Home » Lessons from the burn zone: Why some homes survived the L.A. wildfires – Jobsmaa.com

Lessons from the burn zone: Why some homes survived the L.A. wildfires – Jobsmaa.com

0 comments

They call it the Miracle House of Malibu.

The beach house, towering amid piles of rubble, still smoldering from the Palisades fire, was splashed around the world by news releases in an iconic image.

But David Steiner doesn't attribute his house's survival to supernatural forces. The sturdy concrete structure has a fireproof roof and smooth, double-paned windows. Firefighters stood on his balcony and brought down his and the neighboring houses.

“I tell people it's great architecture, brave firefighters — and a dash of wonder,” says the retired CEO of Waste Management.

While tales of harrowing escapes, tragic loss and widespread destruction emerge from the Palisades and Eaton fires, houses survive through some lucky timing, a lucky wind shift and – according to experts – modern approaches to architecture and landscaping. of the combustion zone.

Hurricane-force winds, which shower millions of embers, are typically more likely to ignite at home, said California Fire Marshal Daniel Berland. However, research from past fires shows that fire-hardened homes with good containment have a double-digit increase in chances of survival, he said. “Efforts to harden the house are absolutely critical.”

Keeping flames and heat away from a home and reducing the chance of embers finding a weak spot and burning it from the inside. Actions can include anything from choosing fire-resistant construction materials to adding mesh screening to vents and chimneys and sealing gaps around exposed rafters. Removing vegetation and debris from around a home is also important, Berland said. These efforts don't have to be expensive, he pointed out A list of low-cost retrofits From the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Some people living in fire-prone areas have chosen to take more drastic measures.

Jim and Nancy Evans' Malibu home survived the Palisades fire, although many of their neighbors did.

Jim and Nancy Evans' Malibu home escaped the Palisades fire, although many of their neighbors did. After Evans' previous home burned down in a wildfire in 1993, he rebuilt the fire-resistant structure with a metal roof, steel-reinforced walls, cinderblock floors, double-paned windows and 6-foot stone surrounds. The house is devoid of plants.

(Brian van der Broek/Los Angeles Times)

Jim “Toss” Evans is no stranger to wildfires. After the artist's Malibu home burned in the Old Topanga Fire in 1993, he and his wife, Nancy, rebuilt the fire-resistant castle with steel-reinforced walls and a metal roof. No heat or roof vents that could otherwise trap heat or allow embers to enter. The walls are cut in cinderblock to protect against burning debris against the seam where the floor meets the wall. Gardeners come every week to clear the brush.

“We built with one idea in mind: This dream is going to happen again,” Evans said.

That became a reality last week when the Palisades Fire engulfed her street in a wooded valley. The fire burned through Evans' yard and destroyed several of his neighbors' homes, but he survived. Although firefighters were unable to put out the fire in the area, the fire was spreading uncontrollably, he said.

“If you're going to analyze a crime scene, it looks like the fire took advantage of anything that was available to him,” Evans said. “Every little bush in the yard is burned. But it can't get into the house – there's nothing to catch it.

However, sometimes, no amount of preventative measures can save a home.

In 2019, Steve Yusi and his wife $75,000 reduced on fire suppression system to their home on Anoka Drive in Pacific Palisades. The system boasted heat and flame detection, fire prevention, a 2,500-gallon sprinkler system, property soaking and air humidification for one hour, and autonomy from the power grid.

The house burned down anyway. Two sprinklers were clogged, and at one point he fell onto his retardant-slicked driveway, but Yusi said the house's position on a ravine's edge exposed to the uphill flames was simply too much for his safety.

Another reason: Other houses caught fire, which spewed red-hot embers of plastic, cloth and other materials into the air and spread the fire from house to house. A concrete-hardened neighbor's house also burned, he said. Unless everyone takes the same approach to harden their property, there is no hope of avoiding future disaster, he said.

