Rebuilding Lahaina: Homeowners In The Seaside Town May Get A Reprieve From Coastal Zone Rules

Table Of Content

• See the nearly 100-year-old "miracle house" that survived the Lahaina wildfire and now sits on a block of ash
• See the 100-year-old "miracle house" that survived the Lahaina wildfire
• More from CBS News
• VERIFY Newsletter
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• Owner of ‘miracle house’ that escaped Hawaii wildfires says he hates it being called that
• Massive mental health toll in Maui wildfires: 'They've lost everything'
• The Hawaiian Home That Withstood Wildfire

Beveridge said there's no way to know for sure exactly what preserved the house on Front Street, but "the metal roof and lack of adjacent flammable material ... certainly limited the means by which the structure could have ignited." Atwater Millikin and her husband have lived on Maui for close to 10 years, and bought the house about three years ago. She is an artist whose paintings focus on New England coastal scenery, and he is a recently retired portfolio manager. Aerial photos show the red-roofed home with a bright white façade still in seemingly pristine condition, against the grey-toned, ashen landscape by which it is surrounded. The fire's death toll is currently tallied at 114, with the number expected to continue rising. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, CalFire for short, says the roof is the most vulnerable part of your home.

See the nearly 100-year-old "miracle house" that survived the Lahaina wildfire and now sits on a block of ash

"We love our neighborhood and love our friends, and just cannot believe that that world that we knew so well and loved — it's gone forever." "Everybody's calling it 'the miracle house,'" Trip Millikin, who owns the home at 271 Front St., told NPR. But that label makes him uncomfortable, he added, citing the flood of emotions that came with learning that while his house was spared, his community was gutted. That’s why we’re excited in the next couple days when they get to start sleeping in the same bedroom for good,” said Green. Gov. Green called it a day of progress, most importantly, for the survivors of the tragic Maui wildfires. “Building affordable housing has always been a priority for me, but since Aug. 8 and for our Maui residents in particular, its importance has become even more critical.

See the 100-year-old "miracle house" that survived the Lahaina wildfire

In fact, the other structures seen standing in Getty’s and the AP’s photographs also have more space between them and other structures as compared to most of the surrounding community. As part of these renovations, the homeowners installed a commercial-grade steel roof and replaced the landscaping about a meter around the house with river stones, Honolulu Civil Beat reported. Other photos from Getty and the AP reveal other structures that also survived the fires. Getty and the AP both photographed the Lahaina Shores Beach Resort standing alone in a neighborhood of rubble and ash.

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In August, a rapidly moving fire engulfed the town of Lāhainā in Maui, Hawaiʻi, destroying as much as 80% of the buildings and causing countless unspeakable tragedies. One house, however, survived as a beacon of hope — and its lack of damage came from a particular landscaping and architectural design that protected it from the surrounding fire. Amid the catastrophic wildfire in Maui, one "miracle house" emerged unscathed thanks to an innovative design choice that made it resistant to flames.

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Trip told Civil Beat they also removed existing landscaping around the home and filled the dug-out areas with river stones. "We removed five layers of asphalt that were on the roof," Millikin said. When the new metal roof was installed, he added, it included an air pocket to allow heat to dissipate. At the ground level, they removed all vegetation along the house's dripline and added a stone buffer — a step taken to thwart not fires, but termites. Aerial photos of the miracle house show it had more space between it and other houses than there was between most of the other nearby structures, so it would have been less likely to catch fire from the flames of nearby houses.

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And opting for lower-maintenance plants reduces water needs, making the overall scale of irrigation smaller. It saves people money, as well as creating more sustainable lawns that stay healthier and less dryness prone with less water. On the other hand, choosing a lawn of moss, drought resistant plants, or stone—or a combination of all of these things—takes artificially occurring dryness out of the mix.

Regulations in California have typically focused on a 30-foot perimeter around homes known as “Zone A” in firefighting. But Wara said that research on the thousands of homes that have burned in California in recent years has shown that it’s really what’s installed in the immediate few feet of a home that makes the biggest difference. A flood of names come to mind when Millikin thinks of the 20 or so people who w0rked to renovate the house. Or Hoi, the carpenter who helped coordinate the work, and Kenji and Wayne, who painted, and Ongele and Gloria, the husband and wife who repaired stonework and did other tasks. "What's behind it are the original — I think they're redwood — planks from about 1920. They didn't burn," Millikin said.

