It is interesting to look at the houses that didn't burn.
It is also interesting to note that most of the houses there were over 50 years old, and made out of wood, with eaves that were almost designed to catch embers and bring them inside.
With stucco walls and asphalt shingles. These were tinder boxes waiting to combust.
Chalk another one up to making things cheap, because that is all we can afford.
That's a solid video covering the principles of fire-resistant design with those examples from L.A.