How? Don’t palm trees burn? And that one house, why is it still standing?

In the misery of the Los Angeles fire, there is that one house that still stands intact. And then there’s that other issue: don’t trees burn faster than houses? Palm trees seem to last longer. Just a little longer.

Tiens. What’s with those trees? Some people on social media have noticed that in several photos in burned areas, palm and other trees are still standing upright. Bizarre, because you would spontaneously think that trees catch fire faster than houses. It is an observation that also fuels the craziest conspiracy theories. About how the government would deliberately set fires with targeted energy weapons in order to appropriate land, for example. Or about a program with high-frequency electromagnetic radiation from the University of Alaska.

Nonsense. In the meantime, there are just as many images of palm trees that are burning. And if they don’t, there are the scientists who rush to find a logical explanation for the upright trees. “Trees are filled with thousands of liters of water,” Miranda Hart, professor of Biology and Biotechnology at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for Biodiversity, told Canada’s CBC. “Of course, trees also go up in flames if the fires are large and hot enough. But if a tree is full of water and something very dry is next to it, what was dry will be the first to burn.” In other words: the fire will only target the tree later. What also plays a role is that one tree species is more sensitive to fire than others and taller trees are less likely to burn down completely.”

A house like a ship

And then there’s the other one last one standing: one house in a Malibu neighborhood remains intact. The three-storey multi-million home of retired businessman David Steiner (64) stands proud among the buildings destroyed by the Pallisades fire. The walls still look white, the terraces seem undamaged and even the stairs to the beach still seem usable. However, the houses of both his right and left neighbors went up in flames. “It’s a miracle. Miracles never stop,” 64-year-old Steiner told the New York Post. “We thought we had lost the house.” But then several people contacted him to let him know his house was being shown on the news.

Steiner believes his home’s ultra-sturdy construction – likely designed to protect it from earthquakes – saved it from the wildfires. “It’s stucco and stone with a fireproof roof,” he said. The pillars on which the house is built would also be stuck about 15 meters into the ground, allowing it to remain stable against powerful waves. “It’s actually built like a cruise ship. The chimney of the fireplace looks like the chimney of a boat. And the back balcony looks like a cruise ship balcony. I thought: if we ever have an earthquake, this will be the last thing that goes away.” However, he did not expect that it would also survive a fire.”