Our Fire Story: Part II

(Our home of 16 years, shown a few days after the fire burned it to ashes.)

As we drove down to Temescal, looking straight ahead at the beach, it looked like clear blue skies.

To our right, not too far off in the distance, smoke and flames seemed only minutes from engulfing Pali High (it would be hours before that actually occurred).

While we had been waiting on Sunset, I called a hotel I was familiar with in Manhattan Beach to make a reservation and fortunately, at that time there were a few rooms left.

Something in my gut just told me that a hotel in Santa Monica would not be far South enough and sure enough, many friends and neighbors who did book in to that area ended up having to evacuate one, if not two, more times.

As we drove further South, the roads began to open and it almost seemed as if we’d left all the horror behind.

Upon arriving in South Bay, I began to feel much more calm. I’d spend so much time during college in and around Manhattan, which was quite comforting.

In fact, a little over five years ago, in the fall of 2019, we evacuated to the very same hotel.

AT 5am on October 21, 2019, a small brush fire ignited in Pacific Palisades. Chris was traveling on business, Yves was 5 months old.

The same friend who I’d mentioned, Captain Dobbs in Culver City, called me and said, you need to leave now.

A formal evacuation had not been issued, but I wasn’t going to chance it. Our dog walker called moments later asking if he could help by picking up our dogs to keep with him in Venice, which I gladly accepted.

Yves and I checked in to Shade Hotel and in retrospect, that experience was nothing compared to what we’ve all just gone through.

That fire burned 42 acres (17 hectares) within a few hours, forcing the evacuation of 200 homes.

I don’t believe many neighbors even left, and we were able to return safely the next afternoon.

Back to this fire…

We checked in and I was finally able to shower (you can imagine how much I needed one- having gone to yoga, gotten all sweaty, then sat in a smoky car for four hours!)

Our collective mood at that point was still rather positive. We’ve both trained ourselves extensively on the impact of positive mindset and we both chose to believe our home would be fine, as would our entire neighborhood.

We learned of two different apps that were supposed to be helpful in tracking where the fire was and which houses were in danger; we later learned the speed of the fire was one that neither app would have been able to keep up with.

Admittedly, we were all far too glued to our devices; Chris and I on our phones, tracking the fire and messaging with neighbors, and Yves, on the iPad. We made a huge compromise in how much time he was allowed. Think it’s safe to say it was kind of an act of desperation!

We went to bed around 9:30. I slept fairly well that night, didn’t wake up, fully assuming we’d awaken to great news that the fire had been halted and our homes were safe.

We woke around 6 and Chris walked across the street to Peet’s for our familiar morning coffee.

While he was gone, I received a message from one of our neighbors, five houses up the street.

7:20 AM January 8, 2025

NEIGHBOR: I’m in shock, Nell, I don’t know if our homes are still standing.
ME: I don’t have any news either.
NEIGHBOR: I have video. Driving up our street. Do you want it?
ME: Oh My God, yes.
NEIGHBOR: Prepare yourself, Nell; is Chris with you?
ME: He’s outside, please send it

And there it was.

It turned out many of our neighbors stayed far longer than the evacuation order was issued and one had taken a video going from the bottom of our street, Akron, where it meets Beinveneda, all the way to the top where it meets Lachman.

The street was so unrecognizable, in all honestly, the first time I watched it, I thought our home was still standing!

There was still smoke everywhere, and burning fire.

Keep in mind this was almost 24 hours after the fire had begun.

(I later found out from the same neighbor who chose to stay back to try to save his home up the street that as of 11 pm on the 7th, (13 hours after the fire started) our home was untouched. That he saw a firetruck right outside our house with four firefighters sitting inside, who explained they could not do anything because THERE WAS NO WATER. There is a fire station 1 mile away. Another lifetime ago, when a neighbor had a medical emergency and called 911, EMTS from that same station were there in 4 minutes, to give it some context.)

I showed the video to Chris. He looked at me and told me our house is gone. I said no, it wasn’t. Selective vision? Who knows.

We didn’t tell Yves right away. We all went out on a walk along the beach. Sipping coffee, moving in a stupor. The blessing of having Yves with us was one without which I cannot even begin to imagine how we would have held it together.

A few more hours passed and early that afternoon, we sat down and told Yves we needed to tell him something,

Our house burned to the ground.

He screamed.

We all broke down, sobbing.

He said he was scared.

Where would we live?

Did that mean we were homeless?

We explained the difference between being ‘ a homeless person / family ‘ compared to our situation.

Most importantly, we were all safe. Including the dogs. And while we were displaced, we would rebuild. And that it’s ok and normal to feel sad and even angry and we will all get through this together.

He stooped crying and within 10 minutes, wanted to go play at the beach.

For the rest of that day and into the next, I felt like time was transfixed. I was moving on autopilot, in a complete stupor.

The next day, we decided to take one small action – and do a little shopping. After all, we’d left with little more than the clothes on our backs! We drove up to Brentwood and bought some basics for the three of us. That was our first experience in seeing the generosity that this disastrous situation brought forth.

First Stop: James Perse (anyone who knows me knows this designer is my favorite for what I wear on a daily basis). They offered us 40% and to this day, to my knowledge, they’re still doing this for customers in their database (and maybe beyond?) who lost their homes.

Aside from that, we kept it simple. None of us had extra underwear, socks, shoes….and from that day forth, any place we went was willing to bend over backward to help.

And not just businesses – friends, and complete strangers. People we hadn’t spoken with in years reached out to send their blessings and love.

So in the midst of the complete nightmare of losing everything, the bright light that shone through was the beautiful way in which everyone in the community (immediate and beyond) stepped up to support and help in any way they could.

To be continued………