California Wildfires

Lifelong Pacific Palisades resident biked 20 miles to find out whether home was still standing

On the second day of the Palisades Fire, a 56-year-old Palisades man biked past scenes of devastation to see what was left of his family's townhouse and his childhood home.

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Is my house still standing? A lifelong Pacific Palisades resident had to know the answer. NBC4 photojournalist Jeremy Lee was with him.

Is my house still standing? It's a question that has weighed on the minds of homeowners in Los Angeles County wildfire evacuation zones with crushing uncertainty.

On the second day of the Palisades Fire that started a week ago, a lifelong Pacific Palisades resident biked 20 miles, much of it uphill, to get an answer.

Will Adams, who has lived in the community above the Los Angeles County coast for all of his 56 years, started pedaling his e-bike at the bottom of Palisades Drive. The gradual incline leads to the the community of about 23,000 where the family of four rents a townhouse.

In an eerie scene on Sunset Boulevard, Adams biked past rows of burned out cars that evacuees in traffic gridlock were forced to abandon Jan. 7 as flames fanned by powerful wind gusts destroyed neighborhoods. His wife had to leave the family's car in the chaotic first hours of a fire that would become the third-most destructive on record in California. Adams rushed to St. Matthew's Parish School to pick up his children.

"It is Armageddon," Adams said as he took in the destruction.

When he reached his neighborhood at the top of Palisades Highlands, Adams pumped his fist as he coasted on his bike. The townhome was still there.

"It's still standing," Adams said. "The entire complex all the way down to Casa Nostra is fine."

With his e-bike battery drained, Adams walked to check on the family home from which his mother recently moved after the death of his father. In a heartbreaking scene that has become common in the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire zones, a chimney was about all that remained standing in the rubble.

He called his mom.

"Everything burned, mom," he said. "I mean, the entire block is gone. I can see all the way up to the point."

A fire-blacked lemon tree -- still bearing a few lemons, their bright yellow color faded by layers of ash -- brought back one of the many memories of the place where he grew up.

"You can see it produced really well," Adams said. "It was always full of lemons and all the neighbors would come and borrow the lemons. And, we would tell everybody, just come by… walk up the driveway and just grab the lemons."

On the way back down the hill, Adams passed fire-ravage community landmarks, like a Gelson's grocery store, the frame of Corpus Christi Church, and his 90-year-old mother's condo, destroyed in the fire.

But still standing above the destruction was the steeple of the elementary school Adams attended.

"That's iconic Palisades, right there," Adams said.

The Palisades Fire was at 23,713 acres Tuesday with containment at 14 percent. The first Los Angeles County maps documenting buildings destroyed and damaged were released Monday.

As of Tuesday, 88,000 people remained under evacuation orders in Los Angeles County.

Adams said he is committed to staying in the community. His mother is moving in with another son in Santa Barbara, for now, he said.

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