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Archie Walker’s Altadena home stands more than two months after Eton toresting the neighborhood, destroying most of the homes in the area.
Now, Walker advises the community to build for the environment, emphasizing that fire seasons are long all year round across Southern California.
“It’s only a matter of time,” Walker said. “The forest is burning. They are burning. They are burning. They are burning. You need to be prepared for just that.”
With a background in architecture and engineering, Walker has lived in this house in the hills of Altadena for 20 years.
“My intention was to always build a fire-safe house because I’m on the mountains,” Walker said. “I lived in Chugach, Alaska. I was in the mountains, so I built it there.”
Walker developed a new plan using materials using his main focus, aiming to do what he could to protect the Altadena home from the risk of wildfires.
“It’s concrete and composite paneling,” Walker said. “This is a combination of a mixture of concrete and the concrete mixture within it.”
Even with the composite, he said he added two slotter molds around it to keep nothing on the wood.
He said when the wind comes from the mountains it hits composites rather than wood.
Walker said that his home had endured fires from the past, but Eton’s fire and the accompanying wind were something he had never experienced before.
He was forced to evacuate his house and did not expect his house to survive the fire.
“I said, well, this is another period.”
When he returned he saw his house still standing and was grateful to the neighbours that were mostly gone.
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