As wildfires tore through Southern California, a quick-thinking car collector found an unlikely safe haven for his valuable vehicle collection in a McDonald’s parking lot, using the large paved area as a firebreak that protected the cars from the flames that destroyed so much around them. The improvised solution, born of desperation as the fires approached, proved effective at saving an expensive collection that would otherwise have been lost, and the story has resonated as an example of the resourcefulness that disaster situations sometimes demand. The McDonald’s parking lot’s large expanse of fire-resistant pavement provided exactly the kind of defensible space that vehicles need to survive an approaching wildfire.
Wildfire survival for vehicles, as for structures, often comes down to defensible space — areas clear of the flammable vegetation and materials that allow fire to spread and intensify. A large paved parking lot provides natural protection by creating distance from combustible materials, and the collector’s recognition of this principle under pressure saved his collection. The story illustrates both the devastating reach of the California wildfires and the difference that quick thinking and an understanding of fire behavior can make in protecting valuable property during these increasingly common disasters.
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