In the wake of 2025’s devastating Los Angeles fires, a blue ribbon commission report proposed a single agency to coordinate wildfire mitigation efforts across LA County. That report prompted SPUR to examine coordination and funding of regional wildfire mitigation in the Bay Area and to explore opportunities to improve management strategies at the subregional scale. SPUR’s latest report makes recommendations to guide local wildfire mitigation initiatives and engage insurance providers in community-scale wildfire resilience.
We found that wildfire mitigation efforts in the Bay Area are undermined by fragmented coordination, short-term or insufficient funding, and weak alignment between local risk reduction efforts and the insurance market. SPUR’s research indicates that formal cross-jurisdictional governance structures, supported by long-term funding and local risk-reduction policies, are key to achieving community wildfire resilience. Collaborative governance models, such as the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority and the East Bay Wildfire Coalition, exemplify successful cross-jurisdictional efforts. Replicating these models in other parts of the Bay Area can help improve public understanding of risks, bolster insurance availability and affordability, and reduce disaster recovery costs.