Aaron Samson told the US media his survival story from the Palisades wildfire in Los Angeles.
Aaron Samson escaped from the middle of the sea of flames with his 83-year-old father-in-law on Thursday.
He received a notification on his phone about the Palisades fire, but there was no call to evacuate.
Samson was with his father-in-law at his home, which is located in the Palisades area.
– For the next hour or so, we thought about whether to leave.
When Samson saw smoke and fire near his father-in-law’s house, he understood that he had to leave, Samson says on the CBS morning television show.
The only thing was that they didn’t have a car at their disposal. Samson tried calling 911 and even ordering a ride through Uber, to no avail.
They got some distance in a neighbor’s ride. Then the fires engulfed the car on both sides.
– Suddenly we saw the flames and felt the heat. And then the fires came closer and closer. We were completely stuck in traffic.
According to Samson, the flames were only a few meters away from the car. The police came to the scene and ordered people out of the cars.
Samson recorded a video of the situation.
– Come on dad, turn around, we’ll get through this, just keep walking.
According to Samson, his father-in-law has Parkinson’s disease and he can hardly move.
Still, they made it to safety.
– This was a heroic act on his part, Samson said of his father.
“Nothing prepares a person for such destruction”
The dense Los Angeles suburb of Altadena is littered with the skeletons of burnt-out cars and smoldering ruins.
Before, rows of bungalows sat neatly in the shadow of the San Gabriel Mountains.
The world’s attention is focused on the areas where celebrities live near Malibu. A fire of nearly the same size in Eaton Canyon, north of Los Angeles, has wiped out Altadena. Altadena is an economically and racially diverse community.
Alita Johnson61, has lived in West Altadena all his life. Johnson told the news agency Reuters that his neighborhood was ignored by the authorities. The neighborhood is mainly populated by people of color.
Now the home street is full of burnt garbage and ashes. Johnson no longer has a home to return to.
– Nothing prepares a person for this kind of destruction, Johnson says to the news agency Reuters.
He says that it was scary to run away from the fire.
– I could barely see in front of me. I could hardly see beyond my hand. The visibility was so bad and the winds were raging fiercely.
Homes in ruins
In the Pacific Palisades area, the Foster family walked through the ruins of their former home on Friday, looking for even something that had been saved from the fire.
Daughter of the Fosters Ada16, was home alone when the evacuation order was issued.
Her mother hurried home her youngest child, 11 years old Sam’swith They took their most valuable possessions and family photo albums with them and fled to their grandmother’s house in nearby Santa Monica.
– I can’t describe it. I have no words for what it’s like, said the mother Kelly Foster44. Foster is a psychiatrist.
Foster went through the ruins of her husband Eric’s and their three children, Sam, Ada and Wyatt’swith
– This is a nightmare. This is not real. You don’t think that something like this could happen to you, and then it happens, Ada described her experiences in the middle of the ashes.
Source: Reuters