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Comment by crazynick4 | Hacker News Reader

I didn't notice anyone mention shipping container homes. If built with fireproofing in mind (ie the builder refrains from adding any flammable materials to the outside walls), I'd imagine they'd be fairly impervious by default.

Granted, they're not very pretty 'by default' (although they can be made so and still remain flame-proof) but as far as practicality/value/safety goes, that is what I would do if I was buying/building a home in a place like CA.

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I'm not sure what "fairly impervious" means but this article looks interesting:

“We know from the experience of the 2009 Victorian bushfires that some people did perish in what they thought were bushfire shelters that they’d built themselves. Whether it was secondary to a wine cellar or it was some sort of building container, shipping container, they died. And it wasn’t necessarily they died because of fire; they suffocated. The oxygen was extracted out of the bunker because it wasn’t air-tight or the heat essentially killed them.”

https://www.gatewaycontainersales.com.au/shipping-containers...

Right, I should have been more specific, you definitely wouldn't want to stay inside if there is a fire outside in hopes that it will insulate you, the containers are definitely not air tight.

What I meant is that the interior of the house would have been protected from burning up, so any inanimate things inside would have been safe.

Right, you would definitely want some oxygen candles if you were trying to hunker down and ride out a fire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_oxygen_generator

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