The Fires This Time

By W. F. Twyman, Jr.

[Introduction: On this day of National Mourning for the passing of President Jimmy Carter, many of us in the Southland of California are reminded of the important things in life. One day the skies are sunny and the temperature is a balmy 69 degrees in the middle of winter. Life is good and carefree. Twenty four hours later, one is fleeing from one’s home along canyon roads in the Pacific Palisades. Everyone is affected, whether you be Michael Bowen with Free Black Thought (stay safe Michael while doing good), my office colleagues in downtown Los Angeles surrounded by hazardous soot and particles in the air or a young woman in upstate New York concerned for her affluent friends who call West LA home.

Fires are part of the human bargain in these parts of the West Coast. In exchange for palm trees, sandy beaches and ocean views, one accepts the fire bell in the night. There is no deep meaning in the random spark of tragedy. We evacuate our homes when ordered. If we are considerate and forward thinking, we do not abandon our white Benz on a narrow canyon road. We do not remain within spitting distance of raging flames for social media clicks. We grab baby pictures and essential valuables and high tail it out of the canyons.

There will be time to criticize an American Mayor in Ghana while her American city burned. Investigations will reveal why there was no water in fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades. Commissions one day will assess whether the smelt fish was more important than thousands of destroyed homes. One day….]

Abandoned Cars on Canyon Roads as People Run for Their Lives

On Tuesday at 5:00 p.m., I saw the above image in my news feed. That old familiar fear of the fire this time returned. The neighborhood was Pacific Palisades, a place my wife and I have been to a few times. Family members belong to a theatre company in the area. “Cars abandoned as residents evacuated from Pacific Palisades,” I told my wife in a text. “Why? What’s going on?” she asked. When we think of Pacific Palisades, we think of our family — a young Shakespearean actor, his young wife who works for a church, and their baby boy who just turned one. They live near the area and work up in the canyons.

Of course, they were fine. I was sure of it. I told my wife a single word that said it all — “Wildfires.”

Yesterday, I had forgotten about the abandoned cars…until I checked my news feed. The news was horrific. “City of Malibu Urges Evacuation Preparedness Due to Palisades Fire,” “All Residents Not Under Orders Should be Prepared to Evacuate,” “Malibu urges all resides not under evacuation orders prepare to leave.” “#PalisadesFire is uncontained, fueled by Santa Ana winds. Evacuate now…”

There are two ways out of Malibu. Either you flee through the canyons on a narrow hilly road or you hug the Pacific Coast Highway along the ocean to safety. That is it! Our family has pleasant memories of Malibu, the roadside restaurants and sandy beaches and ocean views. We always put the threat of a raging wildfire out of our minds when in Malibu. Otherwise, one could not function in Malibu or southern California for that matter. Michael will appreciate my psychological point.

I for one felt a pit in my stomach as I read the evacuation orders. I immediately sent the text to my wife and daughter. I told my wife the fires were zero percent contained. “That’s terrible!” she replied.

My daughter knows Malibu and Pacific Palisades. She replied “So scary!! I have friends in LA right now.”

Fear morphed into outrage for me as I learned that the fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades did not have water. Allow me to repeat — the worst fire in LA history and the fire hydrants did not have water.

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Every now and then, one reads about white privilege. They say white privilege is a thing. I am a color indifferent kind of guy, you know. And yet I wonder how those of dogma and slogan words will understand this human calamity.

Those of power include the black female mayor and black female diversity trainers for the LA Fire Department and the Human Rights Commission.

In the other corner, we have the victims who have lost their homes, their everything. These people of white privilege whose homes are ashes and embers include the following:

Paris Hilton — Malibu beachfront home destroyed

Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt — home incinerated

Leighton Meester and Adam Brody — five-bedroom house in Pacific Palisades extinguished

Anna Faris — Pacific Palisades home is debris and ash this morning

Miles Teller — well, the front gate remains standing but nothing else. Another Pacific Palisades home burned to the ground

Eugene Levy — This star of “Schitt's Creek” lost his Pacific Palisades home. Only wooden posts now stand this morning.

Anthony Hopkins — This star’s home in Pacific Palisades is now a pile of debris

Billy Crystal — Pacific Palisades home gone, although the tennis court remains

John Goodman — home is now ashes

Cameron Mathison — “We are safe…Our home where our kids were raised and where they wanted to raise their children someday.” No more.

Codie Smulders — Pacific Palisades home consumed by fire

Diane Warren — Beach house of thirty years gone

Cary Elwes — home burned to the ground

Tom Hanks — his childhood neighborhood in Pacific Palisades burned up in flames

Ricki Lane — dream home in the canyons gone

Sandra Lee — home is gone. She cried all night

James Wood — neighbor’s home gone

Maria Shriver — “Everything is gone…Our neighborhood, our restaurants. All our friends have lost everything. We have evacuated, but are safe. But people have lost everything.”

Conclusion: Within a day or two, life can change forever. No one is privileged from human loss. At least five people have lost their lives and thousands have lost their homes. Tens of thousands will never trust the Santa Ana winds again. Out of this great tragedy beyond comprehension let us comfort those who survived, give thanks for the many whom providence blessed with life, and a shout out to Michael and his LA family.

And one more thing — our family and friends are safe in West LA this morning.