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The owner of a "miracle" Malibu mansion spoke publicly after the house went viral for surviving the devastating Palisades Fire.
Retired waste-management executive David Steiner told the New York Post that he believes his home's construction designed to protect it from earthquakes saved it from the fire, which has been deemed as the most destructive to ever hit California.
“It’s stucco and stone with a fireproof roof,’’ Steiner said, adding that it also includes pilings “like 50 feet into the bedrock’’ to keep it steady from the crashing of powerful waves into the seawall below the structure.
Steiner, 64, of Texas, said he expected his $9 million, three-story home -- which was vacant at the time -- to be destroyed after a local contractor sent him a video of his and his neighbors' properties engulfed in flames last Tuesday (January 7).
“[The contractor] was watching the news reports and saw my neighbor’s house going down and told me, ‘It looks like your house is going, too,’’’ Steiner said.
“It looked like nothing could have possibly survived that, and I thought we had lost the house," he added.
But the house managed to make it through the fire and was shown "all over the news" as it stood in the middle of charred smoking remains in the multimillion-dollar neighborhood.
“I started getting pictures and realized we had made it through,’’ Steiner told the New York Post. “My wife sent me something this morning that said, ‘Last house standing.'” And it brought a pretty big smile to my face at a pretty bad time.”