Owner of ‘last house standing’ in Malibu reveals how his $9 million mansion survived Los Angeles wildfires

The owner of a nearly $9 million mansion dubbed the “last house standing” is speaking out on how it survived the Los Angeles wildfires. David Steiner is a retired waste-management executive who hails from Texas. When the flames engulfed his luxury home in Malibu, the father-of-three thought the worst but was beyond relieved when the “miracle” happened.

The owner of the ‘last house standing’ in Malibu speaks out on how his $9 million mansion survived the Los Angeles fire

Owner of Malibu home that survived LA wildfires speaks out

“It’s a miracle — miracles never cease,” the 64-year-old said of his Malibu property surviving the Palisades fire that has destroyed more than 10,000 homes and other structures. Steiner said that when his contractor told him that the blaze had engulfed his home and the neighbouring buildings, he thought “nothing could have possibly survived that.” “And I thought we had lost the house,” he told New York Post.

However, when the flames died down, the three-storey structure miraculously stood tall next to other buildings that were reduced to ashes. People soon began contacting him, saying, “Your house is all over the news.” “I started getting pictures and realized we had made it through,” Steiner said. The New Orleans native admitted that when his wife sent him “something this morning that said, ‘Last house standing’…. it brought a pretty big smile to my face at a pretty bad time.”

The former head of Houston-based company Waste Management, Inc. believes that his property’s sturdy construction, designed to protect it from earthquakes, saved it from the deadly fires that have forced nearly 130,000 people to evacuate their homes. “It’s stucco and stone with a fireproof roof,’’ Steiner said, adding that the building’s pilings go “like 50 feet into the bedrock.”

“To be totally honest with you, I never in a million years thought a wildfire would jump to the Pacific Coast Highway and start a fire,” Steiner continued. “I thought, ‘If we ever have an earthquake, this would be the last thing to go.’ I honestly didn’t think that if we had a fire, this would be the last thing to go. And it was,” the businessman added.

Steiner bought the 4,200-square-foot, four-bedroom home from a producer. Since it did not serve as his family home, he denied “prayers” from his well-wishers, saying, “Don’t pray for me — what I lost is material goods… I lost a property, but others lost their homes.” “My heart goes out to those who lost their homes,” he added.