Is my house still standing? A lifelong Pacific Palisades resident had to know the answer. NBC4 photojournalist Jeremy Lee was with him.
Do I still have a home? And, if so, is it even habitable?
Those questions still linger for many residents in the Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena communities. Meanwhile, public officials have been unable to give a definitive date for re-entry into burn zones with a search and recovery operation still underway.
One father, who rents a townhome for his family of four in the Palisades Highlands, decided in the early days of the fire to see for himself.
After the Jan. 7 inferno, lifetime Palisades resident Will Adams urgently pedaled for over 20 miles on an e-bike to find out what was still standing. On Day 3, the Cal Fire map had slightly changed. Adams told NBC Los Angeles that he and his neighbors were concerned that the row of townhomes may have been gone.
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The day after the fire's ignition, Adams pedaled up Palisades Drive, just days after his entire community wanted only to get out. Car after car still lined Sunset Boulevard and the bottom of Palisades Drive, where so many fleeing the fire had to abandon their cars.
On Jan. 7, the father of two rushed to St. Mathews to pick up the kids from school. His wife was caught in the gridlock. She, like so many others, abandoned her car
When Will Adams reached the top of the Highlands, not far from the ignition point of the fire, he pumped his fist.
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"It's still standing!” he cried out.
Will eagerly reported back to his neighbors.
"The entire complex all the way down to Casa Nostra is fine," he called out into his cell phone.
But there was one more address to visit in Palisades Village. Will invited NBC Los Angeles to accompany him.
We reached the family home that Will's mom recently moved away from after his father passed. She downsized to a condo, also destroyed in the blaze. Will decided to ring his mother, as he stood in the rubble of the home his parents bought over 50 years ago. Will's mother asked about a neighbor's home.
"Everything burned, mom," Will clarified, "I mean the entire block is gone. I can see all the way up to the point."
Will then took a walk to the park on the bluffs, The Tahitian Terrace Mobile Home Park outstretched below, also leveled. We made a stop at his childhood friend's home in the old neighborhood just down the street. Two chimneys were all that remained. We passed the family home on the way out. The lemon tree still bore charred lemons.
"It gave us three lemons all my life. And we would tell everybody, just come by and walk up the driveway and just grab the lemons," Adams told NBC Los Angeles.
We went back through town, past Gelson's supermarket and other landmarks such as the hallowed out Corpus Christi Church. Then, we passed the elementary school he attended, Palisades Charter Elementary. It was severely burned in the fire. But the steeple still stands.
"That's Iconic Palisades right there", Adams said with a smile, "So that steeple is important. It survived.”
