Wildfire forces James to flee home
LOS ANGELES: A wildfire swept through the star-studded hills of Los Angeles on Monday, destroying several large homes and forcing Lebron James and thousands of others to flee. Meanwhile, a blaze in Northern California wine country exploded in size.
Among neighbourhoods under evacuation orders was the posh area of Brentwood, a section on the west side of the city that became world famous in 1994 when former football star OJ Simpson was accused of killing his ex-wife and a waiter there.
Today Brentwood is home to basketball superstar Lebron James, A-list Hollywood actors, wealthy producers and media company executives.
James, who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, said he and his family had to drive around in the early morning hours looking for a place to stay after fleeing the home he shares with his wife and three children.
“Had to emergency evacuate my house and I’ve been driving around with my family trying to get rooms,” James wrote on Twitter around 4 am. He later added that he found a place to take them in. “Crazy night man!,” he said.
James bought a $23 million, eight-bedroom home in Brentwood in late 2017, according to media reports.
On the northern edge of Brentwood, a cluster of several multimillion-dollar homes were reduced to smoldering debris along a street festooned with Halloween decorations.
Some 2.2 million people lacked electricity after California’s biggest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, shut it off over the weekend in the northern part of the state to prevent its equipment from sparking blazes during windy weather. More deliberate blackouts are possible in the coming days because another round of strong winds is expected.
About 156,000 people were under evacuation orders because of the fire, mostly from the city of Santa Rosa.
The flames didn’t discriminate. In wine country, farmworkers who toil in the vineyards were among those displaced. In Los Angeles, James and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger were driven from their homes.
Authorities said more than 3,000 firefighters and responders were battling the Kincade Fire, which was not expected to be fully contained before November 7.