“Social immunity. It's like a chain — the weakest link,” said Yu. “Our neighborhoods will be the same, but I'm not against that. They're all the same now – grey.

Miriam Shulman takes notes during a class with a US Forest Service expert to learn how to strengthen her neighborhood.

Miriam Shulman takes notes during a class with a U.S. Forest Service expert to learn how to strengthen her Pacific Palisades neighborhood in June 2019.

(Tania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)

Miriam Shulman, one of UC's neighbors, said her house was spared. He praised the measures he took to paint the eaves with new air vents and fire-resistant coating to resist embers.

“The house was tight as a drum,” she said.

While Shulman believes her fixes did the trick, she said a woman posting about the fire on social media protected her home with a hose, a neighbor stayed behind for the weekend, and two others stayed on the street after protecting it. At least one of those homes was not wildfire-hardened, Yusi said, adding to the puzzle of why some homes burned and others didn't.

Arthur Coleman is at a loss to explain why Her Altadena home faced the Eaton FireIt almost destroyed his entire neighborhood along with his garage. Some of the windows on the side of the house were bursting with heat. The roof is probably compromised. But the structure itself stands incongruously untouched by the blackened remnants of the rest of the block, the decorations and other materials.

The engineer bought the 1950 house a decade ago, so the only improvement he made was painting the exterior. “We didn't try to protect it, so how it was protected is beyond me.”

A preliminary report from the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Protection calls the Palisades and Eaton a textbook worst-case scenario, with gusty winds aligned along major roads, pushing flames through privacy hedges and fences. Most of them were built before codes were updated to require fire-resistant features, the report notes.

Early findings support taking a comprehensive approach to fire-hardening buildings, said Steve Hawkes, the institute's senior director for wildfires. “You can't just do one or two mitigation measures and expect your home to survive during a high-intensity wildfire,” he said.

Drone images of the Palisades Fire above PCH in Malibu between Rambla Pacifico St. and Carbon Canyon Road. In Malibu.

A drone image of the aftermath of the Palisades fire between Rambla Pacifico Street and Carbon Canyon Road in Malibu.

(Brian van der Broek/Los Angeles Times)

Yana Valachovic, a fire scientist at the University of CaliforniaHe said some of the missing houses were away from the prevailing wind currents so the flames did not hit them. Among the few properties still standing are cardboard boxes left over from the holidays for recycling collection, said Valachovic, who is in the field studying why some homes withstood the Palisades and Eaton fires.

In other situations where flammable materials are near homes, embers may ignite those materials, create spot fires, or enter open windows or vents, he said.

What Valachovic has seen so far is consistent with other wildfires that have reached built-up areas: the Lahaina Fire on Maui, the Marshall Fire near Boulder, Colo., the Camp Fire in Paradise and the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, he said. “We don't fight earthquakes, we mitigate them — we build water heaters into walls, harden structures. Wildfires are really no different.

A Pacific Palisades home exemplified that ethos last week.

Santa Monica architect Greg Chasson designed the property with fire resistance in mind: fire-rated walls, no vents, spare landscaping.

The homeowner cleared out trash cans and leaf litter to prepare for the approaching fire. He propped open the gates, knowing that otherwise they would be like candlesticks and lead the fire closer to the house.

But the neighbor left a vehicle in the driveway. The car burst into flames, melting its aluminum wheels. The heat broke the outer pane of a tempered glass window, but the inner pane held, Chasen said.

“If that last pane of glass had cracked on that side, we might have a different story today,” he said. “The moment the glass breaks, there are wind-driven sparks inside the house, including flammable furniture and carpets, which can easily set a house on fire.”

The house still stands. Chesson estimates that all but three of the approximately 120 houses that once stood on the street burned down.

You may also like

About Us

We’re a media company. We promise to tell you what’s new in the parts of modern life that matter. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Sed consequat, leo eget bibendum sodales, augue velit.

@2024 – All Right Reserved.