The Irish community in Los Angeles was pulling together on Thursday night as the city continued to grapple with the most destructive wildfires in its history, with nearly 11,300 hectares so far scorched.
Two fires were threatening Los Angeles from the east and west, two days after they ignited, as firefighters managed to beat back another blaze scorching the Hollywood hills.
Kevin Kearns from Co Donegal, who has been living in Santa Monica for 30 years running a bar called the Auld Fella, said there is a large Irish contingent in the area and that it has joined forces in recent days.
“We have an Irish consulate here as well which is very active in keeping everybody informed about the resources that are there,” he told The Irish Times. “We have a network on WhatsApp as well. There has been a huge outpouring of generosity.”
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Mr Kearns said he was evacuated from the area on Tuesday night. “I was right on the edge of Santa Monica, so it came pretty damn close,” he said. “There are so many fires going on. Thankfully we were lucky. People are devastated.
“The fear has abated a little bit now because the winds have died down, but we felt the same way last night and then another fire popped up. Until it’s completely extinguished there are no guarantees.”
A number of restaurants and businesses that have been in the area for decades have been wiped out, he said.
“A friend of mine from Cork thought he had lost his house, but he was lucky,” he continued. “Their home and two others survived, but everything else was decimated.”
Willie O’Brien from Mayfield in Cork is the owner of O’Brien’s bar in Santa Monica and has been living in the city for 40 years.
“My bar here is probably the closest Irish bar to where the fires were, and we came very close to being in an evacuation area,” he said. “It came right out to about four blocks above us before backing off.
“With the way the winds they were, any fire that was going to start was going to spread really, really quickly and there was no fire department that could stop it.
“At one stage I was thinking that, if it came down here, was what I had in my bag all I was going to have left in the world tomorrow? I have talked to people who have lost their houses, and all they had left was the clothes on their back.”
Mr O’Brien said the long-term consequences for him and his business would be devastating. “Now that the winds have died down, I think my business is out of danger,” he said. “This is the first day I have felt that way. But nobody is coming in. Santa Monica is empty.
“The vast majority of my customers come from the affected neighbourhoods. Those neighbourhoods have been completely wiped out, so the long-term effects on my business will be devastating. The Catholic church up there is gone. The school was wiped out.
“Even if someone was living up there, they don’t have a town any more. Even if your house survived, you’re surrounded by burned-out shells. The community is gone. I can’t imagine people will come back to live in these houses.”
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