The January 2025 wildfires devastated LA, claiming lives, homes, jobs, and whole communities. The UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation takes a fundamentally collaborative approach to evaluate and advance solutions across different policymaking sectors and scales. This page is a hub of information to inform public discourse, decision-making, and equity-centered fire recovery.
Blue Ribbon Commission for Climate Action and Fire Safe Recovery
Led by UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation’s faculty director, Megan Mullin, UCLA scholars provided research to inform more than 50 policy recommendations on rebuilding and catalyzing climate-resiliency investments.
“UCLA is proud to have been the commission’s research partner in this important undertaking. Our objective was to ensure the commission had access to the best available evidence across a range of policy issues and the insights of people experiencing fire impacts. With strong leadership that’s accountable to communities, we can build back quickly and be better prepared for future fires.”
– Megan Mullin, faculty director
In the coming months, the commission will continue to promote and encourage the adoption and implementation of the recommendations, and UCLA will continue its actionable research to inform equitable regional recovery and long-term resilience.
Check out Greg Pierce featured in the Brookings Metro Blueprint podcast: LA fires expose long-standing local and national water infrastructure challenges
EXPERTS
Megan Mullin, Faculty Director
Gregory Pierce, Senior Director
Edith B. de Guzman, Policy Specialist
Rachel Connolly, Project Director
Liz Koslov, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning
Daniel Coffee, Project Manager
MEDIA INQUIRIES
Contact Mara Elana Burstein
MEDIA COVERAGE
Los Angeles Times
August 6, 2025
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CURRENT RAPID RESPONSE RESEARCH
The LA fires brought the urgency of climate resilience harrowingly close to home. We’re building partnerships and working with policymakers to improve the region’s recovery and fire-readiness.
UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge Climate & Wildfire Research Initiative
Chaired by our senior director, Greg Pierce, the Urban Water Supply + Fire working group of the Climate & Wildfire Research Initiative will form a Research and Policy Coordination Network and facilitate workshops on the following topics:
- Strengthening drinking water infrastructure resilience,
- Addressing equity in the cost of new resilience investments,
- Ensuring water quality and community trust after fires, and
- Navigating the relationships among wildfire risk, vegetation, and water supply in urban areas.
Supporting Communities’ Understanding and Trust in Public Information on Environmental Pollution Exposures Post-Fires
In partnership with Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles, Rachel Connolly and her colleagues aim to address community concerns about air and water quality following the January 2025 fires. The researchers will center community perspectives to collect information about how residents perceived personal environmental risks before, during, and after the fires, including their trust in public information sources. Ultimately, the project seeks to advance environmental justice by supporting community-led efforts to build resilience during climate-driven crises.
Exploring Community-Driven Approaches to Transportation Rebuilding
Megan Mullin is spearheading an effort to guide collaborative community engagement design for infrastructure rebuilding after the 2025 LA fires, based on experiences from California’s Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) program. A race to rebuild transportation infrastructure post-disaster could preclude or increase the cost of other community-defined priorities that emerge during the recovery process. Yet collaborative community engagement processes are difficult to sustain in a post-disaster context. The study identifies strategies for inclusive, community-centered participation within the constraints of a recovery process.
Evaluating the Role of Vegetation in Urban Fires
Edith B. de Guzman is conducting a rapid forensic assessment of the role of trees in fire dynamics within the Palisades Fire perimeter, in collaboration with partners from UC Davis, UC Agriculture & Natural Resources, and the USDA Forest Service. The results can inform rebuilding efforts and offer lessons for future events. The goals are to:
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- Measure tree damage, loss, and mortality;
- Assess fire damage to the urban forest concerning the structure, built environment material, and data on fire dynamics;
- Find examples of unburned landscaping and vegetation around burnt buildings; and
- Test the extent to which tree species with varying ecological traits might have ignited and contributed to the spread of the fire.
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Monitoring Soil Contamination After the Fires
The fires destroyed over 15,000 structures, leaving behind toxic ash and debris. Heavy rain in February washed contaminated materials beyond the burn zones, increasing exposure risks. In collaboration with Associate Professor Sanjay Mohanty, Greg Pierce is assessing contamination from toxic ash and debris in public areas within and beyond the burn perimeters of the Palisades and Eaton Fires. After collecting soil samples, the team will analyze them for heavy metals such as lead, chromium, arsenic, and lithium as well as organic pollutants including PFAS and VOCs. The findings will help determine if the removal of the top six inches of soil is sufficient to reduce health risks.
ENGAGED RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS
Challenges in Managed Retreat in Response to Fires
Researchers: Liz Koslov, UCLA Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Luskin Center for Innovation affiliated scholar, and Kathryn McConnell, University of British Columbia Assistant Professor of Sociology
There Is No Way to Retreat From the Risk of Wildfires (2025 guest essay in The New York Times)
“We need a serious discussion of how to live with fire in this new era… we need greater investment in preparing our buildings, and community-led experiments in new ways to protect neighborhoods.”
– Liz Koslov and Kathryn McConnell
Critically Assessing the Idea of Wildfire-Managed Retreat (2024 article in Environmental Research Letters)
The authors lay out a research agenda to critically evaluate managed retreat – the intentional relocation of built infrastructure away from hazardous areas – as an adaptive response to wildfire.
Innovation Opportunities for a Resilient L.A. (2025 report)
Author(s): Gregory Pierce, Lauren Dunlap, and others
Funder: Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP)
In the wake of catastrophic firestorms in L.A., LADWP and UCLA convened more than 100 academic, industry, and government stakeholders to answer a critical question: How can LADWP help build a more resilient city by adopting new and emerging technologies and strategies? The one-day, intensive workshop provided a venue for open, timely information sharing and advanced collaborative efforts to spur innovation in four key areas: advanced metering infrastructure, utility undergrounding, water distribution system infrastructure, and wildfire risk assessment.
