“You can’t even see the sun because of the smoke”: The story of a Russian who escaped from the fires in Los Angeles A Russian from Los Angeles said that the cause of forest fires in California is hurricane winds 01/10/2025, 16:32

A fire broke out in Los Angeles

On January 7, my friends and I went to a Korean bathhouse in downtown Los Angeles. At the bathhouse, I learned that there was a fire in the coastal area of ​​Pacific Palisades, that celebrities’ homes were burned down, and that people were abandoning their cars and fleeing the city on foot. One of my friends was there: he left his car on the road when the fire began to approach (according to eyewitnesses, abandoned cars were pushed off the road by a bulldozer) and then he found out that his car was on fire. I have two friends who live in Pasadena, and they were both evacuated.

I hoped until the last moment that the fire would not reach Burbank, where my house is located. I was worried about hurricane winds causing the fire to spread very quickly. I turned off the road to return home; The highway was closed by the police because of a tree that fell on the road. Along the way I noticed many broken branches and parked cars on the roads. As I saw on the map later, the strongest hurricane wind was in our city.

It was said in the news that the reason for the spread of the fire was dry sunny weather, but in fact Due to hurricane winds, the fire reached the city very quickly. The weather is always dry in Los Angeles; Rain is quite rare here.

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Ringo Chiu/Reuters

Evacuation

I have two children aged 7 and 9, so I was starting to worry a lot. In the evening, he suggested his wife pack her belongings in case of an emergency evacuation. After a while, my wife and I received messages that school classes would be canceled on January 8. At the same time, we learned that our friends from Hollywood were left without electricity and internet – they sat without electricity for a day.

At 9:00 am on January 8, we received a call from our relatives living in the same complex as us and said that the situation was getting worse. They sent me a photo taken from the balcony where you can see the glow of the fire and the sun is completely covered in smoke. Then I remembered that I didn’t have enough gas in my car and went to a gas station to fill up the tank in case of evacuation. There was a huge line of cars at the gas station closest to my house, but I was able to refuel and chat with people. I learned from them that neighboring areas have already been evacuated, but ours has not been evacuated yet.

When I asked where I was going, he said, “To Las Vegas, where else?” they replied.. While waiting in line, I started shooting a video for my blog; The sun was almost invisible because of the smoke. There was a very strong wind, and as I was leaving the gas station, a huge tree branch fell on my hood. I saw neighbors with suitcases in the underground parking lot – people began to leave the city. I went home and told my wife it was time to go. It took us about an hour to get ready; We grabbed our documents and essential belongings, loaded ourselves into the car, and headed towards Las Vegas.

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Photo from Marcel L.’s personal archive

There are two exits along the highway: from Pasadena, where the fires are concentrated, and from San Fernando, where there are also fires. We also experienced the second one. We stood in traffic jam at the exit for about 40 minutes, but there are no traffic jams there at normal times. It was felt that people were in panic while these two kilometers were gone. There was a strong smoke smell, I had to turn off the air conditioner and windows. I later learned that the moment we left, the Hollywood Hills were on fire. So a new fire broke out quite far from both Pasadena and Pacific Palisades. That’s why I don’t regret leaving. Now my family and I are in Las Vegas. It’s scary that our stay here may be prolonged. Renting a hotel is not the cheapest pleasure.

There have been no forced evacuations in Burbank yet, but people have begun evacuating from parts of neighboring Glendale where there is no fire yet. I decided to leave early because in the event of a forced evacuation, the roads would collapse and hotels in nearby cities would be full. I know that There are so many accidents happening in Los Angeles right now.: Traffic lights do not work due to a power outage, and urban traffic becomes dangerous.

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David Swanson/Reuters

How do people react to fire?

There are people who panic: they cry, they rush away. But most remain calm. Our Russian-speaking neighbors stayed at home and said they would leave only in case of mandatory evacuation. My wife and I didn’t panic, but we were a little nervous and even got into a fight while packing our belongings.

Friends who work downtown say there’s a strong smell of smoke and cars look like they’re covered in dust from the fire. A friend of mine who works in West Hollywood sent me a video of the hill across the street from Sunset Boulevard on fire. Another friend of mine who works in Pasadena also sends videos of burning palm trees. I saw photos and videos on the internet Supposedly the letters of Hollywood are burning – it’s fake, there’s no fire on this hill.

Payments to victims and rescue services efforts

Many people write that insurance companies cannot cover the losses of those living in burned houses. But America is an insurance country. Therefore, I am sure that all insurance for fire victims will be paid. Maybe the state will help somewhere. It’s another matter if the house is not insured.

As for rescue services, I saw many rescue planes and helicopters trying to extinguish the fire. But in official news Firefighters admit they can’t cope – there are too many fires. If I’m not mistaken, on the morning of January 9, there were already five major outbreaks, and they were all in different regions. Volunteers help rescue teams. One of them is my Russian-speaking friend who is a tennis coach. I saw him load pallets of water into the car and go to distribute it to people.