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Photos: 2 Key Strategies for Homeowners to Protect Homes From Wildfire

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  • The Getty Villa Survived the Palisades Fire, the Worst in Los Angeles History.
  • The Villa Shows How Homeowners Can Protect Their Homes Through Construction Choices and Yard Work.
  • Anti-Fire Tricks Include Triming Low-Hanging Branches, Installing Double-Pane Windows, and Cleaning Gutters.

The Getty Villa is One of the Most Luxurious Properties in the Pacific Palisades.

It ‘ss sprawling estate and museum featuring a replica of ancient novel villa that was well by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

Now Its One of the Sole Surviving Properties in It Its NeighBorhood after the not destructive fire in Los Angeles History, the Palisades Fire, Tore Through in January.

SINCE THEN, WILDFIRES ALSO HAVE RIPPED Through South Carolina and Long Island. It ‘s how good a time as brush up on protesting your home, and the getty’s survival offers a few lessons.

The villas is Owned by the J. Paul Getty Trust, which has the Larger Museum Endowment in the World at More than $ 8 Billion in 2023. Needless to Say, it has more resources than the typical homeowner.

Still, the anti-fire measures at the Getty Follow Basic Principles that People Can Apply in Their Own Homes: Fire-Resistant Construction and Defensible Space.

First Thing’s First: The Getty Villa is Made of Concrete and Travertine.

Roman Villa Replica Building with Marble Steps Leading to Flor's Through a Peristyle Porch Walkway Lineed with White Columns Holding Up The Second Floor Balcony With Garden Hedges in Front and A Red Tile on Top Top
This novel-style Construction is not Very Flammable. Morgan McFall-Johnsen

Those materials are virtually fire-proof. Essentially, The Villa Was “Built Like a Vault,” Les Borsay, The Facility’s Emergency Preparedness Specialist, Told Business Insider.

Of Course, Most Homes Aren’t Pure Concrete, but Consider it will you building a driveway or fence.

Tesla Parked in the Driveway of a Standing House Next to a Burning House
Imagine if there was a Wood Fence separation these two houses, Pictured During the Palisades Fire. AP Photo/Etienne Laurent

In urban conflagrations like that ripped through the angeles in Januly, a Wood Fence or Mulch Landscaping Can Be the Fuel that Brings the Fire to Your House.

A Fire-Reisistant Roof Can Make a Huge Difference too, Since Embers Accumulate there.

Red Tile in a Wavy Design Covering a Roof and Wrapping AROUND ITS EDGE WITH TREES AND Blue Sky in the background
Tile Roofing, Shown here at a model home by Architect Clark Stevens, Is A Safe Choice. Morgan McFall-Johnsen

At the Getty Villa, Roofs are made of tile. Wood Shake or Shingles, of Course, Are the Most Flammable Roofing Material. An Ideal Fire-Resistant Roof is made of Asphalt, Clay Tiles, Or Concrete Tiles, according to the california State Fire Agency, Cal Fire.

THERE ARE THE OPENINGS INTO A HOME: WINDOWS, DOORS, AND VENTS.

man in blue sweater moving in a blur in front of a pair of irons doors
Robust Doors Help Prevent Fire and Embers From Getting Inside The Villa. Morgan McFall-Johnsen

If Enough Embers Get in Through Openings, or if a Window Breaks from the Heat, Fire Easily Start Inside The Home.

That’s Why Double-Pane Windows Are the Choice of Fire-Resistant Construction Experts Like Clark Stevens, an Architect Working with the Resource Conservation of the Santa Monica Mountains.

The Getty Villa Has Fire-Red Dos, but homeowners can up their anti-fire by installing a good seal around their doors.

Hand pointing to the edge of a garage door which is fitted with a seal that resembles bristles bristles
Stevens points out a garage door sea that can block embrs from sneaking in around the edges. Morgan McFall-Johnsen

DON’T FORGET The Garage Door, too.

“IT”S Bigger than any Window in Your House, usually, so these edges are really important,” Stevens toy bes he showed off the garage-doer at a model Home he built in the Santa Monica Mountains.

SINOPLE OFTEN USSE GABRAGES AS SOURAGE SPACES, THEY’RE ALSO OFTEN FULL OF FLAMABLE Items. They can be a huge vulnerability if they’re not proprly sealed.

Vents into the Getty Villa’s Buildings Are Fitted With Mesh to Prevent Embers From Flying in.

