P.E.I. woman 'shocked' as fires devastate former California hometown
Angel McKann of Millvale, P.E.I., says she knows the terror of having to quickly evacuate from Malibu, California, as fires threatened to burn her home — she grew up there and lived there until she was 30.
"Some of my earliest memories are actually fires coming over the mountains exactly where they are now," said McKann. "And my parents throwing us into a truck and driving down to the PCH [Pacific Coast Highway] and ... being evacuated."
McKann now lives in P.E.I. where she bakes bread for sale, and she and her husband run an organic farm.
Wildfires in Southern California started Thursday night and tore through Malibu and Los Angeles suburbs, prompting evacuations in Malibu, Calabasas, Agoura Hills and other nearby areas. At least two people are dead and 177 homes destroyed.
It's separate from fires that devastated the community of Paradise on the weekend. All told, 300,000 people were under evacuation orders up and down the state.
Former home gone
McKann and her family moved to Malibu, California from Texas when she was four to follow a guru who lived there.
She and her husband Hans Wendt built a cabin in Malibu near Latigo Canyon in the late 1990s that McKann found out Monday has been burned in the fire.
"It didn't burn the high school I went to, but it did burn the junior high I went to in Malibu," McKann said.
Her brother and his family have been evacuated from their home and are finding shelter with friends, she said.
"A lot of people I know have lost their houses. Pretty sad," McKann said.
Ferocious fires
She has been glued to coverage of the fires and maps showing where they are moving, she said.
"I can see that they are still advancing, the fires are still advancing, and that just wrenches my heart," McKann said. She's concerned not only for the loss of human life and property, but for all the wildlife and domestic animals, including horses from the many ranches in the area.
"It's heartbreaking, really intense."
McKann said she and others who were used to wildfires have been stunned by the ferocity of the latest fires.
"I was shocked, that never happens — the fire departments down there know how to manage the fires," she said. The strong, dry Santa Ana winds and drought conditions have made the fires difficult to contain.
"This is the biggest fire that I think anybody down there has ever seen."
Planning to visit
On top of the tragedy of the fire, McKann said, some friends who live in Thousand Oaks are still mourning 12 people killed in a shooting rampage at a bar Wednesday night.
"They're also now having to evacuate their homes at the same time, It's kind of like a war zone down there," she said.
McKann was planning a trip to the area with her children in the spring to show them the area where she grew up. She said they will likely still go, to witness what she hopes will be a resurrection.
"The wildflowers the next year — it's like a painting, 'cause everything is black around it and there's these beautiful flowers that bloom," she said.
She said the devastation in California makes her grateful for life here.
"One of the reasons I live on P.E.I. is because I grew up under the threat of fires, earthquakes, mudslides and riots, from Los Angeles," McKann said. She enjoys the quiet and nature here, she said.
McKann said she also wants to express her support and gratitude for California firefighters.
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