Could a buffer shield Californian homes from wildfire?
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The idea sprouted, and Efseaff and other members of the community now hope to build a ribbon of public parkland devoid of homes that would encircle and protect Paradise, its land managed to reduce the risk of fire. Known as a "wildfire-risk reduction buffer", this landscape would be managed so the trees are far apart, with less brush in the understory, thus avoiding the dense, dry vegetation that can help a fire spread. This idea represents a novel approach to recovering from a wildfire, one that focuses not simply on "getting back to normal" as quickly as possible, but that imagines a new normal.
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The buffer's primary benefit would be helping keep future fires from getting out of control. But the land would also provide habitat for plants and animals and recreational opportunities for people. Efseaff says that the buffer could also double as a backup evacuation route or a place for firefighters to stage equipment and establish lines of defense, or could even serve as a refuge of last resort for those who cannot escape a fire. (During the Camp Fire, dozens of people who couldn't escape in time survived by sheltering in a large park on the town's western edge.)
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In 2019, PRPD teamed up with two non-profits, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Conservation Biology Institute (CBI), to formally study the idea of a wildfire buffer that would encircle Paradise and the adjacent town of Magalia, which also sustained heavy losses in the Camp Fire. The partners used an existing model designed by Alexandra Syphard, a senior research scientist at CBI, to identify areas of wildland around the two towns, as well as areas inside the towns, with high fire risk.
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The final report, published in 2020, found that the buffer did indeed dampen overall fire risk in the developed cores of Paradise and Magalia (although results for each parcel varied). Reducing the chance of ignition in one area of the buffer in particular – its "Inner Eastern" zone – would provide an especially strong benefit, the report found. In an extreme northeasterly wind event like the one during the Camp Fire, it could slash the number of urban areas at high risk of igniting by nearly two-thirds.
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