Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Thursday that her brother was one of thousands of people who lost their homes in the Palisades fire.
“The loss that you’re going through, I share indirectly,” Bass said at a meeting of the Pacific Palisades Community Council. “My brother lived in Malibu for 40 years, lived through many fires, evacuated many times – There was no escape this time. “
Bass and other elected officials were among about 1,000 people who attended a Zoom meeting for volunteer organizations.
The mayor – who was attending an embassy cocktail party in Ghana when the fire started – said her brother’s house was “my family home and we went there for the holidays.”
She said the loss of the home was “a shock and a sadness, it’s a trauma that will be with us for a long time.”
Los Angeles County District. Atty. Nathan Hochman said he also has a sibling who lost their home in Pacific Palisades.
He said his sister lived on Swarthmore Avenue. Her house was destroyed.
“With the wind blowing, it’s really an apocalyptic scenario with the fires continuing,” he said. “It’s a catastrophe. I thought I was seeing catastrophe in the ’90s when we were hit by fires, floods, Earthquakes and riots hit, and that pales in comparison to what I saw.”
Bass and other officials told residents – who are increasingly frustrated that they can’t access their homes in mandatory evacuation zones – that they hope to add access next week.
The forecast calls for heavy rain over the weekend. Bass issued an emergency executive order Tuesday that places burning areas of Los Angeles vulnerable to mudslides and debris flows.
For many evacuees, the incoming rain will only increase their desire to search homes for salvageable items before they are damaged by water.
During a Zoom meeting, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Traci Park, who represents Pacific Palisades, said hundreds of workers were in the area, closing down broken pipes, sweeping nails, clearing roads, clearing broken trees and inspecting homes.
She said she has been pushing for more access to the area, but everything is “still in emergency mode.”
She said fire-stricken communities were “a toxic mess right now” and incoming rains would complicate the situation.
Parker became emotional as she talked about her time in the devastated community.
“Personally, if I see a clay pot or a stone figurine and I can reach it, I leave it where I think your front door would be,” Parker said, fighting back tears. “So when you come back, there’s something familiar and not just a pile of ashes.
“I want you to know when you come back, it’s going to be hard to see your home and your community,” she added. “It’s mostly gone and the scale of the loss is certainly staggering. But we don’t want you to see it alone. And we don’t want you to feel unsupported.”
The park told residents they would see “a heavy presence of firefighters and city workers” when they are allowed back into the neighborhood.
