A personal story from the LA fires.
Written by Jake Ryan
“In my direct area, there is little change, but for the areas like the Palisades and Altadena, it was devastating. Like a war zone."
While Ohio was blanketed in snow, 2,000 miles away, people’s houses were burning down.
It can make you feel powerless, knowing that there are people in an unimaginable situation with little that can be done to stop it.
Patrick Toolis, a resident of Sylmar in southern California, was no more than two to three miles away from the Hurst fire. He is a pipe welder for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and has lived in California for 24 years.
He is also my uncle.
“In my direct area, there is little change, but for the areas like the Palisades and Altadena, it was devastating. Like a war zone,” Toolis said.
In the face of such horrific destruction, it can be hard to stay calm, but according to Toolis, one of the most important things you can do is stay on top of the situation.
“Being alert and ready to go is something you have to be aware of,” Toolis said.
Even now, though the flames are mostly contained, the reality of the destruction has set in as time has gone on. People, having now escaped the flames, return to a world of ash and rubble. Many have nothing to return to at all.
“[It's] as if LA had a homeless problem, and [the fires] now just added thousands more of displaced people or homeless [people],” Toolis said.
That doesn’t even begin to cover the cost of damages. According to Inc., estimates range between $30-250 billion. Yes, billion with a B.
It seems like everytime you check the news, especially over the summer, California is having another issue with its weather. Extreme heat, droughts, earthquakes, fires – you name it. Having lived in the state for 24 years, Toolis has, naturally, experienced many of these first hand. So why was it this time around, it seemed to hit harder? Was it because this particular fire hit so close to his home? He was safe, so why worry?
There’s always that question of, “What if?” especially in this case for one major reason: the wind. In Cleveland, we’re used to wind. 90% of the city is practically a wind tunnel and it isn’t uncommon for it to hit speeds above 20 mph.
Have you ever been walking down the street on a particularly windy day and you see somebody’s hat fly off or another person almost lose their balance and get knocked down? It happens all the time. But the wind pushing the fires in California weren’t going 20 or 30 mph. They were going 100 mph.
“The winds for us this time were destructive. Gusts up to 100 mph, as you might know, will feed the fires tremendously and bring high temperatures,” Toolis said.
One spark is all it takes, kicked up and thrown thousands of feet in seconds. That dry patch you were trying to keep from setting ablaze, is now completely ignited in a matter of seconds.
All of this sits in the back of your mind, while you’re 2,000 miles away in your world of snow, wondering if your relatives are going to be okay as you watch a city burn on live TV. You wake up every morning to the sound of it playing in your living room because your parents can’t help but watch and message your uncle to ask how he’s doing. He says he’s fine and he’s trying to stay safe, but that fear that everything could change in an instant lingers over you.
“In actuality, we all are directly affected by the fires and it will take years to recover,” Toolis said.
