Pacific Palisades resident Dave Harvilicz drove to the intersection of Brooktree Road and West Sunset Boulevard on Friday afternoon and caught a glimpse of The arrival of President Trump.
The intersection, blocked off by military Humvees and local police, is about a mile from the remains of the house on Mount Holyoke Avenue, one of hundreds destroyed by the Palisade Fire.
“We just wanted to thank him for coming and bringing attention to [to the fires],” said Harvilicz, 50.
Trump’s visit to Pacific Palisades, and the wreckage left by the Jan. 7 fire, was depressing but stimulating for some.
Harvilicz and his 6-year-old son Leo were among the few residents to see the president pass by. They said it was a helicopter and other military uniforms flew overhead.
On January 7, Harvilicz and his family fled to a friend’s house in Santa Monica. He said he and his wife expected to return home within days, but they still had not been cleared to enter the property.
“We’re trying to figure out what to do next,” he said, adding that his estimate was 18 months before his home would be cleared of debris by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Thursday night.
Trump surveyed the disaster on Friday and spoke with some residents who lost their homes. He said he was shocked by the destruction and vowed to work with local officials to help victims.
“We have to work together to really solve this problem,” Trump said during a meeting with Los Angeles officials. “I don’t think you realize … until you see how devastating it is. It’s incredible. It really is. It’s a kind of incineration.”
During the meeting, Trump engaged in a number of scams with local leaders, many of them Democrats. But he has repeatedly vowed to work with them to advance reconstruction efforts.
Ahead of the meeting, Trump publicly threatened to withhold federal aid from California in exchange for water management changes and the imposition of voter identification requirements.
But he struck a softer tone in the interview. He declared a national emergency, pledged to waive or speed up federal permits needed to rebuild, and made no mention of specific conditions for federal aid.
Harvilicz said he agrees with implementing voter ID for disaster assistance in the state. And, personally, he hopes Trump can help speed up the recovery process.
Harvilicz slung Leo over his shoulders, where the young man held up a poster that included a photo of Trump with his fist raised after he was shot and killed at a rally in Pennsylvania.
“I hope he meets us,” Harvilicz said.