Massive mental health toll in Maui wildfires: 'They've lost everything'

River stone or gravel allows rainfall to drain through into the soil, and because it covers the surface of that soil, the moisture does not evaporate as easily. Mosses are able to hang onto water, like tiny soft cactuses, and they help keep moisture in the soil around them. Even in a perfect world of plentiful water, it’s human nature to forget or delay doing a chore like watering your lawn.

The nearly 100-year-old structure had been lovingly restored in recent years, but it was one of many charming homes lining the waterfront of one of Hawaii’s most historically important towns. The historic structure on Front Street is the last house standing in a neighborhood reduced to rubble. The house at 271 Front St. in Lahaina survived a wildfire because of its metal roof, a lack of vegetation along its dripline, "and a lot of divine intervention," its owner says. These stones also provided protection from the fire because stones cannot combust in the way that grass or other plants can.

Alongside luck and potentially favorable winds, the renovations may be a key reason why the Front Street home is still standing, though none of the changes were made as a means of fire prevention. But more importantly, experts say the homeowners’ decision to replace the landscaping around the house with river stones may have also helped keep the flames at bay. The current homeowner told Civil Beat that he and his wife bought the property in 2021 and worked with the county on a historic preservation plan before starting a renovation project.

He now plans to turn the home into a base to help with rebuilding efforts. Mr Milliken said many around 20 local residents pitched in to help out with the project. He thanked many of them personally and said they are welcome to return when they can. Despite their guilt, the Millikin couple intends to help others in the area who weren’t lucky enough to keep their homes. Though they will not return to Lahaina until they are certain they won’t take any much-needed resources from survivors, Trip and Dora said they want to use their property as “a base” for those who need it. When a friend later showed the Millikins’ a photo of their house standing alone after the fire, surrounded by other not-so-lucky properties, their feelings were complicated.

Some people have also been confused by trees seen standing in Lahaina after the fire. Satellite imagery shows that while a few trees in the town remain standing, most have been burned. Fire resistance varies between trees, just like it does between houses. That has made photos of a house dubbed the “miracle house” all the more unbelievable. People on social media have questioned the authenticity of the photos and wondered why this house in particular would survive when all of its neighbors did not. Photos of the Aug. 8 and 9 wildfire that consumed Lahaina on Maui show a devastated town that looks almost entirely destroyed.

Miracle in Maui: SIXTY wildfire survivors were rescued from inside single house as death toll climbs to 106 an - Daily Mail

Miracle in Maui: SIXTY wildfire survivors were rescued from inside single house as death toll climbs to 106 an.

Posted: Wed, 16 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

I can’t wait till we can move in… We’re just very grateful for all of this,” she said. An additional 16 homes will be completed in July, for a total of 50 units. A family of four from Lahaina received keys on Tuesday to the very first home at the new Ke Ao Maluhia development at Maui Lani in Kahului. The development will serve as interim housing for Maui wildfire survivors. The video, captured at the Maui Bird Conservation Center, near Makawao, appears to show a bright flash in the woods at the exact time ten sensors recorded a significant incident in Hawaiian Electric's grid on August 7.

While homes with shingle or wood roofs are more likely to be destroyed in a fire, homes with metal, clay or tile roofs are more fire resistant. With the effects of climate change and sea level rise, even more of the burn zone is likely to be at risk over time. Still, Evans said the state wouldn’t likely impose a retreat from the coastal zone if the community didn’t want it.

“If shrubs and bushes, especially flammable ones, are right up next to the house and embers catch them on fire, the heat can burst the window and it goes right into the home from there,” she said. And they removed foliage that was up against the house — not because they were trying to reduce the risk of ignition, but because they were concerned about termites spreading to the wooden frame, she said. Their only nod toward disaster preparedness was to install hurricane ties, she added. In 2023, homeowners in especially climate-troubled states, like California and Arizona, have been urged to consider alternative lawns. These states rely on water resources that are often piped in from elsewhere, making water a precious and costly resource that should not be spent to care for non-native plants like many common lawn grasses. This solitary, red-roofed house highlights how many kinds of “greener” lawns can help keep homes safe from fire.

The retired couple were on holiday in Massachusetts when fires erupted on 8 August, and haven’t yet returned to Hawaii. The fires are considered the worst natural disaster in Hawaiian state history. Homeowners Trip Millikin and Dora Atwater Millikin told the local outlet Honolulu Civil Beat they purchased the property in 2021. As the Maui wildfires blazed through the town of Lahaina, Hawaii this month, the inferno created a trail of destruction and devastation, but it stopped short of one single home. Numerous questions remain, particularly related to commercial rebuilding. The law generally requires developments costing more than $500,000 to go through a lengthy SMA permitting process, including a public hearing where opponents can object to the project.