Housing
These Homes Withstood the LA Fires. Architects Explain Why
In Pacific Palisades and Malibu, some houses with fire-resistant designs remained standing amid neighborhoods of destruction.
A few homes remain intact after the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles on Jan. 15, 2025.
Photographer: Jill Connelly/BloombergMore than 12,000 structures have been consumed by the wildfires raging across Los Angeles, 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.