Lessons from the 2025 California wildfires—why DRR falls short
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A paper published in Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences in April 2026 uses the 2025 California wildfires as a starting point to discuss broader systemic failures in disaster risk reduction (DRR). Pointing to the lone surviving house amid the scorched area the authors notes that many of the features associated with the house’s survival – a more fire-resistant exterior, stronger windows, and details that reduce ember entry – are already well known, however, disaster losses remains high, not simply because knowledge is missing, but because existing knowledge is still not consistently implemented in planning, building practice, and policy.
The paper identified four key failures that undermine the effectiveness of disaster risk reduction .
- Limited awareness. It means that living in a risky area does not guarantee that people understand or act on that risk. Even when hazard information exists, it can be hard to interpret, unreliable, or not actionable in the moment. During the 2025 California wildfires , problems with risk communication, evacuation guidance, and access to hazard data limited people’s ability to quickly recognise danger and respond appropriately.
- Limited capacities. Even when risk awareness in society is high, a lack of money, time, technical knowledge, or institutional support can undermine preparedness.
- Weak incentives. Knowledge of protective actions does not automatically lead to action; recovery systems often support rapid rebuilding in the same risky places rather than encouraging relocation or long-term risk reduction, so the easiest path is to rebuild in exposed places rather than reduce exposure.
- Governance barriers. – Responsibilities are fragmented across agencies, levels of government, and sectors, leading to unclear accountability, poor coordination, and stalled or diluted regulations; in California, this fragmentation leaves prevention in the gap between institutions.
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