Is it possible to build a fire-proof house?
Imperfect Paradise
LAist Studios
4.5 • 535 Ratings
🗓️ 29 January 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Some of the most striking images to come out of the Los Angeles wildfires are photos of a single intact house, surrounded by rubble. We wondered: why do some houses burn down and not others? Is it possible to build a fire-proof house? Imperfect Paradise host Antonia Cereijido, correspondent Emily Guerin, and host of the LAist Studios podcast The Big Burn Jacob Margolis, look at what preventative measures you can take to try to save your house in a wildfire. Plus, we meet a man who tried to build a fire-proof house and a woman who lost everything, yet chose to rebuild in exactly the same place.
To see photos of the bunker home in Topanga Canyon: https://www.instagram.com/p/CkueCwIrHta/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Eaton Fire Ring Cam footage: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DEydaaLvfra/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=9c2269c5-a77d-42d6-8333-3c4ad540ccd0
Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety homes on fire video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQIHtMQ_y5k&ab_channel=InsuranceInstituteforBusiness%26HomeSafety%28IBHS%29
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Support for LAIST comes from CarPros Kia, featuring the 2027 Kia Telluride Hybrid with a striking new design and family-friendly seating for up to eight. |
| 0:09.5 | You can learn more at CarPros Kia in Glendale, Huntington Beach, and Moreno Valley. |
| 0:15.1 | LAISD is supported by Elephant Energy. |
| 0:17.7 | Elephant Energy is LA's expert in installing modern and efficient heating and cooling systems, |
| 0:22.9 | the new standard for whisper-quiet comfort year-round. |
| 0:26.3 | They handle the design and the rebates to save you thousands. |
| 0:29.3 | Claim your rebates at elephantenergy.com. |
| 0:32.4 | Hey, this is in Perfect Paradise. |
| 0:35.1 | I'm Antonio Serejito. |
| 0:38.4 | The big twin fires in L.A. County that broke out the first week of January, |
| 0:43.8 | the Palisades and the Eaton fires are almost fully contained. |
| 0:48.4 | The fear around wildfires here in Southern California persists. |
| 0:53.7 | New fires have broken out. As of this recording on Thursday, |
| 0:57.1 | January 23rd, they have not burned into highly populated areas. What I find myself thinking about |
| 1:04.3 | is how these fires, the Eden fire especially, burned into places that we did not expect. |
| 1:12.9 | Downtown Altadena was destroyed, |
| 1:19.9 | even though it's not up in the hills and is not considered a high-risk fire area. It made me wonder, |
| 1:28.3 | is anywhere really safe? Can you build a house that's fireproof? A few years ago, we put out a podcast called The Big Burn about why and how wildfires |
| 1:34.8 | have become such a huge problem in California. We dropped one episode into Imperfect Paradise |
| 1:40.6 | last week. But there's another that tackles this question of how exactly |
| 1:45.5 | houses burn down and what you can do to try to keep your house safe. And so this week, |
| 1:52.9 | we're bringing you that episode, posted by science reporter Jacob Margolis. I'm going to guess |
... |
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