LA Wildfires: Sky News Interviews Survivor a Week After Her Home Was Destroyed | US News
Last Tuesday at 4:30 PM, a thick, dark grey smoke cloud hovered over North Mount Holyoke Avenue in Pacific Palisades, blocking the fading sunlight.
The flames that would turn into the most deadly wildfire in California’s history were roaring up a nearby canyon.
The streets were nearly empty, the air suffocating, as most residents had already fled. My team and I noticed an elderly woman at the end of a driveway.
“I can’t drive, and I don’t have any family,” she said. “What should I do?”
This was 84-year-old Liz Lerner. She held onto my arm as the wind threatened to knock her off balance. A neighbor soon arrived, loading his Tesla with bags, and offered to take Liz to safety.
Liz Lerner last week with Sky’s Martha Kelner before her home was lost
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A week later, she’s in a Los Angeles hospital and eager to share the gripping tale of her escape and what followed.
“I thought I was going to die right there on the sidewalk,” she recalls. “I genuinely believed that no one was coming for me, and I would just end up being a skeleton.”
As her neighbor rushed her downhill from Pacific Palisades to the coast, flames engulfed trees and buildings in their wake.
“The further we drove away, the darker and more ominous it became,” she says. “I felt an immense pressure on my chest, gasping for air. Later, I learned at the hospital that I was having a heart attack.”
Liz is receiving treatment at Kaiser Permanente for smoke inhalation.
Sky’s Martha Kelner with Liz Lerner in hospital
In her hospital room, she’s been watching news coverage of the blaze that devastated her neighborhood. She understands her home has been destroyed and wants to see photos of the damage. “Wow,” she says, stunned as she views an image. “There’s absolutely nothing left.”
This was a house built by her father in 1949, which she cherished and made her own. Then she notices that her wrought iron gate is still partially intact. “My gate,” she exclaims. “I designed that. I would love to have it back.”
The remnants of Liz Lerner’s Palisades home
Ten years ago, Liz lost her daughter, Skye, and the fire has claimed irreplaceable memories from her life.
“I treasured all of her first-grade paintings. I lost all of those, along with the stories she wrote and the birthday cards with little doodles. It’s the ordinary moments that hurt the most.”
Due to the wildfire threat in her area, Liz’s home insurance was canceled years ago.
“I have no insurance, none whatsoever, and I lost all my documents, checks, and credit cards. I don’t even have a pair of shoes left.”
Liz hopes to be discharged soon to a retirement home where she will share a room with another elderly woman. Her life has been irrevocably changed, and she will never return to the place she called her “forever home.”
While the reconstruction of the beleaguered Pacific Palisades might take place, for Liz, it’s far too late.
