LOS ANGELES — The fires blazing through Los Angeles County are the latest unprecedented natural disaster likely amplified by our changing climate. In the weeks and months to come, climate attribution science will determine by just how much.

However, we do know that heavy rains, followed by drought and mixed with winds and low humidity created a perfect storm of conditions -- just weeks after Hurricane Helene ripped through North Carolina's Buncombe County, with fatal floods and landslides 400 miles from where the storm made landfall.

Experts say that extreme weather events worsened by climate change are knocking on the doors of people across the country, and local officials must proactively prepare their regions before their residents become the next victims of tragedy.

"One of the things that every local government, every city government, should be doing right now, and the cost is well worth it, is investing in very comprehensive climate risk assessments," Albany Law School's climate policy expert Cinnamon Carlarne told ABC News.

These risk assessments look at the potential harms facing a community, their exposure level and vulnerability to disaster -- properly setting regions up to plan for and minimize the destruction a disaster can cause.

If lawmakers don't take action, the toll -- both in human life as well as economic damages -- will only compound, according to Thomas Culhane, a professor of global sustainability at the University of South Florida.

"I'm frustrated that my now cousin's home may be lost, and her family was in jeopardy, and my family is in jeopardy because there hasn't been enough good dialogue about all the incredible solutions that we've had for thousands of years, for hundreds of years, for decades, some brand new," Culhane told ABC News. "We're not getting together and discussing and then implementing so people can see with their own eyes."

Los Angeles County is no stranger to extreme weather events. But according to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, seven of the 10 largest wildfires in California history have occurred since 2017.

A recent assessment of LA County's risk and vulnerability found that it was likely that wildfire conditions such as drought, high winds and extreme heat would compound.

The report found that areas between "urbanized land and undeveloped wildland vegetation" often sit within high or very high fire hazard severity zone. Notably, these hazard zones include the regions where the Palisades and Eaton Fires are burning.

It said that 19% of residents live in "Very High Fire Severity Zones" and developers continue to build in these areas despite concerns. The report noted that builders of new housing or infrastructure in such areas must follow requirements that "limit the impacts of wildfire on these properties," including fire-resistant roofing, improved attic ventilation, tempered glass for exterior windows and maintaining 100 feet of "defensible space" between their structure and nearby landscaping or wildlands.

According to an October 2024 draft Climate Vulnerability Assessment from the office of LA City Planning, officials and researchers took the risk assessment back to communities to garner feedback about the best ways to implement mitigation strategies and create resilient infrastructure that stands strong in the face of climate disasters.

The draft assessment highlighted potential solutions to prevent against wildfire damage.

This included enforcing zoning restrictions to prevent new development in regions with high wildfire risk; requiring building codes in high hazard areas to include the use of fire resistant materials; ensuring reliable water sources and road access for emergency vehicles; and the installation of backup power in strategic locations to maintain essential services during outages.

Additionally, the draft also noted plans to "strengthen power lines, utility poles, and communication networks in wildfire-prone areas to withstand fire impacts" and "create and maintain fire defensible space around structures and infrastructure."

The draft also encourages the use of indigenous fire risk reduction practices, such as intentional burns. It also suggests that community members can take part by clearing potential wildfire fuel such as dry underbrush, as well as restoring native habitat and plants.

The LA County Office of Sustainability and the LA City Planning office has not responded to ABC News' request for comment about the climate assessments.

"When you look into indigenous practices or local practices, you see people dealt with these extremes by developing systems and then we ignored them," Culhane said. "We set up systems that were bound to fail."

He continued, "If you took seriously the catastrophic potential ... put the money in because then we don't have to pay later. The recovery costs are huge."

This doesn't take into account the cost of human life -- at least 24 people have been recorded to have died thus far, according to officials.

If cities around the country can uncover and address targeted and individualized potential climate resilience techniques, they can save lives, according to Cinnamon Carlarne.

"We're committed to a certain level of warming going forward, simply because greenhouse gasses are accumulating in the atmosphere, and we are not reducing our greenhouse gas emissions," Carlarne said.

However, she argues, it's vital to continue to do the work to ensure the climate does not worsen further and cause more damage.

"So you are starting to see, because the frequency and intensity of disasters is mounting, and the human and economic cost disasters are mounting, that more and more city and local governments are actually starting to engage in planning, to assess infrastructure and to create ways where they can learn from one another," Carlarne said. "But we have more and more cities and local governments that are actually recognizing this is one of real, serious challenges for their government systems."

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