As Los Angeles recovers from its devastating wildfires, environmental engineers, urban planners and natural disaster experts are casting forward with visions of what could come next for neighborhoods that have been reduced to ash and rubble.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in an update Thursday that 18 people remain missing after the Southern California wildfires. Overall, authorities received a total of 43 missing persons reports related to the Eaton and Palisades fires. Of those, 12 were located safe.

California bolstered funding to help the Los Angeles area recover from its recent deadly wildfires under a more than $2.5 billion fire relief package approved Thursday by the California Legislature.