BBCA Los Angeles brain surgeon who fought for almost a week to save the houses on his street from wildfires told the BBC he spent 15 years preparing for such an event.
Malibu resident Dr Chester Griffiths, 62, ignored evacuation orders to keep flames from the Palisades fire at bay with the help of his son and neighbour, until emergency services were able to reach them.
“We had always known that a fire would come someday – but we didn’t know when,” Dr Griffiths told the BBC’s Today Programme.
“We never fathomed it would be this catastrophic and apocalyptic.”
Griffiths said he had finished performing brain surgery just hours before he returned to his Malibu street last week to fight the fire, joined by his son Chester Jnr and Colbert.
“The houses were coming down like dominoes,” he said.
Thankfully, he and his neighbour, Clayton Colbert, had developed an action plan in the event of such a fire and had sourced hoses that they could use.
Connecting four hoses to hydrants, Dr Griffiths, his son and Mr Colbert positioned themselves on nearby roofs to spraying water on the flames, and using dirt to put out embers on the ground.
“There were burning embers coming down on us for about 12 hours,” said Dr Griffiths.
The trio was only joined by firefighters in the last few days of their week-long ordeal because resources were “so widely stretched” due to the number of blazes in the Los Angeles area.
“The (fire department) felt that all the homes weren’t able to be saved,” said Dr Griffiths.”
He says he “totally understands” why the fire service was too busy to help, adding: “That’s why it’s so important to be trained ahead of time, to have your equipment and truly to have your community’s support.”
Fire crews in Los Angeles are still battling two large blazes and two smaller ones as they brace for more possible destruction.
The Palisades Fire that is burning between Santa Monica and Malibu on the city’s western side has destroyed more than 23,000 acres, and ranks among the most destructive in California’s history.
At least 24 people have died in the fires and 23 others are missing in the Eaton and Palisades fire zones, while more than 90,000 are under evacuation orders.
Residents are bracing for further destruction as weather forecasts indicate that winds helping fuel the flames might pick up again.
Los Angeles’ mayor Karen Bass said “urgent preparations” are being made in advance of the near-hurricane force winds, which are expected throughout Tuesday.
President Biden has said that rebuilding areas of the city that were burned down during almost a week of wildfires is going to cost tens of billions of dollars.
