David Steiner, a retired waste-management businessman, saw his white three-story home mansion remain intact in Malibu despite his neighbours’ homes around him succumbing to the devastating wildfires

A “miracle” £8million Malibu house remarkably survived the deadly LA wildfires – as his neighbours’ homes succumbed to the deadly inferno.

Incredibly, the mansion of David Steiner, a retired waste-management businessman, saw his white three-story home remain intact despite the neighbours’ homes around him falling victim to the fires.

The 4,200-square foot, four-bed home standing defiantly was no accident, according to Steiner, who said the property was built to withstand earthquakes. He revealed it has stucco and stone walls, a fireproof roof, and pilings driven 50ft into bedrock to help withstand the surf below.

“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 told The New York Post on Friday.

David Steiner, president and chief executive officer of Waste Management

“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. The architecture is pretty nice. But the stucco and fireproof roof are real nice.”

Steiner, who is from Texas, said it was a complete shock to find his home had managed to survive the wildfires and believed it would have succumbed to the flames like many other homes. “It’s a miracle – miracles never cease,” he said.

In this aerial view taken from a helicopter, burned homes are seen from above during the Palisades fire in Malibu ( 
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)
The 64-year-old was getting updates about his home when he was sent a video from a local contractor who had been monitoring the fire. The video showed flames at the edges of Steiner’s home, which was vacant at the time, having already burnt down his neighbours’ homes.

‘[The contractor] was watching the news reports and saw my neighbour’s house going down and told me, ‘It looks like your house is going, too,’ Steiner recalled. “It looked like nothing could have possibly survived that, and I thought we had lost the house,” he said.

Massive wildfires engufled the homes of Malibu ( 
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)

People had started to contact Steiner and said his home was “all over the news” but remarkably when photos started to emerge his home was still standing, surronded by the debris. “I started getting pictures and realized we had made it through,” he said.

Steiner said he started getting calls and texts from friends following the devastating fires but he was quick to downplay the luck. “It wasn’t a happy time, but I can replace it. It’s not a person”, he said. ‘I was getting texts from people saying, ‘We’re praying for you. It’s so horrible”. ‘I said, “Don’t pray for me – what I lost is material goods.” … I lost a property, but others lost their homes.”

Although the Malibu home is signifcant it is not his main family home. “I didn’t have my family’s mementos there,’ he noted, adding, ‘My heart truly goes out to those who lost everything.

“My wife sent me something this morning that said, “Last house standing,” he shared, ‘and it brought a pretty big smile to my face at a pretty bad time,’ he said.