Deciding to Rebuild After a Fire Is Just the First Step

To step into Barbara Ferris’s new house, you have to first grapple with what took out the old one. A charred black curve of eucalyptus arcs up the front door—it’s a handle but also a piece of the neighbor’s tree, which exploded in the November 2018 Woolsey wildfire. The fire first sparked 17 miles northeast, then burned all the way here, to the Ferrises’ front door on Point Dume in Malibu.

It is a strong metaphor and constant reminder: You have to walk through the char to get to this. "It reminds me every time I touch it," says Barbara. "What happened on the other side of that is we got a beautiful house."

Barbara and her husband, Steven, had lived for 23 years and raised three children in their 1957 ranch house. This part of Malibu was, for decades, "the neighborhood that never burned," until Woolsey tore through nearly 100,000 acres, hopping two highways and burning down to the kelp on the Pacific beaches. The Ferrises’ street was devastated, nearly all of the homes destroyed. To date, less than a quarter of the homes lost in Malibu have been rebuilt.

Veteran firefighters called Woolsey a "once in a lifetime event," but the Ferrises aren’t taking chances. The new house has the same footprint, swimming pool, and sweeping canyon views as the old, but this one is ready for fire, outfitted with a thermoplastic membrane roof; fiber cement siding on top of another layer of fire-resistant exterior material; perimeter hardscape; flush aluminum, double-pane windows; and no gutters to fill with dry kindling.