Will they learn? No.

A big part of the wildfire problem in Calif and Wash is the stubborn refusal to require fireproof buildings. The fancy McMansions built in the middle of the forest have wood siding and wood shake roofs, apparently for “beauty”.

This article shows one house that survived the LA fire because it was built to survive. The correct methods are not mysterious or high-tech. Brick or stone walls, tile roof. This was the Spanish tradition in the desert, and California continued it for a long time.

EVERY TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURE WAS FORMED BY PAINFUL EXPERIMENT AND EXPERIENCE.

Climate doesn’t change. Dry areas are always dry, wet areas are always wet, snowy areas are always snowy. Different building styles evolved to survive in those different climates. Bungalow (wide overhang, deep porches) in the hot semi-wet plains. Cape Cod (steep roof, warm attic) in the snowy northeast. Mission (stucco with tile roof) in the desert.

Chicago learned the lesson after its big fire, and STRICTLY required brick. Chicago is the brick city, and its beauty derives from brick.

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Later I remembered that LA had in fact learned a Chicago-style lesson from an earlier disaster. After the 1933 earthquake the city hired architects to build new schools using reinforced concrete. The architects developed new techniques of using concrete artistically, which later spread to the rest of the country. Concrete is not only quakeproof but perfectly fireproof. So they had no excuse at all.