As Southern California reels from a spate of devastating wildfires earlier this year, one homebuilder is constructing its first “wildfire-resistant” development.
KB Home unveiled its Dixon Trail neighborhood in Escondido on Thursday. The new neighborhood is constructed to meet wildfire resilience standards set by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, or the IBHS, the builder said in a statement.
It’s one of the first new developments in the country to meet the IBHS’s wildfire resilience standards at both the home and neighborhood level, according to Jeffrey Mezger, chairman and CEO of the homebuilder.
Already, five houses in the neighborhood have been sold, and three homeowners have moved in. By the end of 2026, there will be 64 houses.
What makes a house “wildfire-resistant,” though? According to IBHS standards, the building materials and location of the house in relation to other structures.
Houses in Dixon Trail have Class A fire-rated roofs that are resistant to extreme flames, as well as noncombustible gutters, special windows and doors, and ember- and flame-resistant vents. There’s also a 5-foot buffer around structures on the same property. At the neighborhood level, all structures are separated by at least 10 feet.
Those measures will help reduce the chances of ignition from approaching wildfires, protect against stray embers that could spark fires and slow the spread of a fire if one occurs, according to executives.
"With fire becoming an increasingly common threat in the West, it's crucial to reconsider how we construct communities in fire-prone regions," IBHS CEO Roy Wright said in a statement.
Earlier this year, just about 120 miles north of where Dixon Trail is being built, more than 40,000 acres of land in the Los Angeles area were charred in a firestorm. Data from Homes.com revealed that the two largest fires destroyed nearly $30 billion worth of single-family housing across 18 neighborhoods.