Eaton Fire victim is rebuilding his Altadena home with fire-resistant panels in walls

ALTADENA, Calif. (KABC) -- The two-story home that Mason Levy purchased in Altadena was among the thousands that were destroyed in January's Eaton Fire.

Ten months after the wildfire, he's one of the local residents beginning to see his home rebuilt.

"It's been hard and sad, but I tried to move on it as quickly as I could," Levy, who grew up in Altadena, said in an interview with ABC7.

When he learned about a house that survived the Palisades Fire, he got in touch with its architect, Greg Chasen, who credits luck and some design choices.

"We're repeating some of those strategies here for this house in Altadena," Chasen said, adding that its more important to build in a way that's more fire-resistant, even beyond current code in wildland urban interface zones. Levy's new home, for example is being built with a metal roof.

The fire protection practices include "making your home better sealed against outdoor air and smoke, more fire-resistant in terms of having rated fire-resistant wall assemblies," Chasen said.

And they're incorporating panels with fire-resistant technology designed by the materials science company Arclin. The panels have been in the market for about a year.

"To put it simply, compared to a regular wall assembly, when you use this panel in place of other FRT which are fire resistant, is you'll get about a 50% longer protective time, or burn time," Brent Albright, a senior market development manager at Arclin, told ABC7.

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For Levy, it was a necessary investment.

"It's probably 15-to-20% more, and to have a fire-rated wall that can last over 60 minutes is nice," he said.

The panels will be used on his home and music studio. He looks forward to spending time there when the rebuild is completed, hopefully this summer.

Levy admits it's been a challenging process, one that many are still deciding whether or not to step into.

"Totally understand when people don't want to do it, but if you do, I think there is light at the end of the tunnel," he said.