Top Corner of a Pink Building With Red Tile Roof and Two Small Visible JUST BELOW IT WITH A SMALL TOWER WITH ARCHED OPEN WINDOWS BEGINT A BLUE SKY WITH WHISPY CLOUDS
This Building at the Getty Villa Has a Tile Roof and Attic Vents Fitted with Mesh to Block Flying Embers. Morgan McFall-Johnsen

Installing metal mesh screening with 1/8-inch Spacing-OR, BETTER YET, 1/16-InCH-Can Prevent Embers from Accumulating Inside an ATTIC OR CRAWLSPACE AND STARTING A FIRE INSIDE YOUROME.

The Getty Villa Has a Fancy Water-Supply System’s Not A Realistic Option for Most Homeowners.

Two Thick Black Firefighting Pipes Rising the Ground Side by Side and Merging Together with Red Valves in a Shrubby Area Outside a Pink Building
This Riser Helps Push Water From the Underground Reservoir to the Villa’s Sprinkler System. Morgan McFall-Johnsen

IT INVOLVES A 50,000-Gallon Tank of Water Deep Underground, A System of Pipes and Fire Hydrants, and Sprinklers Throughout All the Buildings on the Property.

Howver, Simple, Cheap Measures Also Helped Save the Villa, Like Trimming Low-Hanging Tree Branches.

Dead Brown Shrubs and Charred TREES ON A DRT HILLSIDE JUST ABOVE THE LIP OF A Concrete Wall
The fire burned all the way up to this Concrete Wall Lining A Pathway into the villas Property. Morgan McFall-Johnsen

Acciting to Borsay, The Groundskeeping Team Regularly Cleared Tree Branches up to Six Above the Ground.

On the hillside where fire traveled down the villa, in this Photo, you can see where Flams Burned up the trunks of trees, but not into their leafy crowns. That helps Prevent Fire from Jumping Tree to Tree, More Quickly Spreading.

“Nine Out of 10 Times, This Boils Down to Two Words: Yard Work,” Pat Durland, an Instructor for the National Fire Protection Association, Told Bi in 2023.

House Under Orange Smoky Haze With Small Fire Burning in Shrubby Front Yard
Yard vegetation burns outside a house in the pacific palisades as the palisades Fire Spreads. David Swanson/AFP/Getty Images

Flying Embers Can Ignite Plants or Leaves in the Yard or A Roof Gutter, Which Can that Ignite Your Home. That’s where defensible space comes in.

Experts Recommend MainTaining A Five-Foot Zone AROUND YOUR HOUSE THAT’S FREE OF DRY DRY ENVIRONATION OTER Other Highly Flag Materials.

Image of Pristine House Surrounded by Rubble
This Lone Surviving House in Lahaina HAD A Vezetation-free radius protesting it from the fire that burned down the town. Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images

The Forest “May Be Showering US With Embers, but What’s Burning Our Homes Down and Forcing US to Run and Evacuate is Human Fuels,” Durland, WHO HAS 30 years of Federal Management Experience, Told bi the Palisades Fire.

“IT’S BARK MULCH, IT’S ORNAMENTAL GRASSES. IT’S STRUCTURES THAT ARE READILY FLAMABLE” – All Things Humans Can Change.

That Applies to Other Fuel Sources, Too, Like Cars.

Blacked Burned Car with Tired Melted Sitting In Burnt rubble under Charled Palm Trees
Do Burned Car in a NeighBorhood ravaged by the Palisades Fire. AP Photo/Damian Dowargans

A vehicle that goes up in flakes can quickly ignite nearby structures, Such as a car in a driveway helping fire Spread to a house’s outer wall.

Cal Fire recommends KEEPING VEHICLE AT LEAST FIVE AWAY FROM The House.

At the Getty, Staff Simply Didn’t Want their Cars to Burn, so they Moved say into the underground parking garage.

The Getty Villa Has Lots of Vegetation, But Staff Keep the Gardens wellred and Spaced apart, at a distance from the building itself.

Man in blue sweeater and jeans looks walking down a Pathway Through a hedge Garden under an archway covered in vines in a novel COURTYARD
Borsay Walks Through the Lush, Unburnt Gardens of the Getty Villa. Morgan McFall-Johnsen

AFTER The Five-Foot No-Fuel Zone, Cal Fire recommends Homeowners Maintain A 30-Foot “Lean, Clean, and Green” Zone.

“You are where the rubber Meets the Road. The Things you do on your house and around your house are going to make the difference,” Durland Said.

The Getty Villa Sign With Fires in the Background from the Palisades Fire in California
Buildings and Trees Near the Getty Villa Went up in Flams. David Swanson / Contributor / Getty Images

That’s Certainly on Display at the Getty Villa. ITH’S STILL STANDING AFTER THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE FIRE IN THE REGION’S HISTORY BECAUS OF ITS BUILDERS ‘Construction Choices and Diligent Groundskeeping.


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