A Washington State man who said he “knew what he was getting into” when he bought land in an area where a wildfire was likely has survived the flames from the state’s worst wildfire with his home intact.

The home?  A concrete dome designed to survive mother nature’s fury.

John Belles had been at work 30 miles away from his home when a friend called to say the fire that has ravaged Okanogan County was closing in on his property.  Belles quickly returned home and shuttled vehicles away from his property and then prepared for the flames.

“The fire was getting close, in fact, there was a firefighter there at the time who got trapped inside when I shut the gate inadvertently,” Belles said to Good Morning America.

“I grabbed the hose, soaked my clothing down and doused the north side of the building as much as I could. [The fire] got close enough that it was super heated and getting uncomfortable out there in the smoke. I went inside, shut the door behind me and watched it move by.”

Belles said the flames roared through his property in about a minute.  He watched the flames through the windows of his concrete shell.

“The building survived as it’s supposed to. I was surprised the outside of the building didn’t have any damage at all. The whole 20 acres is just scorched.”