SINGAPORE: Singaporean Shabnam Melwani was driving from the gym to her home in Los Angeles on Tuesday (Jan 7) morning when she noticed ashes flying in the air.
The sky, which had been bright and sunny when she left for the gym two hours ago, started to darken. In the distance, she could see a thick cloud of smoke. She had to keep stopping her vehicle to make way for the fire trucks as they rushed towards the Pacific Palisades area, where she lives.
Fire trucks rushing towards the Pacific Palisades area. Behind the trucks, a thick cloud of smoke is visible. (Photo: Shabnam Melwani)
The Palisades fire is the largest of several blazes that have swept across city suburbs in Los Angeles.
Tens of thousands of residents have been forced to flee their homes and thousands of structures have been destroyed by the fast-moving fires.
The rapidly changing situation has also been compounded by Santa Ana winds and extremely dry conditions.
“I was a big bag of emotions … I was in shock, fearful but at the same time, it felt surreal, and I couldn’t believe this was actually happening,” said the 55-year-old business owner who has been living in the US for the past five years.
“The whole area was full of fire trucks, and they were telling us to quickly pack up and go,” she said.
“We basically had 10 minutes to just grab what we could get and leave.”
Together with her two sons – aged 13 and 22 – she drove to the Santa Monica area, which is about 20 minutes away from the Pacific Palisades. The trio are currently staying with Ms Shabnam’s cousin.
Likening the air quality somewhat to the Southeast Asian haze crisis in 2015, she said: “It looked like there was ashes everywhere but … when I was watching my security camera, I realised it wasn't ashes but lit embers. That was scary because the lit embers were flying in the sky.”
“The whole area where I live is devastated. There are rows and rows of streets around us that have houses burnt right down to the ground. It's just been heartbreaking.”
Fortunately for Ms Shabnam, her street was not compromised by the fire.
“It’s a miracle that our homes were saved,” she said.
Darkened skies from the wildfire ashes. (Photo: Shabnam Melwani)
Mr Herbert Tay, who lives in West Hollywood but is currently in Singapore for a holiday until Friday, said he had been tracking updates since the news of the wildfires broke.
“The situation continues to evolve and is changing literally hour by hour,” said the 69-year-old former Singaporean, who is now a Canadian.
“When I first became aware of it, the fire was in Pacific Palisades, and I went to bed last night thinking that it might be kind of controlled there but then it jumped over to Malibu and so a lot of the restaurants and landmarks that I'm familiar with in Malibu have been burnt down,” he said.
“Since this morning, there are now fires in the Hollywood Hills and Studio City and so it's getting a little closer and closer to where I live.
“But I’m personally not affected because the fires are coming down from the hills … and where I live is as safe as I can possibly be because it’s in a flat part and it’s an area that’s developed and doesn’t have dry shrubs, which is what is fuelling all the fires.”
He added that he will return to the US as planned tomorrow.
“I’d rather be at home to deal with things and the worst of the winds are over,” he said.
Another Singaporean who lives in the city of Pasadena, which has also been badly affected by the wildfires, said she decided to leave her home on Tuesday night – ahead of the evacuation notice – when she realised the situation was getting out of control.
“We were already hearing of outages across the county, so I decided to cook my dinner before the power went out but when my housemate and I looked out of our front window, we saw a fire,” said Ms Benita Lim, a PhD student at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena.
“At first, we thought it was our neighbour’s house on fire so we called the emergency hotline to report it.
“We were told that it was likely coming from the Eaton canyon, so that’s when we decided to just evacuate because it was already so close to us,” said the 37-year-old.
“We could smell the smoke in air and it was getting stronger and stronger.”
Ms Benita Lim initially thought her neighbour's house was on fire until she called the emergency hotline and realised that Eaton canyon, which is near her home, was being ravaged by a wildfire. (Photo: Benita Lim)
“It was quite scary,” she recalled. “Because of the windstorms, there were a lot of fallen branches, trash cans, broken signages on the roads and on the pavement.
“It was really very apocalyptical.”
She quickly picked up two of her Indonesian friends, who lived nearby, and drove to her pastor’s house in Temple City, located 20 minutes away.
While the situation in Temple City is better, she said the air quality remains poor.
“The only thing we can do is wear a mask and turn on the air purifier.”
With the situation rapidly changing, Ms Lim and Ms Shabnam said they are constantly checking their phones for updates.
“We’re getting so many messages and notifications now but there’s an app that we’re all connected to over here, which updates everybody,” said Ms Shabnam.
“So everyone is on watch duty to keep alert to what’s happening in their neighbourhood and surroundings.”
“The winds are very unpredictable so we cannot make a decision to go somewhere because everything can change in a few hours. So right now, we’re just watching the space and the news, our bags are also packed so if anything happens here, we’re ready to drive further down south, along the coast towards San Diego.”
For Ms Lim, school has been suspended until the end of the week and she expects to stay in Temple city for at least another two nights until it is safe for her to return home.
“My neighbour went back this afternoon to take stuff and she said that our house is okay, it’s just that there’s a lot of soot that got in through the window,” she said.
“But the sad part is that a lot of the landmarks that I knew or used to go to have been burnt down and I know of people who lost their homes and their jobs.
“It’s really heavy to think about how things will never be the same,” she said, as her voice quivered.
