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MAUI MIRACLE HOUSE SURVIVES HOLOCAUST
Wildfires raced through the historic community of Lahaina in Maui, Hawaii, killing many people and destroying much of the town.
But the owner of a red-roofed house, that went viral for remaining untouched by the historic fires, has explained some small details about her house that, she thinks, helped it survive in a neighborhood otherwise reduced to ash. Aerial images of the “Miracle House” show its remarkable survival.
“It is a 100% wood house, so it is not as if we fireproofed it or anything,” the landscape painter said.
Ms Millikin said that she and her husband, Dudley, a retired banker, did not have wildfires in mind when they renovated the 100-year-old former bookkeeper’s house that they have owned for three years.
“We love old buildings, so we just wanted to honor the building,” said Ms Millikin. “And we did not change the building in any way — we just restored it.”
One decision that may have helped it survive the wildfire — the deadliest in the US in more than a century — was replacing the asphalt roof with a metal roof.
“There were pieces of wood — six, 12 inches long — that were on fire and just floating through the air with the wind and everything,” she said.
“They hit people’s roofs, and if it was an asphalt roof, it would catch on fire. Otherwise, they would fall off the roof and then set fire to the shrubbery around the house.”
Luckily, they also improved the property’s odds of survival, having lined the ground with stones out to the drip line of the roof, thus cutting down any foliage that was up against the outside walls.
While it was done to keep out termites, not protect against fires, the move almost perfectly fit guidance given by experts, according to Susie Kocher, a forestry adviser who co-authored a guide on how to protect homes against wildfires.
“If shrubs and bushes, especially flammable ones, are right up next to the house and sparks catch them on fire, the heat can burst the window and go right into the home,” Ms Kocher said.
The red-roofed house may also have benefited from not being too close to neighboring properties — often the main fuel for fires — instead, being bordered on three sides by the ocean, a road, and an empty lot.
While the house had sprinklers, as did most of the neighbors’ properties, the system was not able to work when needed because the power was out, Millikin said.
Also, any flammable material had been removed from under their deck area, which faced the ocean.
Ms Kocher said the house had many of the qualities that would help it survive such disasters. “People generally think that it is a big wall of flames that catches houses on fire, but often the cause is embers,” she said. “Embers come from the flaming front, which could be some distance away.”
Ms Millikin and her husband plan to return to Maui soon and open their place to neighbors who were left homeless.
“We lost neighbors in this, and neighbors lost everything,” she said. “So many people have lost everything, and we need to look out for each other and rebuild. Everybody needs to help rebuild.”
"We started crying," her husband said. "I felt guilty. We still feel guilty."
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