Lessons And Luck

The question among persevering homeowners who survived the recent Palisades and Eaton disastrous infernos edging Los Angeles is not whether there will be other wildfires, but rather when will they come, and so I wrote for The Panafold, a new print quarterly celebrating California design and culture. Here's my latest, abridged:

As sure as there are the warm breezes that most days caress a benign Southern California, there also will be the seasonal Santa Ana hurricane- force winds that incite the inevitable wildfire turning houses in its path to ash, as they did this past January in the Pacific Palisades, and Altadena, and my Malibu.

And as sure as real estate will continue to be the holy grail of those communities, in time on the sites of the fire burnouts new houses will rise like phoenixes. They also most certainly will be distinctly designed, for the fires also have prompted the urgent review and revision of local building codes to make structures more fire hardened.

As proven by the few structures left standing amidst the devastation, houses can survive if built skillfully and smartly with proven materials that include double-thick stucco or concrete walls, trimmed in cinderblock, double-panel treated windows and, critically, fire-resistant roofs with no eaves or vents.

Also recommended, if not required, in blaze hazard zones is a fire hardened landscape, with no plantings next to the house, and preferably no native or ornamental vegetation known to be flammable within at least 30 feet, an automatic rooftop sprinkler system, of course, the removal of all deadwood and litter.

Malibu architects in particular have become quite adept at designing fire hardened houses, for their iconic seacoast community has the most woeful history of wildfires in California. Prior to the recent Palisades Fire, there was the relatively small Franklin blaze in December 2024, and the more destructive Woolsey in 2018. That firestorm consumed some 1,600 houses, some 500 of which were in Malibu.

Among the more distinctive fire hardened rebuilds following that fire were several designed by architects Elaine Rene-Weissman and Cory Buckner. Both say that while fire hardened designs most definitely reduced the probability of houses going up in flames, they do not absolutely prevent it.

“A fire-hardened house might give the illusion of survivability, but there are just too many variables in its construction to guarantee it,” says Weismann. Buckner expands on this, mentioning external factors such as the level of fireproofing measures adopted by neighbors, those neighbors’ house and landscape conditions, and the intensity of local weather and ferocity of the winds…and then there is luck.

Fickle Mother Nature spared my own midcentury modern home on Point Dume, twice. Six years ago, the Woolsey Fire was just blocks away, consuming houses, headed toward ours. The flames were so intense, the explosions so violent that the resulting hot air rose from the fire, creating a vacuum of sorts beneath which a cool, moist breeze wafted in from the ocean, dampening a number of the cliffside homes—ours among them—sending the flames off in another direction.

As for the fierce Palisades Fire, it was heading up the Malibu coast, threatening Point Dume and prompting our scrambled, reluctant, evacuation. Several weeks before, there had been another fire near us, the Franklin. It was contained, but not before it had consumed a large swathe of vegetation, creating in effect a fire break south of the Point.

Having nothing to feed upon, the Palisades Fire turned inland -and away from the Point, allowing my wife and I to return, shaken but thankful. Living in a fire hazard zone such as Malibu you are a hostage to fires, and fate.

So why test fate, random residents were asked; both the burned out whether to rebuild and the persevering to move to a safer reside. Almost to a person for reasons heartfelt, personal and varied, they answered they loved where they lived: each community unique for its congeniality and environment. And in turn I was asked as a long time resident of Malibu why we stayed.

Nestled between a soft sandy beach and a striking mountain range, in a benign Mediterranean climate, I answer that however fragile and threatened, my Malibu arguably is one of the more captivating exurban environments in the world. It is where my landscape blooms year-round, butterflies flutter, birds gather, dogs romp and my offspring come for a vacation, overlooking a coast where surfers hang ten, dolphins play and whales migrate.

I just can’t move from this, and besides, if I did, I’d have to clean out my garage. But I will take extra pains and costs to fire hardened this paradise in anticipation of the next wildfire, sure to come.