In November 2018, California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire destroyed nearly 20,000 buildings and homes. However, a house that survived the campfire provides valuable lessons in building houses that are more resilient to natural disasters.
The house was built from a concrete building material called Logix, which is a type of insulated concrete form. The styrofoam forms are stacked on top of each other, metal supports go in, and the form is filled with concrete that forms the exterior structure of the house.
Kent Yonker, director of Building Fire Safe California, pointed to a charred patch on the house’s concrete wall and told KRCR News, “If it had been a wooden house, it would have burned and the house would have been lost.”
In addition to the concrete walls, the house was also protected by non-combustible landscaping materials and a metal wall that protected it from flying embers, says Yonker.
Yonker adds that the cost of building Logix concrete forms is roughly the same as other building materials used in fire-prone regions.
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