In the middle of these ashes and the remains of completely devastated houses, one house in particular attracted photographers. It is a three-story mansion owned by David Steiner, a millionaire from Texas. His 8.7 million euro building, built on the edge of the ocean, appears intact while the neighboring houses have all been completely destroyed. Only a few other houses a little further on the coast also resisted (at least in appearance).
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A house built to resist earthquakes
“It’s a miracle”reacted to the New York Post David Steiner, 64, who is not in Los Angeles at the moment. When he saw the images of the fires and the videos sent to him by neighbors, he was convinced that his pied-à-terre in LA was also destroyed. But when the smoke cleared, he received messages and photos of his white house, not damaged by the fires, in the middle of the smoking remains of the other villas.
The Texan has not yet gone there to check the condition of his building, but if it survived the flames in this way, he has no doubt that it is thanks to the materials used. In fact, the house was built to resist earthquakes. “It’s stucco and stone with a fireproof roof“, explained David Steiner adding that pillars were installed under the house, “about 15 meters into the rock“, so that it does not move in the event of powerful waves.
“To be completely honest with you, I never imagined that a wildfire could spread to the Pacific Coast Highway and start a fire“, he added, “I figured if we ever had an earthquake, it would be the last thing to be destroyed. Honestly, I didn’t think that if there was a fire, it would be the last thing to happen.“.
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