This Highlands home was saved by a “bucket brigade” of neighbors.
Photo: GARY BAUM
By GARY BAUM
I recorded this video on February 7, after the FAA lifted flight restrictions.
We were on Cumbre Alta Court, and we were incredibly fortunate—one of only four houses that survived, though we did sustain some damage. Unfortunately, our insurance was canceled at the end of December, and we are now on Fair Plan, which has yet to take any action. I expect we’ll be displaced for quite some time.
During the fire, we managed to re-enter the Highlands and, along with a small group of neighbors, spent hours fighting the flames. We saved three homes by siphoning water from pools using whatever garden hoses we could find and setting up a bucket brigade. We stayed until gas lines in the lower condos started exploding—it was absolute chaos.
I plan to return frequently to document the rebuilding of the area where I grew up and have lived for over 60 years.
Regarding the New Year’s Day burn area, I do have footage taken after the fire was extinguished. Since I live nearby, I flew my drone later that afternoon—only after confirming there were no flight restrictions. Based on what I observed, I am convinced the fire was never fully out and was likely reignited by high winds a few days later.
Additionally, on February 7, I flew over Hi Point (Goat Peak) in the Palisades after the rain and noticed smoke or steam still rising from the upper ridges. If the Palisades Fire was declared fully contained on January 31, yet these hotspots persisted for a week—even after the rain—it strongly suggests that the January 1 fire also continued smoldering in a similar way.
(Editor’s note: This footage cannot be used without permission from Gary Baum.)
What I would like to know, and I plan on finding out is why Peter Tripp Akemann is not in jail. His reckless drone operation which disabled a scooper, definitely caused some homes to burn. He had to pay a $56,000 fine, which for him is a drop in the bucket and a month of community service. Gary Baum seems like a good guy, but I think in general, drone operators are a nuisance.
What I would like to know, and I plan on finding out is why Peter Tripp Akemann is not in jail. His reckless drone operation which disabled a scooper, definitely caused some homes to burn. He had to pay a $56,000 fine, which for him is a drop in the bucket and a month of community service. Gary Baum seems like a good guy, but I think in general, drone operators are a nuisance.
If you need to explain to non-Palisadians what happened here, look no further than the absolutely gut-wrenching drone footage captured by Gary Baum. It’s devastating, horrific, and mesmerizing. Thank you.
Thank you Sue for publishing this (and everything else you put out), and thank you Gary for the video, the most comprehensive and best-shot aerial footage I’ve seen. We cried through the whole thing, grief over what was lost alternating with gratitude for the all-too-little that remains.
Do you think it is time you did something about kids and the Trailhead parking lot? And they actually burned down a town. The cops say “Rape/Rob/Murder” keep us too busy to “allocate resources” to the Palisades. They allocated 100 cops to the parking lot so they could stand there and watch people wait in their cars for 3 hours for a piece of paper. they had cops blocking all roads in for weeks even though “Rape/Rob/Murder” presumably never took a night off in unburned WLA. I guess the kids at the Trailhead, the Rec Center, Asilomar and Via de las Olas can drink, get high and shoot off their fireworks to their hearts content because nobody lives there now and there is nothing left to burn.
This brings tears to my eyes. I was there for 72 hours while all this burned. It burned slowly, there was never any danger to me other than smoke inhalation. And during the whole time, all I could ask myself was: Why are all those firetrucks parked on the beach and not up here with the people who were putting the fires out one ember at a time. Sometimes with their hands and feet. Sometime with a garden hose. Sometimes with pool water. But our heroes were obviously having a great time on the beach and by Paul Revere. Laughing and joking amongst each other as the town next to them burned.