"Please don't buy or plant these species," the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) says on its website. "They may escape our fences, invade our natural areas, and degrade our ...

How often vegetation buffers homes from igniting during urban conflagrations is still unclear, but this capability has implications for regulations. California’s ‘Zone 0’ regulations ...

Following years of devastating wildfires in California, the state is drafting stricter rules for vegetation and landscaping in fire-prone areas. Public pushback is expected to be intense.

CAL FIRE’s Fire and Resource Assessment Program launched the new California Vegetation Burn Severity Online Viewer ...

Without these efforts, California’s wildfire crisis will only intensify, fueled by plants never meant to be here in the first place.

Photos before and after the 2025 Palisades fire show thick green vegetation between two closely spaced homes. The arrow shows the direction of the fire’s spread. When surviving plants appear ...

California has already experienced its second most destructive fire year on record, with more than 16,000 homes and other buildings damaged or destroyed by the two major fires in the Los Angeles area.

Officials in California are drafting rules that would strictly limit landscaping within 5 feet of a home in high-risk areas. Lauren Sommer from NPR's Climate Desk saw a demonstration of why that ...

As scientists who study how vegetation ignites and burns, we aren’t surprised by these images: We recognize that well-maintained plants and trees can help protect homes from wind-blown embers ...

As California and other states develop new wildfire regulations, they need to recognize the protective role that well-managed plants can play, along with many other benefits of urban vegetation.