What saved the miracle house in Lahaina? Owner reveals vital factor behind home's survival from wildfires

On August 8, a devastating wildfire broke out on the second largest island in the US state of Hawaii called Maui. Currently, most of Maui stands completely destroyed, especially the historic town of Lahaina, where the current death toll is 114, and more than 1300 people remain unaccounted for. The wildfire is reported to have wrecked more than 3000 homes and land properties worth $3.2 billion.

The internet is filled with images and videos of the burned town, with people all over the world grieving Hawaii’s largest and most destructive wildfire in history. In the wake of the catastrophe, a picture has gone viral that shows a house standing tall in the middle of the wreckage, untouched by the blazes. It’s a white house with a red roof and a tiny porch in front.

While the entire area around the house, located in Lahaina’s famous Front Street, has been scorched to the ground, this two-storeyed residence is seen standing in its original condition, completely undamaged. In fact, netizens have given it the name of “miracle house.”

According to its owners, the house may have been spared from the flames because of its heavy-gauge metal roof and lack of foliage around it.

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Lahaina’s "miracle house" was not intentionally fire-proofed

In Lahaina’s elite residential area Front Street, a house now stands in sharp contrast to its burned surroundings. As per the images that have gone viral, the white house with a red roof appears to have been completely saved from the Maui fires.

While the internet believed for a while that the photograph of the property was digitally altered, its owners Dora Atwater Millikin and her husband, Dudley Long Millikin III, divulged the facts to the Los Angeles Times, saying that their home at 271 Front Street, was indeed untouched by the devastating fire.

Mrs. Millikin told the news outlet how they were devastated to have lost neighbors in the calamity and were even full of guilt emotions, but considered herself and her husband lucky that their holy abode survived the flames.

“It’s a 100 percent wood house; so it’s not like we fireproofed it or anything,” Mrs. Millikin said.

So, how did the $4 million house get saved? The owners believe it has to do with their recently changed roof. Previously, their house had an asphalt roof, but only a few months back, with the onset of summer and the wildfire season, they replaced it with heavy-gauge commercial-grade steel.

The couple also explained how a roof is a key factor that contributes to the flammability of a house, as it serves as a huge landing pad for falling embers. The house, which is made from California redwood, is also believed to have natural fire-resistant properties.

Apart from changing the roof, the Millikins also cut down on foliage surrounding their residence to lower the risk of termite attack on the wooden house. They surrounded the house with river stones to further prevent water damage. The duo believes that although none of these alterations were done keeping fireproofing in mind, these factors ultimately saved their house from getting ruined beyond repair.

In fact, there was nothing combustible within five feet of the house (considered an ember ignition zone), as per a recent inspection by Maui County and reported by Honolulu Civil Beat. Mrs. Millikin also added how they keep changing the house's structure every now and then as a form of maintenance and renovation.

“We love old buildings, so we just wanted to honor the building, and we didn’t change the building in any way – we just restored it,” she told the LA Times.

The couple, who was visiting their extended family in Massachusetts during the fire, also presumed that the houses with asphalt roofs caught fire when pieces of wood were flying around due to strong winds. Or, they would hit the road and ignite the foliage around the house. Fortunately, none of these happened with their house.

Mr. and Mrs. Millikin have lived in Maui for the last decade but purchased the “miracle house” two years ago during the Covid-19 lockdown. While the man is a retired portfolio manager, his wife is an artist. They first learned that their house was saved when the Maui County office called them.

Interestingly, the house is originally 100 years old and is known by the name of Pioneer Mill Co. or the Lahaina Ice Co. Bookkeeper’s House. It is believed to have been moved to Lahaina’s Front Street in 1925 from a local plantation. For years, it was used as a home for management-level employees before the Millkins bought it and engaged in a two-year-long restoration project before moving in.

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