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by dredmorbius 527 days ago
Something more substantive than an unsourced and undocumented photo would be more useful.
1 comments

The OP did share this link in the comments: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/building-forwar...
That would be a far superior submission.

It also provides a basis for substantive criticism. E.g., there are many claims advanced without any evidence or testing of those claims.

There are full-size structure tests under wildfire / WUI (wildland/urban interface) conditions. These are nontrivial and expensive. Findings are often nonintuitive.

I'd found some good videos previously, those aren't turning up for me presently, though this is a detailed discussion of the phenomenon:

<https://yewtu.be/watch?v=NRpVPhjGscA>

I'd be quite wary of either coincidental anecdotes (as Reddit discussion notes, there are several other surviving structures, apparently not Passivhaus designs), or speculative discussion of how a design might perform under actual wildfire conditions.

One example from the current fires is the Pasadena Jewish Center, which at first blush looks fairly robust: stucco or concrete construction, clay tile roof. But that structure burnt completely in the Eaton fire.

Story of the destruction here: <https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2025-01-08/pasadena-...>

I've found a few images of the structure previously, though those don't show much detail. The vulnerability of that specific building was surprising to me.