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The sky, which had been bright and sunny when she left for the gym two hours ago, started to darken. In the distance, she could see a thick cloud of smoke. She had to keep stopping her vehicle to make way for the fire trucks as they rushed towards the Pacific Palisades area, where she lives.
Fire trucks rushing towards the Pacific Palisades area. Behind the trucks, a thick cloud of smoke is visible. (Photo: Shabnam Melwani)
The Palisades fire is the largest of several blazes that have swept across city suburbs in Los Angeles.
Tens of thousands of residents have been forced to flee their homes and thousands of structures have been destroyed by the fast-moving fires.
The rapidly changing situation has also been compounded by Santa Ana winds and extremely dry conditions.
“I was a big bag of emotions … I was in shock, fearful but at the same time, it felt surreal, and I couldn’t believe this was actually happening,” said the 55-year-old business owner who has been living in the US for the past five years.
“The whole area was full of fire trucks, and they were telling us to quickly pack up and go,” she said.
“We basically had 10 minutes to just grab what we could get and leave.”
Together with her two sons – aged 13 and 22 – she drove to the Santa Monica area, which is about 20 minutes away from the Pacific Palisades. The trio are currently staying with Ms Shabnam’s cousin.
Likening the air quality somewhat to the Southeast Asian haze crisis in 2015, she said: “It looked like there was ashes everywhere but … when I was watching my security camera, I realised it wasn't ashes but lit embers. That was scary because the lit embers were flying in the sky.”
“The whole area where I live is devastated. There are rows and rows of streets around us that have houses burnt right down to the ground. It's just been heartbreaking.”
Fortunately for Ms Shabnam, her street was not compromised by the fire.
“It’s a miracle that our homes were saved,” she said.
Darkened skies from the wildfire ashes. (Photo: Shabnam Melwani)
Mr Herbert Tay, who lives in West Hollywood but is currently in Singapore for a holiday until Friday, said he had been tracking updates since the news of the wildfires broke.
“The situation continues to evolve and is changing literally hour by hour,” said the 69-year-old former Singaporean, who is now a Canadian.
“When I first became aware of it, the fire was in Pacific Palisades, and I went to bed last night thinking that it might be kind of controlled there but then it jumped over to Malibu and so a lot of the restaurants and landmarks that I'm familiar with in Malibu have been burnt down,” he said.
“Since this morning, there are now fires in the Hollywood Hills and Studio City and so it's getting a little closer and closer to where I live.
“But I’m personally not affected because the fires are coming down from the hills … and where I live is as safe as I can possibly be because it’s in a flat part and it’s an area that’s developed and doesn’t have dry shrubs, which is what is fuelling all the fires.”
He added that he will return to the US as planned tomorrow.
“I’d rather be at home to deal with things and the worst of the winds are over,” he said.
Related:
“VERY APOCALYPTICAL”
Another Singaporean who lives in the city of Pasadena, which has also been badly affected by the wildfires, said she decided to leave her home on Tuesday night – ahead of the evacuation notice – when she realised the situation was getting out of control.
“We were already hearing of outages across the county, so I decided to cook my dinner before the power went out but when my housemate and I looked out of our front window, we saw a fire,” said Ms Benita Lim, a PhD student at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena.
“At first, we thought it was our neighbour’s house on fire so we called the emergency hotline to report it.
“We were told that it was likely coming from the Eaton canyon, so that’s when we decided to just evacuate because it was already so close to us,” said the 37-year-old.
“We could smell the smoke in air and it was getting stronger and stronger.”
Ms Benita Lim initially thought her neighbour's house was on fire until she called the emergency hotline and realised that Eaton canyon, which is near her home, was being ravaged by a wildfire. (Photo: Benita Lim)
“It was quite scary,” she recalled. “Because of the windstorms, there were a lot of fallen branches, trash cans, broken signages on the roads and on the pavement.
“It was really very apocalyptical.”
She quickly picked up two of her Indonesian friends, who lived nearby, and drove to her pastor’s house in Temple City, located 20 minutes away.
While the situation in Temple City is better, she said the air quality remains poor.
“The only thing we can do is wear a mask and turn on the air purifier.”
Related:
KEEPING ALERT
With the situation rapidly changing, Ms Lim and Ms Shabnam said they are constantly checking their phones for updates.
“We’re getting so many messages and notifications now but there’s an app that we’re all connected to over here, which updates everybody,” said Ms Shabnam.
“So everyone is on watch duty to keep alert to what’s happening in their neighbourhood and surroundings.”
“The winds are very unpredictable so we cannot make a decision to go somewhere because everything can change in a few hours. So right now, we’re just watching the space and the news, our bags are also packed so if anything happens here, we’re ready to drive further down south, along the coast towards San Diego.”
For Ms Lim, school has been suspended until the end of the week and she expects to stay in Temple city for at least another two nights until it is safe for her to return home.
“My neighbour went back this afternoon to take stuff and she said that our house is okay, it’s just that there’s a lot of soot that got in through the window,” she said.
“But the sad part is that a lot of the landmarks that I knew or used to go to have been burnt down and I know of people who lost their homes and their jobs.
“It’s really heavy to think about how things will never be the same,” she said, as her voice quivered.
Continue reading...