Irish American film director David Gleeson and his wife Nathalie Lichenthaele have shared details of the trauma of watching their home and neighbourhood being lost to the wildfires which destroyed Los Angeles’s Pacific Palisades district.
“We have lost everything. It was on television. I could not bear to watch,” Ms Lichenthaele told The Irish Times.
At least 24 people have died in the fires, which began last Tuesday, and more than 150,000 residents have been forced to flee their homes. More than two dozen people are reported missing, authorities said.
Winds of up to 112km/h are expected to persist through Wednesday, according to the US National Weather Service, which issued a “particularly dangerous situation” red flag warning.
Aer Lingus passenger abandoned at Charles de Gaulle and then ignored
Five years after Covid, we scorn health workers, ignore vaccines and work in our offices
Can I get a State pension if I only start work here in my late 50s?
Couple from Ukraine take High Court case over alleged loss of welfare payments
Speaking from a friend’s home in Santa Monica, Ms Lichenthaele said, “We arrived at our friend’s house as evacuees and now we are here as the homeless.
“The whole neighbourhood is gone. When I say we lost everything I do not just mean my mother’s wedding and engagement ring, our possessions ... we have lost our neighbourhood, our friends, the places we would go to for coffee, the walks we would take. Our children have lost their schools, their friends have gone,” Ms Lichenthaele said.
Gleeson and Lichenthaele and their children are familiar with being evacuated because of fire risk, and have had to leave a number of times in the last 10 years.
[ LA fires: Video and images of the devastationOpens in new window ]
On Tuesday when they were asked to leave again they assumed it was, as usual, to enable the fire department to have unimpeded access to the streets if they needed to put a fire out.
In the past they had packed a few bags with their valuables, but on this occasion packed only a few clothes as they were sure they would return, Ms Lichenthaele said.
“As we drove away we could see the black clouds and my daughter said she hoped that was not some people’s homes – we felt sorry for them.
“On Tuesday night our house burned down. You could see on television our corner, a place where there were a few shops and things burning, and our apartment was right beside them. I could not look. I could not bear to see it, she said.
The family of two adults and three children also lost the family cat and a hamster to the fire, a factor Ms Lichenthaele clearly found too distressing to talk about.
For the immediate future they are staying with friends in Santa Monica, but will move to another friend’s house which has been offered because its owner is in Mexico for the next 10 days.
Asked if the couple would rebuild or move on, she said: “I don’t know what the future holds. Maybe we will move back to Ireland. This is what I mean when I say we have lost everything – we have lost the lives we have made here.”
She said what was “absolutely humbling” was “the way the community has come thorough, the outpouring of support and love. I am so humbled by the generosity of everyone”
A GoFundMe page has been set up the family by their friend Victoria Parks-Murphy. It is accessible on: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-murphys-expat-irish-friends-after-the-palisades-fire
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
