Key decision tycoon made that he thinks led to his Malibu mansion surviving LA wildfires
A US businessman has come out to share what he did which he believes saved his home from total destruction during the LA wildfires.
While his neighbours’ homes turned to ash before everyone’s eyes, David Steiner's $9million Malibu mansion remained as the only building left standing on the row of houses.
The Palisades fire is just one of eight that are raging around the LA county, which has torn through 20,000 acres at the time of writing.
Among the acres, 5,000 homes and businesses have been destroyed and many left without a home or source of income.
Advert
With a slew of celebrities coming out to share that their homes had been taken during the inferno, Steiner was left more than a little shocked when the smoke cleared and his home was the only one left relatively untouched.
So, what happened?
As it turns out, Steiner pre-emptively took measures to ensure the safety of his home in any instance of disaster, be it a fire or a flood.
In short, he made it fireproof and believes that these features of his property are what saved his home from ruin.
Steiner told the New York Post: "It’s stucco and stone with a fireproof roof.”
He thinks his choice to design the 4,200-square-foot, four-bedroom home in a specific way saved it.
Admitting that it is 'built like a cruise ship', it was built to withstand earthquakes and has an 'ultra-sturdy construction'.
According to the father-of-three, it boasts pilings 'like 50 feet into the bedrock' which keep it steady when strong waves crash in.
"To be totally honest with you, I never in a million years thought a wildfire would jump to the Pacific Coast Highway and start a fire," Steiner said. "I thought, ‘If we ever have an earthquake, this would be the last thing to go'. I honestly didn’t think that if we had a fire, this would be the last thing to go. And it was.
"The architecture is pretty nice. But the stucco and fireproof roof are real nice."
The retired waste-management professional described seeing towering flames and thinking that all was lost, until his friends and then wife told him that their home was on the news.
The three-storey home, which was vacant at the time, was thought to have been doomed after a contractor sent him a video of flames traveling through his street on Tuesday (7 January).
"[The contractor] was watching the news reports and saw my neighbor’s house going down and told me, ‘It looks like your house is going too.'
"I started getting pictures and realised we had made it through," Steiner continued. “My wife sent me something this morning that said, ‘Last house standing'. And it brought a pretty big smile to my face at a pretty bad time."
He said: "I was getting texts from people saying, ‘We’re praying for you. It’s so horrible'. I said, ‘Don’t pray for me - what I lost is material goods'. I lost a property, but others lost their homes. I didn’t have my family’s mementos there. It wasn’t my family home. My heart goes out to those who lost their homes."
Stars including Paris Hilton, Anna Faris, Eugene Levy and Billy Crystal, have all lost their homes in the last few days as the fires continue to rage in LA.
Britt Jones