Culture & Design
Climate-Proofing Your Home: Upgrades to Protect Against Wildfires
Pruning vegetation, installing a fire-safe roof and replacing window frames can help to protect your house from a blaze.
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In the early hours of a sweltering Sunday in late September, a wildfire ignited in Deer Park, California, incinerating dozens of homes in the wine country hamlet. One home remained standing.
“I was sure it would be gone as this house is smack in the middle of where the fire started,” says Brendan Kelly, an architect whose Napa County firm designed a remodel and expansion of the 1970s concrete masonry home. The project was three-quarters done by the time the Glass Fire struck.