Two Homes Survive Santa Barbara Fires

It defies explanation. How can a devastating natural disaster take most homes, but leave some? Just like the home that survived Hurricane Ike down in Gilchrist, TX in September, there are two homes that survived the wildfire that swept through Santa Barbara, CA last week. According to a story in the Wall Street Journal this morning, “As California Neighborhood Burned, Two Little Houses Survived,”  the homes at 486 Conejo Road, Santa Barbara, CA and 498 Conejo Road, Santa Barbara, CA — shown in the screen capture above — remain standing while most others around them have been badly damaged or destroyed (see WSJ’s slideshow).

The 486 Conejo home (photo below) is listed for sale for $780k and it may now have proven its worth since it has survived the Sycamore Canyon Fire of 1977, a 1984 mudslide, El Nino rainstorms in 1998, and now the Santa Barbara fires of 2008. Area real estate agent Debbie Merlo said, “That darling house is in the hands of angels.”  Meanwhile, the home at 498 is owned by an amateur botanist who claims his decision to plant succulents and build a fireproof wall would be his best defense against the California wildfires that so often plague the region. No doubt his knowledge of plants will be tapped by fellow neighbors if and when they decide to rebuild.