These Homes Withstood the LA Fires. Architects Explain Why
Related:
1. How This House Survived Deadly Hawaii Fires
The red roofed house that survived the fires is surrounded by destroyed homes. Picture: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP.
2. LA’s rich criticised for hiring private firefighters. Companies offering $25,000 packages to protect properties from wildfires.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Photo: G.Chasen/Bloomberg
More than 12,000 structures have been consumed by the wildfires raging across Los Angeles this week, many of them single-family homes that have stood for decades.
A brand-new house in Pacific Palisades designed and built by architect Greg Chasen in summer 2024 could have easily been one of them. None of the other homes around it survived, and a car parked out front by a neighbor was the perfect vector to spread the flames.
Yet on Jan. 9, after a night of devastation, Chasen found the house intact, barely touched by the fire. A photo of the house posted by the Malibu architect went viral on X, and a thread on Reddit swelled with guesses about what saved it.
If it weren’t for several fire-resilient design strategies, the home would have been destroyed.
“This house was a personalized labor of love for a dear friend,” Chasen says. “It meant a lot to turn a corner and see it there.”
Thousands of Angelenos are still at risk, with new evacuations following a week of destruction. In the months and years to come, as Los Angeles recovers, lawmakers will weigh decisions about where and what to rebuild. Some of these discussions will surely tackle how to rebuild as well. Architects who specialize in climate-adaptive design — informed by lessons learned from California to Australia — say that protecting homes from wildfires will require a policy that accounts for design.
Some of the fire-proofing decisions made by Chasen stand out in the picture. The yard is a protected area free of vegetation, fenced off by cast-in-place concrete garden walls, with landscaping in a sparse Mediterranean desert style. The home’s owner has been through fires before, so he was prepared: He removed trash cans and other loose items from around the house and even left the side gates open, knowing that a fire can spread along a fence to a house.
“We were unfortunate that the neighbor parked the car adjacent to the house. There’s molten aluminum in the picture, 1,200 degrees,” Chasen says. “That wall prevented a lot of that heat from getting to the house.”
Other design factors are more subtle. Along the side of the house there are no eaves or overhangs, which can form eddies or trap embers blown by high winds. The house doesn’t have any attic vents to allow sparks to get inside the roof, which is metal, with a fire-resistant underlayment . And the house is simple: front-gabled without multiple roof lines, dormers or other pop-outs, which are vulnerable intersections in a fire.
Still other elements are invisible — yet critical. The walls of the house have a one-hour fire rating . The deck is Class A wood, as resistant to ignition as concrete or steel, Chasen says. Tempered glass protects the interiors. And the front of the house was built with heat-treated wood, shielded from flying sparks and embers by the extruding walls and roof line.
“All of that is best practice for cutting a fire,” he says.
(Cont'd at linked article )
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More than 12,000 structures have been consumed by the wildfires raging across Los Angeles this week, many of them single-family homes that have stood for decades.
A brand-new house in Pacific Palisades designed and built by architect Greg Chasen in summer 2024 could have easily been one of them. None of the other homes around it survived, and a car parked out front by a neighbor was the perfect vector to spread the flames.
Yet on Jan. 9, after a night of devastation, Chasen found the house intact, barely touched by the fire . . .
If it weren’t for several fire-resilient design strategies, the home would have been destroyed.
As a climate-minded architect practicing in the Pacific Northwest, Eliason says he never anticipated that he would be designing wildfire smoke-resistant homes. But with wildfires breaking out more frequently in Washington and smoke events regularly lasting three weeks or more, his clients now ask for this advice all the time.
“This issue of widespread wildfire smoke was on nobody’s radar, even in the Passive House community,” Eliason says, until the 2018 Camp Fire, at the time the most destructive in California state history.
The fire huffed and puffed but couldn't burn the house down.....kind of a children's story, is it not?
I think it originally was.
But some of these children's stories do contain great wisdom.
Coincidence or supernatural? As I told you I was going to watch a movie, and while I was watching it you then posted this seed. The movie I watched that I had never seen before was called "Unbreakable", starring Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson. It opened with Bruce Willis riding on a train that crashes and he is miraculously the sole survivor, without a scratch on him. In fact it turns out that he never was in his lifetime harmed or sick. In other words he survived EVERYTHING. Now look at the story of that house, and also with your reference to the one in Hawaii with the red roof. Now, can we explain what just happened between you and me?
I was going to reply by mentioning that "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio" . . . but decided not too!
A note for the curious (or perhaps those who may be "Google-Challenged") . . that's from Hamlet ( Act 1 Scene 5 ).
