Los Angeles evacuee finds safety in Las Vegas as fires continue to rage
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – As thousands remained under evacuation orders in Southern California Thursday, 8 News Now spoke with a woman who sheltered in Las Vegas to escape the fast-moving fires.
“My roommate was like, ‘Hey, the fire is eight miles from us,” Allura Westberry recalled.
Las Vegas businesses, hotels offering assistance to displaced Californians
Westberry described the moment it was time to evacuate her home in Los Angeles.
“I literally packed a bag, packed my dogs,” she told 8 News Now. “I packed in such a hurry that I didn’t even pack like normal things that you would need.”
She and her dogs drove to Las Vegas Wednesday and said they stay in Southern Nevada until things calm down.
However, she said she doesn’t know if when they return, their home will be standing.
“If my apartment is gone when I get back,” Westberry said. “I don’t know where I am going to live.”
She told 8 News Now her escape through Pasadena was traumatic, as she described the terror she felt leaving the state.
“It’s ten o’clock in the morning and it’s like you are on Mars,” she recalled of driving through the area. “The air looks like you could slice through it with a knife, it looks like it’s scary to breathe.”
Westberry said she is now doing what she can to deal with the devastation.
“The whole Pacific Coast Highway is burned to the ground,” she said. “It looks like an ashtray.”
Westberry also called on others from California, Las Vegas, and the country to come together.
“As a community here in America, we focus so much on all of these negative things,” she said. “And they distract us from doing what’s right and doing what’s good for each other.”
She told 8 News Now she and others, who are hurting more than many can imagine, are attempting to remember what’s lost and hope for better days.
“LA, California, and Malibu,” Westberry concluded. “Are going to be something different now.”
Westberry said she hopes to return home by Saturday, but that could change based on fire conditions.
As of Thursday evening, more than 100,000 people remained under evacuation orders across the Los Angeles area.
Las Vegas businesses, hotels offering assistance to displaced Californians
At least 10 were reported dead as of Thursday, according to The County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner.
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