As Los Angeles faces the worst wildfires in its history, former local Brett Wendorf, now Head of Sales Operations at Princess Cruises Australia, reflects on resilience, loss, and the unrelenting spirit of a tourism icon facing its most significant challenges yet.
For Australians and Kiwis, it’s both relatable and equally unfathomable to comprehend what is going on in Southern California right now. Drought, flood and fire are not foreign to Kiwis or Aussies, but the numbers coming out of Los Angeles are pretty mind-boggling.
As I write, 180,000 people have been evacuated, 10 lives have been lost, 10,000 structures have burned across 30,000 acres, and $50 Billion in damage has been done as at least six fires burn across the Los Angeles perimeter.
I was born and raised in LA and have grown up experiencing her four seasons, “Drought, Fire, Mudslide and Earthquake.” So, it’s not unusual for Los Angeles to have wildfires after an eight-month drought. If Southern California gets rain in March or April, all of the bare hills whose vegetation was fuel for the fires will collapse into mudslides into the valleys, ravines and roadways.
But take it from me: what’s happening in Los Angeles right now is not usual; it is extreme. We’ve had a few sleepless nights in my Brisbane house as I’m checking on family and friends in the impacted areas, particularly my brother, who lives in affluent Palisades. And before you ask, no, he’s not in travel, and he’s not single.
Wildfires near affluent communities aren’t unusual. Palisades isn’t a particularly big tourist destination; it’s more of a quiet, affluent beachside suburb wedged between the more touristy Santa Monica and Malibu. It would be considered one of the most expensive beachside communities outside of Malibu in the Los Angeles region. Celebrities and the wealthy alike flock to Palisades. It’s the closest beach to the studios and the financial district, it has a village vibe, and it has easy access to some of the best hiking trails in the Santa Monica Mountains. It wasn’t uncommon to see celebrities walking their dogs up Temescal Canyon or the Bienveneda Trail.
It’s a nightmare to get to at the best of times; its two major entries are Sunset Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). In peak traffic conditions, even without a fire, people feel like abandoning their cars, so it wasn’t a surprise that cars were being ditched en masse during the evacuation. The most expensive properties in Los Angeles generally sit in the hills and along the coast, and typically, “the haves” are the ones that feel the brunt of the fires and mudslides. But most of the time, the fires impact the fringe of these hillside communities.
The Palisades wildfire is different. So Cal fires are meant to stay on top of the hills, in the canyons, on the bluffs, in the highlands, etc. Fires aren’t meant to get to Sunset Boulevard, The Village, or Pali High School, and they are not meant to go all the way down to PCH. But that’s what happened.
Like many Australians and Kiwis who have survived floods, fires, drought, cyclones, and earthquakes, Southern Californians appreciate there is a price to pay to live in paradise. L.A. homes are purpose-built to deal with the extremes. They have fire and earthquake-resistant roofs, drought and fire-proof landscapes, and crime, fire, and coyote-proof yards to deal with some of the other threats. Life is very difficult for small pets in L.A. as well.
I’m well-versed in disasters. Prior to dealing with the once-in-a-hundred-year floods in Brisbane every five years, I grew up in the Porter Ranch area of Northridge, in the far north of L.A. County. From an Aussie and Kiwi traveller perspective, I was somewhere in between Magic Mountain and Universal Studios. The film “E.T.” was filmed in my neighbourhood. My hometown was the epicentre of the 1994 Northridge quake (and my family home suffered hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage), and from birth to when I moved to Australia in 1997, I experienced the 1971 Sylmar Quake, the 1987 Whittier Quake, and the 1991 Sierra Madre Quake. My family was evacuated and nearly lost our family home in the 2019 Saddleridge fire, again in the 1988 Sesnon wildfires, and even had a significant gas leak that required evacuation in 2015.
Everyone who has lived near a hillside in Southern California would have a similar disaster resume, as would any Aussie or Kiwi that lives near flood plains, bushland, in the tropics or near a fault. My history isn’t unique, but unlike a lot of others, my family hasn’t lost a home or any loved ones, so in that sense, we’ve been fortunate. Native Californians have weathered the storm, but for many, nothing like this.
My brother’s home was effectively in a small circle of homes that survived. The three houses immediately behind my brother’s place burned down to the ground, but his place, so far, has remained unscathed. There’s a front of a fire, but because of the Santa Ana winds, embers can float hundreds of metres away from the fire line. Sometimes, it’s random luck as to which houses burn and which are untouched.
My brother won the lottery in this case. And on a side note, everyone evacuated early from my brother’s neighbourhood except for one man. He was going to do what he could do to save his house (and he did). Armed with buckets and a shovel, he quickly put out spotfires and doused as many of the floating burning embers as he could with buckets of water he got from neighbourhood pools. And no surprises to anyone, he is Australian.
Like Far North Queensland after a cyclone, Christchurch after their earthquakes, Victoria and New South Wales after their fires, or Brisbane after their floods, once these wildfires are controlled, it’s going to take a long time for the impacted parts of Los Angeles to heal. Multiple fires are still ongoing across Southern California, and homes, lives, and livelihoods have been and will be lost. There have already been cases of looting, and the finger-pointing has begun as well.
People are devastated, angry, grieving and many without a home. Because so many celebrities have been impacted, the recovery process will be very well publicised. Those whose homes have been spared will probably have to wait a long time to move in again (if they want to). For those who have lost their homes but had insurance, they may or may not rebuild, and that will take a long time. And for many who lost a house and didn’t have insurance, they’ll have to start from scratch.
Because of wildfire or mudslide risk, many homes are uninsurable, and after this, the cost to insure homes will become out of reach for many. When the rains do come, it will provide some relief, but potentially, the threat of mudslides could do even more damage to these fire-ravaged communities. It’s not unusual for someone’s house to survive a fire only to be lost to a mudslide a few months later.
However, like the disaster that impacted communities in Australia and New Zealand, Los Angeles will eventually recover. There is a price for paradise, and often, the most amazing parts of the world eventually pay a toll. And hopefully, when L.A. is ready, the Aussie and Kiwi travel communities can help support the recovery by promoting this amazing destination (and continue to support tourism to the parts of Southern and Northern California that haven’t been impacted. It’s a special part of the world).
Like many of the destinations we promote, those who have been in the industry long enough have quite the disaster resume. And like those destinations, when we recover, we come back stronger, bigger and better.
If you are in a position to offer financial help to California wildfire victims, please donate to the American Red Cross here.