And no-- a "Hamlet" is not a synonym for "a small pig)!
You didn't need to; in fact you could have stopped with "There are more things..." because not only am I quite familiar with the quotation but I've used it on NT myself. And OF COURSE there are more things in heaven and Earth than either of us have dreamt of.
But it COULD mean a small village.
Actually that quote was not meant to be addressed specifically to you. I assumed you are familiar with it. Rather, I was going to say it to the general audience here. (A sort of Caviar to the General, as it were)
It a quote I use a lot. Because as I believe I mentioned previously. I am an Astrologer. (One easy way to get verbally attacked here-- by people on both sides of the aisle, is to mention that).
But beyond Astrology-- I've noticed that many people assume they know a lot about a particular subject-- when in fact thay don't !
But only if there were a lot of Ham producing farms n the village!
I've actually been learning how to make things like that happen (the so-called "coincidences") but while recently I've been playing around with some "higher energies"-- with some of the more esoteric forces as it were, I was not consciously trying to create that specific thing.
True mastery takes a lot of commitment-- effort, and time to master. I am by no means yet a spiritual adept!
True mastery takes a lot of commitment-- effort, and time to master. I am by no means yet a spiritual adept!
But am making progress . . .
What is a spiritual adept?
Definition:
Originally: a person who has attained knowledge of the secrets of alchemy, magic, and the occult, (now esp.) an initiate into the secrets of a particular hermetic order or occult organization. In later use also more generally: a person who has been initiated into any system of spiritual knowledge.
On the news today it was mentioned about some of the businesses along an extension of Sunset Boulevard that were destroyed, and one of them was a psychic's office. What went through my mind was that he probably knew before anyone else to get the hell out of there. He probably took his crystal ball with him.
Well, hurry up and perfect the skill cause I'd like you to cause my lottery ticket to win.
“If you remodel a house you can make all these changes to it, and it can be very fire-resistant,” Dawson says. “Most people don’t do those sort of things. They’re more interested in a nice new kitchen or a bath.”
The architect says that he’s done hundreds of renovations in Southern California to make houses fire-resistant. Driving along a stretch of beach in Malibu this week, Dawson says that he counted five houses left standing; three were his projects. “I haven’t had any house burn that’s been brought up to the latest standard.”
Even though such a house could qualify for insurance, I would assume that if the insurance company decided to drop all policies in the area it still could not be insured.
Given the proliferation of serious damages (even deaths) from Climate Change in several states, there have been cases where rates are are astronomical-- and/or companies that have stopped doing business entirely.
I have a friend in Florida who has mentioned that there are some insurance companies who have actually stopped doing business in Florida entirely!
Nobody can afford to keep losing money, even if they are the most altruistic of humanity. It has become incumbent upon people to do whatever they can to ensue their own safety, and that doesn't mean building your home out of wood on the edge of a volcano.
Nobody can afford to keep losing money, even if they are the most altruistic of humanity. It has become incumbent upon people to do whatever they can to ensue their own safety, and that doesn't mean building your home out of wood on the edge of a volcano.
Well, there are a lot of people who don't apply "common sense" in making most of their decisions.
(I've always found it ironinc that "common sense" is actually not all that common!)
It must stink like shredded skunk, inside. I suppose it’s one step better than being the only guy at the shooting range with a silencer.
Not that I wish to question your expertise in these matters-- but what makes you think fireproofing a house would cause it to smell bad?
I'm curious as well squiggy. I can understand that it could bear the smell of smoke in such a circumstance, but why like a skunk?
Good question! After all, it costs a lot of money to thoroughly fireproof a house.
And let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.
They certainly wouldn't need to spend money on a project that would have their house smelling like a Skunk!
Nope, its not about a small town that raises teeny, weeny pigs! (What you Americans call "Piglets"!).
But Buzz, like the Shadiow, actually knows . . . is he the only one?
Does the shadow know why the green checkmark is beside this? "And let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me." Is somebody seeking a fact check about whether the "very rich" are different from you and me?
Good question!
But only the Shadow knows . . .
Angels and Ministers of Grace defend us-- I think I may have just deraiiled my own discussion!
It seems we've lost our train of thought and gotten a bit off-track as it were!
(Yo Meester Soundman-- cue up Flatt and Scruggs "The Orange Blossom Special"!
We can always take a bus.
But OTOH, we might take a train, we might take a plane
(But if I could walk I'm going just the same)
I couldn't open that link to genius.com. Maybe I don't qualify to open it. Maybe I should ask my brother to try - he's Mensa.