Los Angeles may be about 2,500 kilometres from Calgary, but for some Albertans the wildfires that are devastating southern California are too close to home.
Global News spoke to several Albertans living in the City of Angels.
While the inferno bears similarities to the fire that ravaged the town of Jasper last summer, the ex-pat Albertans we spoke with say they’ve never lived through anything quite like this.
Water is dropped by helicopter on the burning Sunset Fire in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025.
AP Photo/Ethan Swope
Jaxon Smith, who lives just off Hollywood Boulevard, got a notice on his phone after a fire erupted in the Hollywood Hills, just 10 minutes from his apartment, creating some anxious moments for his parents in Calgary.
Calgarian Jaxon Smith lives just off Hollywood Boulevard, just 10 minutes from the inferno ravaging the Hollywood Hills.
Courtesy: Kevin Smith
“He got the alert on the phone, he called a friend, raced down to the street — it was chaos and cars and everyone with luggage, it was very intense,” said his father Kevin Smith.
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“Jaxon is fine now. He’s in Laguna. We are still tense because what has happened in that area is just horrible.”
Calgarian Sameena Saddiqui, who is studying for a semester at California State University, describes apocalyptic-like scenes in the Los Angeles area.
Courtesy: Saleen Saddiqui
University of Calgary student Sameena Siddiqui arrived in Los Angeles to begin a semester a California State University the night before the first fire erupted.
So far she remains outside the evacuation zone, but describes the city as thick with smoke, empty streets and large objects being blown around by the relentless winds that are fueling the fires.
“My apartment just reeks of smoke,” said Siddiquit.
“It’s like an apocalypse here — it’s everywhere, you can’t escape it.”
At least six people have been killed with the death toll expected to rise, 200,000 homes have been evacuated and unlike those who still call Calgary home, thousands of Californians have no home to return to.
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