The Getty Villa survived LA’s firestorms while everything around it burned, revealing a key lesson for homeowners

• The Palisades and Eaton Fires have razed thousands of homes and burned tens of thousands of acres.
• Some buildings have survived though, like the Getty Villa art museum in Pacific Palisades.
• The Villa isn’t your average home, but homeowners can learn from what Getty staff have been doing all year.

As the Palisades and Eaton Fires burned through thousands of acres on Tuesday, razing nearly 2,000 homes, the iconic Getty Villa remained standing with minor damage. Meanwhile, homes and trees around it went up in flames.

“We deeply appreciate the tireless work and dedication of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles County Fire Department, and other agencies,” the museum said in a statement Wednesday morning.

The Getty Villa is part of the J. Paul Getty Trust, which includes the largest endowment of any museum in the world, estimated at more than $8 billion in 2023. It houses the Trust’s collection of Ancient Greek and Roman art.

Fire departments used “state-of-the-art air handling systems” to help protect the building, President and CEO of the Getty Trust, Katherine E. Fleming, told USA Today.

Moreover, builders designed the galleries with double-walled construction, which also helped protect the precious art inside.

However, it wasn’t just expensive architecture and state-of-the-art firefighting that helped. Getty staff have been consistently clearing brush from the surrounding area all year as part of its fire mitigation efforts, the museum said.

That is a crucial lesson for homeowners in fire-risk areas.

Yard work to save your home

The Palisades Fire has become the most destructive ever to hit Los Angeles, CNN reported, citing CalFire data.

One reason is abundant rainfall over the past two winters, which spurred an explosion of grasses and brush that dried out as virtually no rain fell over the last few months.

Cities, fire departments, and community members can proactively clear dried grasslands around residential areas.

Even individual homeowners can protect their properties by clearing a five-foot perimeter around their house, removing flammable materials like ornamental plants, bark mulch, or deck furniture.

“This is an urban fire. We’re burning urban fuels,” said Pat Durland, a wildfire-mitigation specialist and instructor for the National Fire Protection Association with 30 years of federal wildfire management experience.

Keeping gutters and roofs clear can also prevent the spot ignitions that send entire structures up in flames.

“People believe that they’re helpless,” Durland told Business Insider in 2023. But they’re not, he insisted: “Nine out of 10 times, this boils down to two words: yard work.”

Homeowners can also install non-combustible 1/8-inch mesh screening on any vents to a crawl space or attic, to prevent embers from entering the home through those routes.

“You are where the rubber meets the road. The things you do on your house and around your house are going to make the difference,” Durland said.