Our Fire Story… Part I
(I took this picture at the beginning of our evacuation)
On Monday, January 6, 2025, I woke up feeling really sad.
I didn’t know why; nothing in particular had happened, but I just felt the weight of the world on my shoulders.
I meditated and still felt the same.
I walked Yves to school as I usually did every Monday, to the sweet Montessori he’d been attending since he was two, less than half a mile from home.
After he walked into class, I headed to do my Monday run along the bluffs, the same route I’d been doing every Monday for years and on various days and times for years before that. I began my warm up jog, but I just couldn’t find any speed as the run progressed. In fact not only did I feel incredibly slow, I felt so sad that I began to cry. I took a guess that maybe I was feeling sad about the Christmas break being over, or that Yves was back at school (he loves school;! I just miss him when he’s not with me!)
When I got home, Chris was there, having just finished up a call and he asked me if I was ok, to which I replied, I’m fine.
Still felt rather ‘blah’ but less so, after having run.
The day progressed; I ran a few errands and did some client work until it was time to pick Yves up from school.
I felt a bit better as we headed out on our daily walk with the dogs, a route we called ‘the Bella loop’ because one dog we’d see every day who lived on Bolinger was named Bella.
We’d done that walk every day since Yves was an infant, the dogs and I and him.
When we got home it was dinner time. I’d bought a lovely piece of wild halibut at our Sunday Market so I cooked that, along with a big heap of organic greens.
Business as usual at home; dinner, then we all headed downstairs to watch a film Yves had chosen, Harry Potter (for the umpteenth time).
Then.. bedtime.
The next morning, we drove to school for drop off as I was heading right to the Pali pool to swim. I checked him in and drove to the pool, but when I got to the iron gate, it was locked.
We’d seen a high wind advisory in affect but I hadn’t expected it would cause the pool to close, but sure enough, when I went back to the car to check my phone, I saw an email from the aquatic director stating just that – the pool had been closed due to possible dangerous conditions.
Mildly annoyed, I shifted gears and headed to a class at Camp Yoga.
I ran an errand on the way and got to class in time to sit for a few minutes).
After class, I began the short drive home. As I turned right on Lincoln out of the Camp parking lot, I saw a horrible plume of black smoke up ahead right over the mountains, amidst the clear blue sky.
I called the school; the admin answered and said they were keeping the kids inside due to smoky conditions but so far, they’d not received any warning or notice from the fire department.
I messaged Chris, at home on a call and he said he saw it as well and that there seemed to be smoke also coming from Bienveneda (the street close to ours at the bottom).
Within a few minutes, I received a notice from the school asking all parents to come pick their kids up immediately.
I called Chris, told him I was picking up Yves and circling back to the house.
Fortunately, the dogs were out on a group hike, so I messaged the walker and asked if he could please keep them and he said yes.
We zipped inside and thew some things in a large duffle bag. I began to pack more clothing and then thought to myself, “:his is silly; we’ll be back on Thursday! Don’t overpack like you always do! “
We were out in eight minutes.
In the time that had transpired since I’d gotten home, there was a long line of cars going all the way down our street, Akron and backed up all along the street above, Lachman.
We piled into my car, and Chris backed up to the street parallel to ours, Las Casas which was empty, so we got to Sunset right away and then… back up going in each direction.
We took a guess and headed West on Sunset, since it’s closer to PCH as the crow flies, but no one was moving at all.
We waited for a bit, then seeing the fire coming down Palisades Drive, busted an illegal U-turn and sat still in the other direction.
For hours, literally.
The sky was growing dark.
Winds were picking up and things were starting to fall on the car.
We had to keep the windows up due to the smoke outside and we began to question whether or not we should consider abandoning our car on foot.
I had the blessing of being on the phone with my dear friend who is a captain at Culver City Fire Department who advised me NOT to leave the car and to stay the course.
Yves stayed cool as a cuke; knowing he was with us kept me in check as I knew he’d vibe off the energy I was putting out, so staying calm was imperative.
Four hours later we got to PCH (this is a one mile trip) heading south to the hotel I’d booked in Manhattan Beach, going off my gut feeling that a hotel in Santa Monica would not be far enough away.
To Be Continued…
