How Fire Resistant Features Helped This Home Survive The Palisades Fire

LA's Pacific Palisades Fire wreaked unimaginable damage on its way to destroying thousands of homes in the exclusive enclave, but some homes survived despite being directly in the fire's path. It was more than luck. One belonged to an architect who foresaw the danger and designed his home with multiple fire-resistant features that allowed it to endure the firestorm. 

Like many people, architect Michael Kovac was attracted to the Pacific Palisades neighborhood's combination of scenic beauty and coastal access. When he and his wife decided to fulfill their dreams of building a home in the area in 2010, he told British newspaper Metro that he considered more than just aesthetics. He relied on his expertise in design to create a home that was purpose-built to resist the ever-present danger of fire that menaces Southern California's coastal regions

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Kovac's property survived the devastating January fires and they sat down with Metro to give insight into his design elements. Kovac started with the obvious by stating, "You know it's (obvious), we're both happy that the measures that we took worked, and that our house that we've invested so much in so many ways to survive, but then it's also really difficult to see that your neighbors' houses are gone."

Looking at a video of his home when flaming embers driven by 100 mph winds began falling on it, Kovac said, "So, one of the most sustainable and fire-resilient features is the fiber cement cladding that we had all around the house. It's fiber cement made with recycled newsprint and a cement binder. So it's both using recycled material and it's extremely fire resistant, which has now been proven out for us."

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That wasn't where his innovation stopped. Kovac added, "We have a planted roof, which is both an incredibly environmentally sustainable thing for the environment in terms of water reclamation and natural habitat, but it also has the benefit of (in the event of fire), of about four and a quarter inches of Earth and little volcanic stone, so even if these plants burn off we have this soil protecting layer on top of the roof."

Kovac told Metro that even the chimney for the house was designed with fire-resistant features. He said, "This chimney here, we have three different sprinkler nozzles on command spray out phos-check fire-retardant. So that's something that we triggered once we knew the house was definitely going to become enveloped in flame." The fact that their home still stands while almost everything around it is burned to the ground speaks volumes about the effectiveness of his planning.

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To Kovac, it was just common sense. He added, "Knowing the history of Southern California, we were acutely aware that at some point in the house's life, there would be a serious fire, you know, nearby at the very least. And so we designed the house to be both fire-resistant and sustainable." The success of Kovac's efforts may also provide some useful cues for homeowners and contractors as the area rebuilds.

Kovac also pointed out that features like sustainability and fire-resistant design often go hand in hand, telling Metro, "Happily those two systems (fire-resistant and sustainable), are often one and the same, including the fiber-cement cladding that we have surrounding the house."  

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