No shrubs and lots of concrete: This is what a fire-resistant house looks like
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There’s no such thing as a fire-proof house, but certain design choices can help protect a home during a wildfire.
As the Santa Monica-based architect Abeer Sweis watched the Palisades fire lay waste to large portions of the Pacific Palisades, she found herself thinking back on her own childhood home in the fire-prone Santa Clarita Valley, 35 miles to the north. “We lived in a tract home that didn’t have any of the features that would help that home survive. There were always fires from Palmdale or Acton or somewhere, so that fear was always there,” she says.