A 100-year-old white house with a red roof on the Hawaiian island of Maui is gaining popularity as it’s the only one to have survived the area’s blaze, and its owner thinks she knows why.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Dora Atwater Millikin explained that recent renovations may have spared her home from the blaze. Together with her husband, she decided to replace the asphalt roof with another thick metal roof.
There were 6- to 12-inch-long pieces of wood that were on fire and almost floating in the air from the wind and everything else, said whoever has owned the property for three years. The pieces hit the roofs of the houses and if the roof were made of asphalt, the house would catch fire.”
In addition, the addition of stones around the house, meant for aesthetics, became an important element of its resilience. Dora Atwater Millikin also cut the branches near her home.
The lack of neighbors in the immediate vicinity of the house is another factor that helped save the property, which, according to its owner, shows nothing special apart from these modifications.
“It’s a house that’s 100% wood, so it’s not like we made anything special,” she said.
Dora Atwater Millikin and her husband plan to return to Maui soon. She wants to open her doors to homeless neighbors.
“So many people have lost everything,” she said. We have to take care of each other and build back up. Everyone should do their bit.”
At least 114 people have died in the Maui fires.