preliminary site plan draft with fire authorities for early feedback, plan for defensible space early in the planning process and consider mitigation measures to make the community more resistant to impacts from fires, including choosing a construction type and materials appropriate to the desired density,” Garabedian said.
Osvaldo Joya, pre-construction director at LJP Construction Services’ Irvine office, has also seen mistakes in the Southern California markets he serves.
“Limited access, overcrowding roads and building to the minimum fire separation distance, even in high-risk areas” are both regular and correctable, he said.
You definitely want to have separate access roads in and out—or around a single building—to provide unobstructed access to first responders, he added. That way, they can reach your structure even if cars or debris are blocking one route.
Water access is also key. At high-risk areas or communities with limited access, Joya suggested developers include a separate water source that is managed as an emergency backup for the neighborhood to maintain water pressure in the event of large-scale fast-moving fire.
A perimeter active fire management system, (for example fire sprinklers on the exterior of the building or the roof) “to increase the ignition resistance of the building during a large-scale adjacent fire or during high wind events” can also be extremely helpful, he noted.
There are other ways to plan for fire resilience, according to Liz Miles, vice president of residential for the International WELL Building Institute. The organization’s WELL framework includes features addressing fire prevention and mitigation, including requiring kitchens to have either an induction cooktop, a cooktop with automatic switch-off or an independent fire suppression system that covers the cooking area. WELL also recommends smoking ban policies, combustion-free appliances, a location within five miles of a fire station and close proximity to fire hydrants.
The WELL for residential framework also requires natural disaster resilience features, including a hazard assessment and action plan that includes the likelihood and severity of a hazard event occurring. Miles noted that this should include solutions that address the top three identified hazard risks. The Design for Resilience feature also calls for providing backup power and other emergency response support.
Build for resilience
Multi-housing buildings typically have increased fire rating requirements and exterior materials are non-combustible, Joya said, but he suggests that in high-risk areas buildings can be made out of pre-cast or tilt-up panel construction. These have much higher ratings than current requirements for a wood- or steel stud-framed wall.
“Pre-cast panelized construction can be cost effective, and it would yield huge increases to the fire resistance of buildings,” he said.
“All fire-resistant materials—including porcelain cladding or concrete- and cement-based exterior finishes —will have cost implications for the project,” Garabedian observed, but they “will go a long way to ‘harden’ structures.”
Landscape for resilience
Creating fire-adapted communities is no longer optional—it’s essential for the safety and sustainability of California’s future, said Lindsay Ono, president of the California Landscape Contractors Association and a horticulture professor at Bakersfield College.
“When designing landscapes for multi-family housing, fire safety must go beyond aesthetics—it should prioritize the protection and safe evacuation of residents,” she said.
There’s no doubt that what surrounds the structures is as important to fire resilience as the structures themselves. Firefighter training for neighborhood groups demonstrates this point regularly with coaching on defensible space planning.
“We approach all landscaping design decisions through the lens of fire resilience—using non-combustible materials, native low-water plants and layout strategies that serve as both aesthetic and defensive buffers,” noted Santa Monica-based Erla Dögg Ingjaldsdóttir, owner, principal designer and licensed general contractor at architectural firm Minarc and ERLA Construction. “It’s not just about what you plant, but how you arrange it.”
The companies’ offices are less than 10 miles from the Pacific Palisades. None of their projects were directly damaged in the January fires, she said, adding that “the threat has only strengthened our commitment to proactive, fire-conscious design.”
What will that look like? “The biggest impact will be a shift away from traditional lush landscapes to curated, layered designs using native and firewise plants. There will likely be more of an emphasis on plant spacing, irrigation control and material selection—with a special focus on avoiding flammable mulches or dense plantings near structures.”
The key lesson, according to Ingjaldsdóttir, is that landscape is part of your community’s first line of defense. “Multifamily communities must treat garden design like a safety strategy—not an afterthought,” she explained. “We’ve learned to prioritize fire breaks, zone planting areas and incorporate materials that slow or redirect fire.”
The bottom line, experts say, is that fire resilience planning needs to be part of the community’s early planning. “Developers, architects and landscape designers need to collaborate from day one,” Ingjaldsdóttir added.
Technologize for resilience
Zack Fagan’s DSI Luxury Technology teams provide technology solutions to upscale multifamily operators and single-family homeowners across Los Angeles. These solutions include access control, security cameras, shared theater spaces, business class Wi-Fi and other essentials of modern life for the well-to-do.
What they’re now starting to consult on and design into projects is a range of resilience technology strategies. These include automatic, AI and thermal imaging sensor-equipped fire suppression systems that can put out brushfires within a defined perimeter and notify the owners electronically.
Universities like UC Davis and startup companies like Hong Kong-based Robotic Cats and San Francisco-based Paladin Industries and Torch Systems are all working on this technology. Torch and Paladin brought their expertise to Southern California during the January fires to see how it could help.
READ ALSO: 4 Case Studies in Resilient Design
“We took the concept of a smoke alarm and brought it outdoors,” Torch’s Tremsin told NBC’s Bay Area affiliate. “We also have infrared cameras, spectral analysis, gas sensing, temperature and humidity sensing, and AI to detect a fire really early on.
“Robotic Cats’ CEO Andre Cheung says his LookOut Wildfire Detection Software-as-a-Service automatically detects wildfire outbreaks from the clients’ CCTV and alerts them by email.
For customers who have a security operator room and use AXIS Camera Station Pro or other video management systems to operate their surveillance cameras, LookOut can trigger pop-up alert messages and bring up the live camera view.
“Security operators can monitor what is happening and take action immediately,” Cheung explained.
Fagan expects that updated building codes will drive innovations like these in the multifamily sector.
In the meantime, multifamily developers can increase the appeal of their units to prospective buyers and tenants with air quality management, something DSI is offering (and the WELL for residential guidelines include). “We’re seeing more and more customers ask for wellness tech, including oxygen generation machines, to help with rest and better sleep,” the DSI executive shared.
“Designing with wildfire safety in mind not only protects property—it can save lives,” advised CLCA’s Ono. “Proactive planning and fire-conscious design are essential components of resilient community development.”
They should be essential components of your planning and management strategies, too. The silver lining is that investing in maximal fire risk management (and related marketing) can be good for attracting and retaining residents.
Jamie Gold, CKD, CAPS, MCCWC is a Forbes.com senior contributor, wellness design consultant, industry speaker, and award-winning author of Wellness by Design (Simon & Schuster, 2020).
