“It’s amazing what you grab, it’s amazing what you take,” host Melissa Rivers, daughter of the late Jewish comedian Joan Rivers, told CNN this Wednesday. She was discussing her home that burned down during the wildfires that have been ravaging Southern California since Tuesday of this week.
Aside from taking the passports and essential paperwork, medication and her pets’ food, Rivers went to her office before evacuating her house, where she grabbed the only Emmy award her mother won in 1990 — for Outstanding Talk/Service Show Host for her work on “The Joan Rivers Show” — plus a photo of her late father, producer Edgar Rosenberg (Melissa recalled that her mother, up until her death, would answer the phone with “Rosenberg residence”) and a drawing her mother made of Melissa and her son Edgar.
“I went for a drawing of my mother’s, rather than a photo, because I know I can find the photos,” she explained. The drawing, she said, “I can’t replace.”
Rivers said she felt fortunate because she was in her office at home when she was told to evacuate, which meant she could pick up a few important items. “In my personal situation, that’s it, that’s the end of everything that belonged to my family and the history of it,” she said. “I just was out shopping for clothes. It started to hit me: We literally just had what was on our backs,” she added.
“My heart is so broken, not just for myself, but for everyone going through this,” she said, mourning the fact that her town is now “wiped off the map.”
The historic Conservative synagogue, the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, was completely decimated by the fire — its community managed to save the congregation’s 13 Torah scrolls.
Ross and I lost our dream home. This description ‘dream home’ doesn’t suffice. It was our heaven on earth,” Lake shared on Instagram of her Malibu home, “I grieve along with all of those suffering during this apocalyptic event.”
“[My wife] Janice and I lived in our home since 1979. We raised our children and grandchildren here,” Billy Crystal shared in a statement with People. “Every inch of our house was filled with love. Beautiful memories that can’t be taken away. We are heartbroken of course but with the love of our children and friends we will get through this,” Crystal shared in a statement with People.
Jamie Lee Curtis, who lives in the Palisades, was on the “Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” the night the fires began and started tearing up as she spoke to the crowd. “This is literally where I live, everything, the market, the schools where my kids go to. Friends, many many many many friends now, have lost their homes. It’s a really awful situation,” she said. She urged anyone to do anything they can in their community to help, and personally vowed to donate $1 million dollar to help with rescue and rebuilding efforts.
“Police Academy” star Steve Guttenberg, who belongs to the Kehillat Israel congregation in Pacific Palisades which so far has survived the fire, became a real-life hero when he volunteered to help firefighters clear the Palisades Drive of abandoned cars so that they could do their work. A KTLA reporter ran into him while in action and didn’t recognize him at first.
“There are families out there, there are pets out there, there are people who really need help,” Guttenberg told the reporter. “It’s really important for people to help each other. It’s really important for people to band together, and don’t worry about your personal property, just get out, get your loved ones and get out… I have friends up there who can’t get out, and they’ve been given evacuation orders,” he said, before reminding anyone who has to abandon their car in a fire to “leave your key in there.” Guttenberg later said that he and fellow volunteers had to get giant bulldozers to clear the way.
Guttenberg also later told CNN he had to commandeer a car to go help rescue his neighbor’s dogs and cats.
“I haven’t seen anything like this in my entire life and I don’t think many people have,” he shared with CNN’s Laura Coates of what he saw that Tuesday. “At 9 o’clock in the morning, it was an idyllic Pacific Palisades, and then by 10 o’clock, 10:30, the sky was dark as if it were nighttime… There were mothers who were hysterical [having] panic attacks… they were worried about their families up there because they couldn’t get them out in time. Little kids were crying. There were people who couldn’t speak English, driving their friends’ cars or their bosses’ cars and being careful where they drove.”
“This is the time for us to remember that we are part of a community to help each other. Be kind to each other. You see someone who needs help, ask them what they need. This is a time that if you’re able-bodied, do what you can,” Guttenberg urged local viewers.
Our hearts go out to anyone affected by these terrible fires, with much gratitude to the firefighters tirelessly fighting to put them out. We pray that the fires will be put out and that rebuilding can start soon.