UCLA Research Context and Considerations Informing Resilient Rebuilding from the January 2025 LA Fires (2025 UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation report)
Author(s): Megan Mullin, director et al.
Funder: California Community Foundation
The catastrophic Los Angeles firestorms of January 2025 served as a critical turning point for the Southern California region, causing widespread destruction, displacement, and loss of life. In the fires’ wake lie challenges at every scale.
As partner to the Blue Ribbon Commission on Climate Action and Fire Safe Recovery, UCLA’s role was twofold: to provide Commissioners with rigorous, up-to-date, and actionable knowledge from leading subject matter experts, and to engage and elevate the voices of communities impacted by the fires. UCLA’s goal was to ensure that the Commissioners could consider this information, along with their own expertise and guidance from other stakeholders, as they formulated their policy recommendations.
This report offers a summary of the most relevant knowledge curated, consolidated, and presented by UCLA to the Commissioners.
How Have the LA Fires Affected Water Systems in LA County? An Early Overview (2025 UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation report)
Luskin Center for Innovation Researcher(s): Gregory Pierce, Ariana Hernandez, Grace Harrison, and Edith de Guzman
In January 2025, LA County experienced multiple fast-moving fires that began as wildland events but quickly spread into residential areas, destroying homes and critical infrastructure. This report provides an early assessment of the Palisades and Eaton fires’ impacts on local water systems, focusing on damage to infrastructure, service disruptions, and the unique vulnerabilities of the affected communities.
Redefining Expectations for Urban Water Supply Systems to Fight Wildfires (2025 article in Nature Water)
Researcher(s): Gregory Pierce, co-executive director; Edith de Guzman, water equity and adaptation policy specialist; and Megan Mullin, faculty director
The authors discuss three major implications stemming from the water supply narratives around the Los Angeles fires that have emerged: the need for greater infrastructure resilience, considering the uneven costs of new expectations, and combating disinformation.
Do Urban Water Supply Systems Put Out Wildfires? (2025 UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation frequently asked questions)
Researcher(s): Gregory Pierce, Faith Kearns, Silvia González, Lauren Dunlap
This FAQ about wildfires provides clear, accurate answers to the most common questions we hear from the public, media, and policymakers about fire hydrants, firefighting, water infrastructure, and more after the devastating LA wildfires in 2025.
Read in English | Leer en Español
Mortality Attributable to PM2.5 From Wildland Fires in California From 2008 to 2018 (2024 article in Science Advances)
Researcher(s): Rachel Connolly, et al.
Smoke produced by California wildfires kills far more people than flames do, according to research from UCLA. From 2008 to 2018, more than 52,000 premature deaths have been linked to exposure to the smoke’s toxic particles.
Critically Assessing the Idea of Wildfire Managed Retreat (2024 article in Environmental Research Letters)
Researcher(s): Liz Koslov and Kathryn McConnell
Funder: Ziman Center for Real Estate Faculty Research
The authors lay out a research agenda to critically evaluate managed retreat – the intentional relocation of built infrastructure away from hazardous areas – as an adaptive response to wildfire.
Households Living in Manufactured Housing Face Outsized Exposure to Heat and Wildfire Hazards: Evidence from California (2022 article in American Society of Civil Engineers)
Researcher(s): Gregory Pierce, C.J. Gabbe, and Annabelle Rosser
Funder: California Strategic Growth Council
This study analyzes the risk of extreme heat and wildfires on households living in manufactured housing, such as mobile homes, in California. The authors find that these households face consistently higher exposure to extreme heat and wildfires.
Wildfire and Water Supply in California: Advancing a Research and Policy Agenda (2021 briefing paper)
Researcher(s): Gregory Pierce, Peter Roquemore, and Faith Kearns
Funder: U.S. Geological Survey through the California Institute for Water Resources
Recent years have shown that wildfires can have complex and severe effects on water systems. This report brings together insights from 23 water and fire experts to answer a critical question: How can California proactively protect its water supply from fires? By compiling and building on the results of a 2021 workshop, the report presents recommendations to help build an understanding of the complex relationship between fires and water systems. This project was a joint effort by LCI and the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources California Institute for Water Resources; it was funded by the U.S. Geological Survey through the California Institute for Water Resources.
Subsidized Households and Wildfire Hazards in California (2020 article in Springer Nature Link)
Researcher(s): C.J. Gabbe, Gregory Pierce, and Efren Oxlaj
This study finds that subsidized housing is less likely than other housing types to be in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. However, the magnitude of the overlap between vulnerable households and the WUI, which includes households in over 140,000 subsidized units, justifies further research and policy action.
EVENTS AND TALKS
Events and Talks
Past Events and Talks:
- Water Supply Systems and Wildfires: Water Science and Technology Board Spring Meeting (2025)
- Luskin Summit: Guiding an Equitable Recovery in LA. (2025)
- UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Water Webinar, Water Supply and the Los Angeles Fires: Emerging Lessons and Implications (2025)
- UCLA Development Talk: Causes, Impacts, and Aftermath of the LA Wildfires (2025)
- Torched Talk Featuring Edith de Guzman and Greg Pierce (2025)
- After Wildfire: Migration and Neighborhood Change Post Disaster (2025)
- Climate Adaptation Research Symposium: Quantifying and Minimizing the Impacts of Wildfires (2021)
- Luskin Summit: Preparing for Even Wilder Wildfires (2021)