I’m a forty-year Pacific Palisades resident, with 34 years in a home we built in the Will Rogers neighborhood and raised our family.
Over these years, the fire department used Will Rogers State Historic Park for training. The park was a rare open space in L.A. for families to hike, picnic, play pick-up soccer, and enjoy the great outdoors. Will Rogers’ historic house—with Remington statues, garage and stables—was a popular tourist destination.
On January 7, my son, husband, and I packed all our family photo albums and the numerous paintings our daughter created. We expected to come back to get more treasures from the forty years of our family’s life. We returned to see the final plane end the retardant drops. We also saw a person biking down the Inspiration Point Trail. When he got to our street, he said, “I’m an amateur photographer and you have 45 minutes to get out.” He was right.
At 6:30 PM, the flames were peaking over Chautauqua, heading for Will Rogers. There was not one fire truck. They left us. They left Will Rogers State Park. They left our beautiful park. It all went up in flames. The Will Rogers neighborhood is gone. You knew the importance of this park and its community. Where was our Pacific Palisades fire department? I am terribly sad and equally angry!
Margaret Dubbins, Los Angeles