Fireproofing for the Future: New Wildfire-Resilient Neighborhood May be the New Paradigm

Los Angeles Times

18-05-2025

Los Angeles company's Southern California new-home community is built with IBHS's research-backed mitigation strategies to reduce the risk from wildfires
L.A.-based KB Home, one of the largest homebuilders in the U.S., has unveiled the nation's first new-home community that meets the home- and neighborhood-level wildfire resilience standards developed by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), an independent nonprofit research organization dedicated to protecting homes and communities against natural disasters. Utilizing fire-resistant building materials, methods and features based on over a decade of IBHS wildfire research, KB Home's Dixon Trail community in Escondido is designed to IBHS's highest level of protection against direct flame contact, radiant heat and embers, which helps to meaningfully reduce the likelihood of wildfire spread.
The Dixon Trail community will have 64 homes upon completion. Each home will be built to the 'Wildfire Prepared Home' plus standard and receive a designation certifying that it has met IBHS's most stringent requirements for homesitelevel fire mitigation. Dixon Trail will receive a provisional neighborhood-level designation based on its design, confirming that the community has implemented preventative measures to reduce the likelihood of initial ignitions from an approaching wildfire, protect against embers that could spark spot fires and slow fire spread if ignitions occur.
Dixon Trail is the first applied use of the researched-based, community-level mitigation strategies of structure separation, fire pathway reduction and wildfire-resilient building materials under IBHS's new Wildfire Prepared Neighborhood standard. Once the neighborhood is completed and has passed an IBHS evaluation, a final Wildfire Prepared Neighborhood designation will be issued.
'In keeping with our tradition of innovation, we are pleased to offer today's buyers the ability to choose a wildfire-resilient home and community,' said Jeffrey Mezger, chairman and chief executive officer of KB Home. 'We are proud that our new Dixon Trail community, with its system of mitigation features, is the first in the nation to meet IBHS's wildfire resilience standards at the homesite level and at the neighborhood level.'
Research shows that both homesite- and neighborhood- level strategies are key in preventing wildfires from becoming catastrophic. As a model of wildfire resiliency, Dixon Trail has incorporated research-backed mitigation actions into the design of its homesites, including the installation of Class A fire-rated roofs, noncombustible gutters, upgraded windows and doors, and ember- and flame-resistant vents as well as the creation of a five-foot noncombustible buffer around structures. At the neighborhood level, wildfire risk is reduced by separating almost all structures by more than 10 feet and decreasing potential fuels through the use of fire-resistant materials, like all-metal fence systems.
'With fire becoming an increasingly common threat in the West, it's crucial to reconsider how we construct communities in fire-prone regions,' said IBHS CEO Roy Wright. 'KB Home is at the forefront, implementing our research-driven wildfire mitigation strategies for both the parcel and neighborhood levels at Dixon Trail.'
KB Home has a long-standing history of bringing innovation to homebuilding and achieving industry firsts. The company was founded in 1957 with the forward-thinking idea of building slab homes to make homeownership more affordable for first-time buyers. In 1976, KB Home introduced its first energy-efficient homes, setting the stage for future sustainability initiatives. Its first ENERGY STAR certified home was built in 2000, and in 2008, KB Home made a broad commitment to design all homes to be ENERGY STAR-certified.
The company has continued to push boundaries, becoming the first national homebuilder to offer WaterSense labeled homes in 2010 and unveiling all-solar communities in 2011. More recently, in 2022, KB Home became the first national builder to adopt the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) highest water-efficiency standards in drought-prone regions and pioneered two all-electric, solar- and battery-powered microgrid communities. In 2024, the company accomplished a major milestone by building its 200,000th ENERGY STAR-certified home - more than any other builder in the country.
KB Home's Dixon Trail community represents yet another milestone: the first IBHS-designated, wildfire-resilient neighborhood in the nation.