L.A FIRES NEARLY COOKED MY HOME
TV chef Donal reveals deadly blaze scare
RTE GUIDE YESTERDAY
TV chef Donal Skehan has revealed how he had a close brush with the deadly LA wildfires last year.
The 32-year-old moved to California two years ago with his Swedish wife Sofie.
He said: “This summer hasn’t been that bad where we are but last year, the fires came close to the house.
“I never thought I would live in a place where I would have an evacuation kit and an earthquake kit. You realise just how safe we are in Ireland from natural disasters.”
However, the dad-of-one from Howth, Co Dublin, who welcomed baby Noah last December, revealed having a strong network of family and friends in the States makes the prospect of a facing a natural disaster a little less daunting.
Donal said: “If there was a fire, we would go south because they tend to start north of us in the hills. We have family in Santa Monica and friends all about who you could go to and actually we had some friends come to stay with us when their house was completely covered in ash.”
While he is busy in the US with TV show Meals In Minutes and his Youtube show Donal Eats LA, the Dubliner said he is still balancing work on this side of the Atlantic too. He added: “I have a production company based in Ireland so my day normally starts at about 4am or 5am, trying to get the Irish and UK calls in.
“I tend to get that done and then by 9am, which is 5pm Irish time, then I start my LA work.
“As it’s got busier, the calls keep going until 4pm, so I’m not really killing two birds with one stone – I’m working two time zones.” Starting a family has got Donal thinking more about the future but he admitted the call of home is strong.
He said: “The minute that plane touches down in Ireland there’s a pull on your heartstrings.
“Especially now we have a boy – he was born in America and has family in Ireland and Sweden.
“Being so far from home is more of a pull on me than I ever thought it would be.”
I never thought
I’d live in a place with a kit for an evacuation DONAL SKEHAN