Photo: Greg Chasen
The fires ripping through LA have caused unrepairable damage, with more than 12,000 buildings destroyed and 84,000 people unsure whether they'll have a home to return to after evacuating.
But some buildings have managed to stay standing, including a six month-old house designed by architect Greg Chasen.
The neighbouring houses in the Palisades were destroyed, and Chasen thinks it was a combination of luck and fire-resistant design strategies that kept his client's home safe.
It is a conventional wood framed house like most new houses in the area, Chasen told Summer Times.
"It's a simple gable roofed house but I think what was important... protecting the wood frame from fire was very important so we had fire rated walls at the exterior which go a bit above and beyond code, tempered glass windows really helped in our case where there was a car that literally caught fire 10 feet from the building."
Other features included a wall that went directly to the roof without overhang so the building could be sealed, and no roof vents, which air can get into.
Lightweight roof trusses used in other houses would be much more vulnerable than this structure, Chasen said.
"We were lucky in the sense that he was able to get back to his property very quickly after the fire ignition and prepare the property - move anything flammable away from the perimeter and prop any flammable wood gates open so they don't connect to the house any longer.
"The exterior of the house area and making that defendable I think is very important but boy, this was a fire storm of unimaginable proportions that was about a quarter of a mile at 11.15 the night before and it was really something to see."
Damage inside the house was limited, with some ash and a faint smokey odor, he said.
"To my eyes it was remarkably well preserved."
Chasen said California code is not designed for this type of fire and more could be done.
"This was a very dense neighbourhood... the houses are close together, they're smaller lots than we normally see here in wildfires in California so in addition to the kind of sparks driven by wild lands burning, you have just a tonne of fuel from houses burning directly adjacent to structures in addition to wind and it's just an enormous hazard."
