STORY: Amid rows of homes reduced to piles of ash by the Palisades Fire, stands a house that held out against the flames and smoke that scorched northwest Los Angeles last week.It belongs to avid environmentalists Dr. Karina Maher and her husband Michael Kovac, an architect who designed the building with an emphasis on sustainability and wildfire resilience.:: Michael KovacKovac and Maher fled their home when the fire started last week and watched remotely as their security cameras captured the fire drawing near. “Here's the house that's in a happier time. The day before. And then the first time we see fire, big fire in the background is just three hours later.” Eventually the power went out, leaving the fate of their home in the dark.After the fire had passed through the area, photos of the destruction began to appear online. In the background of a photo of their neighbor’s destroyed home, the couple saw their home standing intact. The sight brought mixed feelings for Maher. “It really does look like an apocalypse or a war zone, with everything and ash and rubble and still fire smoldering and smoking and burning, and seeing our house standing there. So there is a bit, I guess, of survivor's guilt, if you want to use that term. And I mean, we're proud and happy that our efforts paid off. But we never imagined a scene so stark as this.” Some of the features that the pair believe helped save their home include fire-resistant cladding, a planted roof, and sprinkler nozzles that disperse fire retardant on-command. In addition, they incorporated what is called ‘defensive space’ around their home. That minimizes the risk of flames jumping from one structure to the next. “Building, designing the house so close to nature and knowing the history of Southern California, we were acutely aware that, at some point in the house's life, there would be a serious fire, you know, nearby at the very least. And so we designed the house to be both fire resilient and sustainable. And happily, those two systems are often one in the same." The Palisades Fire is one of many to ravage Los Angeles in the past week, leaving at least two dozen dead and an estimated 12,000 structures damaged or destroyed.The firestorm is already the costliest in U.S. history in terms of insured losses. A Herculean rebuilding effort lies ahead, likely to cost billions of dollars. As that recovery begins, Kovac and Maher hope that society will take seriously the threats of climate change and extreme weather events and come up with smarter, realistic solutions. “You know, we're not going to turn the climate ship around any time soon. So in the meantime, whether it's dealing with floods in the Southeast, or hurricanes, or wildfires in California, we have to be realistic about what the threats are and design accordingly.”