California father of two who lost home in Jan. 8 wildfires calls for significant leadership changes ‘that have absolutely failed’ residents of a state in crisis.
“There’s a deep part of me right now that feels like it’s not just my home that’s burned down and my life’s work that’s burned down. We’ve been absolutely betrayed by our trust in leadership and systems,” Blake Mallen said. “…There’s a part of me that’s just let down, disappointed, angry, that … I’ve been let down by leadership in a system that I’ve worked my whole life to do what’s right to get to the point that everyone should get to.”
Mallen, a 44-year-old entrepreneur and lifelong resident of California, he made sure his wife and children, ages 6 and 9, were safely evacuated before he stayed behind to try to save his Pacific Palisades home as flames began to engulf his neighborhood.
Mallen spent Jan. 7 trying to get his family’s sentimental items out of the house and prepare it as best he could for the coming fires.
“Trust in leadership and systems has absolutely failed us”
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Blake Mallen, a 44-year-old businessman and lifelong California resident, made sure his wife and children, ages six and nine, were safely evacuated before staying to try to save his Pacific Palisades home as flames began to engulf his neighborhood. (Handout)
“We filled every sink, we [got] all the towels, we put them under the door. We pulled the guts out. We turned off the fire extinguishers,” Mallen told Fox News Digital. “We did everything. We started getting all the… things that would be hard to replace.”
For hours that day, Mallen and his neighbor Alex worked to extinguish hundreds of “hot spots” around their homes using garden sheds and buckets.
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Mallen and his neighbor spent hours trying to put out the “hot spots” in their neighborhood themselves using garden hoses and buckets. (Handout)
As night fell, the fires and the wind grew stronger, and Mallen watched as they approached his neighborhood in the dark.
“Night came and it began to turn into Armageddon.”
“Obviously everything has gone dark, which means the flames look like hell,” Mallen recalled. “I watched him climb the mountain and all the way to the canyon and jump over the canyon.”
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As night fell, the fires and the wind grew stronger, and Mallen watched as they approached his neighborhood in the dark. (Handout)
Mallen said strong winds blowing in all directions made the fires “apocalyptic”.
“It was a firestorm,” he said.
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The water eventually ran out in the early morning hours of January 8, so they began filling buckets with water from a neighbor’s pool to fight the embers and flames. There were no firefighters in the neighborhood at the time.
The water eventually ran out in the early morning hours of January 8, so they began filling buckets with water from a neighbor’s pool to fight the embers and flames. There were no firefighters in the neighborhood at the time. (Handout)
Mallen “out of desperation” “started running” out of his neighborhood in search of firefighters and came upon three fire engines parked on the side of the road around 3am on January 8. He was banging on the truck’s windows, and when Mallen got the attention of one of the firefighters, the first responder told Mallen that they, too, were out of water.
“Firefighters and engines were sent to the scene ready to fight — like, trained men, heroes, ready. There was nothing they could do,” Mallen said, adding that it was “not their fault.”
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Mallen returned to his neighborhood feeling defeated, but he and Alex continued to try to put out the flames with pool water.
Blake Mallen poses with his wife and children on the beach. (Handout)
That next morning they thought they were over the worst. Mallen even called his family members to tell them he thought he had saved his home, but soon after, while walking down his street, Mallen noticed a house four doors down from him smoking from the attic — a telltale sign, Mallen said. , of a house that almost burned down.
That attic smoke eventually did as he suspected, turning into an attic fire and then a structure fire that spread to other neighboring homes, including Mallen’s.
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The 44-year-old eventually saw a fire truck driving down his street and “begged” the men inside to help put out the flames he was sure would engulf his house.
The 44-year-old eventually saw a fire truck driving down his street and “begged” the men inside to help put out the flames he was sure would engulf his house. (Handout)
“I just begged them. I said, ‘This is my house right here. This house right here is on fire. We have to stop this fire because if this fire goes away, my house will burn and the street will burn.’ … So I begged them, and they listened,” Mallen said.
Mallen said the firefighters who stopped to help him made a heroic effort with half a tank of water in the engine they used to help him.
“They took the most inspiring, supreme position. You can imagine the fire crew … like a movie scene. Heroism,” Mallen said. “They got out the chainsaws. They were cutting hedges with chainsaws between the houses to remove the hedges. They physically started uprooting trees in preparation to stop the jump. They lined up a fire and a huge cannon hose in between, waiting to protect the work.”
Mallen said the firefighters who stopped to help him made a heroic effort with half a tank of water in the engine they used to help him. (brochure)
But despite Mallen’s efforts and the valiant work of firefighters trying to contain the fire and extinguish the flames, the fire eventually reached his attic. No one could do anything to stop the fire from spreading because there was not enough water.
Mallen and his family lost their home of seven years, which was fully paid off.
“If that hydrant had water, my house would have been saved. If the trucks had water, the house, the street would never have caught fire.”
“We were on limited rotating water. So … it wasn’t, like, a constant stream. There’s a hydrant literally right across the street from my house, 20 feet. If that hydrant had water, my house would have been saved,” Mallen said . “If the trucks had water, the house, the street would never have caught fire. … The firemen over there, that’s all they’ve been saying the whole time.”
Mallen and his family lost their home of seven years, which was fully paid off. (Handout)
Mallen said State Farm dropped coverage in September. (brochure)
On Jan. 10, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office shared a letter addressing hydrants running out of water, stating that “while the overall water supply in Southern California is not an issue, water mobility in the initial response was an issue.”
“The ongoing reports of loss of water pressure at some local fire hydrants during the fire and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir are deeply concerning to me and the community,” Newsom wrote. “We need answers as to how this happened.”
The governor added that he has launched an investigation into the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).
To make matters worse, State Farm dropped Mallen from its insurance in September, he said.
“How come I’m the story of the American dream — an entrepreneur who worked his own business to get his family home, paid it off without having any debt and no mortgage…a dream we should all have…and I literally didn’t have one the possibility of protection, safety and security of your family home and your life’s work?” Mallen said.
State Farm did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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A destroyed house in Mallen’s neighborhood. (Handout)
He noted that Californians pay “exorbitant amounts of taxes” — taxes that he has paid for decades, as a lifelong Californian — and yet, “we can’t even have water in our own hoses to protect our own homes,” Mallen said.
Mallen said he is speaking out now to share his story, which he said represents thousands of other families who lost everything when they were displaced by the wildfires in California. He wants “to shine a light on a story that is ours, but also represents thousands of others in similar situations in a way that creates absolutely necessary change,” he said.
The destroyed back patio of the Mallen family. (Handout)
“The only thing more powerful than a wildfire that just burned thousands of homes, including my home, will be a community coming together to rebuild it,” he said.
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Mallen family members have started a GoFundMe called “Mallen Family Restart” to help Blake and his wife rebuild after the devastation.
From Friday morning, Cal Fire reported that more than 40,600 hectares had burned and more than 12,300 structures had been destroyed by the fires. At least 27 people have been confirmed dead in the fire, although that number could rise as dozens are still missing.
