Homes that survived L.A. wildfires may provide template for resilient rebuilds

More than 12,000 structures were consumed by wildfires this month in Los Angeles, but amid the destruction a small number of buildings survived.

These resilient structures could provide the basis of revamped design strategies to rebuild neighborhoods laid waste by the disaster. An architect who designed a newly built home that survived the Pacific Palisades blaze says luck was a factor, but there is more to the story, according to a Bloomberg report.

The home was designed with several fire-resilient design strategies that likely played a role in its fate. The yard was largely free of vegetation and fenced off by cast-in-place concrete garden walls.

The house has a simple design lacking multiple roof lines, dormers, or other pop-outs, that are vulnerable to fire. There were no attic vents to allow sparks to get inside the metal roof that was underlaid with fire-resistant material.

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. Tempered glass windows protect the interior. The front of the house was built with heat-treated wood, shielded from airborne embers by extruding walls and roof line.

Rebuilt homes that meet or exceed local building codes, incorporating features such as in the surviving Palisades property, would create structures far more fire-resistant than houses built decades ago.