When Your Community Disappears Overnight

Processing destruction, loss and the complete annihilation of two beloved communities

The unpacked bag sits idly in my closet. Every once in a while I open it to take out a favorite sweater or pair of leggings, but I haven’t mustered up the courage to unpack it. It’s only been a week but it feels like it’s been staring at me for months.

Last Tuesday morning, I got a text from my friend, Jennifer, “Hey, I see lots of smoke up above Kristin’s house, maybe you should let her know.” Since I had been receiving high wind warnings on my phone all week, but not feeling panicked, I messaged Kristin to ask if she was aware. Less than two hours later, Kristin is calling me.

“It’s total chaos here in the Palisades. All of Sunset (the one main road through Pacific Palisades) is a parking lot. Cars can’t move on the roads. It’s total gridlock, so there’s no point driving. I’ve put together a small bag of things I could grab and I’m walking to the beach.”

We don’t live in the Palisades, but it is definitely the community which adopted us from the moment we first arrived in Los Angeles back in 2015. For our first six years here, we lived in Brentwood, which is just one city East of the Palisades. During Covid, we moved 10 miles East (as the crow flies, because traffic isn’t a good indicator of distance here in LA) to Sherman Oaks, which is in the valley. But almost all of our friends from the last ten years we’ve lived here reside in the Palisades. Our kids went to grade school and middle school in that area, played sports on those fields, had sleep overs in those friends homes, went to high schools and played on club sports teams with many, many of those kids.

I hike weekly in the Santa Monica mountains. In fact, during COVID, a little group of four of us moms, who couldn’t bare to sit inside another day, realized that even though our parks were closed, the streets weren’t. So we created our own little six mile route that we hiked religiously every Saturday and Sunday, without fail. Where else did we have to go? And for once, traffic wasn’t an issue. Hallelujah!

Our loop, which we still do (almost) weekly, takes us up to the top of Kenter (which backs onto Mandeville Canyon. If you were following the fires, you’ll remember that was what was last area to be contained) then over to Tigertail which essentially overlooks The Getty and faces due East to the 405 and Bel Air.

The Sunday prior to the Palisades fire starting, three of us were there putting in steps on our six mile route, with my white lab, Poppy, leading the way. Near the top is where the last big LA fire took out a dozen homes near Halloween 2019. For the longest time, we’d hike past those homes, charred to the ground and see the remnants of ghosts, witches and pumpkins. Today, nearly all of the homes have been rebuilt; bigger, stronger, more beautiful. But on this day, one last charred home stuck out to me. I happened to mention it, “Wow, I wonder why this is still in this condition. They must be fighting with their insurance or something.” Little did we realize that a mere 48hours later, my two dear friends would be experiencing 80-100mph winds that would have the same devastating effect on not only their two beautiful homes but nearly their entire community.

Over course of the last week, we’ve stayed vigilant. Between the two “big” fires, the Palisades fire and the Alta Dena/Eaton fire, there have also been some smaller fires closer to home including the Sunset fire in the Hollywood Hills and a fire which started within a home half a mile from us in Studio City. Thankfully the winds weren’t as strong and the incredible fire fighters battled it both on the ground and in the air, which apparently they don’t normally do in neighborhoods.

Like so many others, we have spent the last 10 days staring at our phones, obsessively refreshing the Watch Duty app, trying to get updated information about the fires, while sitting glued to the local news as they bravely covered the destruction, evacuations, looting and arson taking place 24/7 for a week solid, while checking on friends and updating loved ones on our own status.

While both of the two big fires (Palisades and Eaton) are contained, LA is still forecasted to get more high winds in the coming weeks. And with the scant rain we’ve had in the last several months, we are in a very precarious position that we may not get out of any time soon.

I’m so grateful for all who have checked on us and kept us in your prayers. I know our community will rebuild. It will be a long journey but we are up for the challenge.

Whatever I can do to support you, your team and our community, please reach out. Our kids have been through so much already with COVID, etc. I am here and not going any where. So grateful for you all.