The prospect of additional tax revenue is a common incentive for cities to approve more housing in fire-prone areas, according to Gregory Simon, Associate Professor of Geography and Environmental Sciences. “Why does fire rage on and become so costly and injurious and even deadly? That’s almost always a social thing,” he says. “That’s because all of our stuff is there. That’s really the problem, and so we really should be questioning that in the first place.”

Developments in disaster-prone areas mean big bucks for builders but can put homeowners at risk
Cronkite News, Aug. 15, 2019