Palisades wildfire: Candace Cameron Bure fears families and small businesses will not recover from the devastation
Candace Cameron Bure shared her fears that Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighborhood will struggle to recover after wildfires ravaged the upscale area.
The Palisades Fire, which was fueled by strong Santa Ana winds and ignited in the Santa Monica Mountains late Tuesday morning, has already consumed more than 15,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,000 buildings, Fox Weather reported Wednesday.
Bure, who has lived in Pacific Palisades for more than three decades, told Fox News Digital she was “overwhelmed” to describe the effect the fire would have on local families and small businesses.
“It changes everything,” the actress said Wednesday afternoon.
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Candace Cameron Bure said she was “overwhelmed” to describe the effect the Palisades fire would have on residents and businesses in the area. (Getty Images)
“And because the destruction is so great, I can’t imagine how long it will take to rebuild,” Bure continued. “And who knows if small businesses will ever be able to recover or rebuild, depending on what their insurance claims are and all that stuff.
“So much fire insurance [companies] completely fell out of these areas that are in the canyons,” she added. “I know when we lived there, we couldn’t get fire insurance. And so when you think about these things, it’s really overwhelming what people will go through.”
“It changes everything.”
The “Full House” alum noted that Pacific Palisades is a tight-knit community of homes and mostly small businesses. Although the long-term effect of the fire is uncertain, Bure expressed confidence that residents will band together.
“It’s a really special pocket of Los Angeles where life, family and community matter,” she said. “And, so, in that sense, I know this community will rally around each other. Malibu will rally. We’ve done it in the past. We’ll do it again.”
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Pacific Palisades, nestled in the hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean, encompasses 23,431 acres between Malibu and Santa Monica. Firefighters continue to battle the Palisades Fire, which has burned more than 15,800 acres, Fox News reported Wednesday.
The affluent area is home to a number of celebrities affected by the massive fire. AND growing list of stars, including James Woods, Sandra Lee and Steve Guttenberg shared updates after being evacuated Tuesday afternoon.
It’s the Palisade fire one of the six fires raging in Los Angeles County since Wednesday, according to Cal Fire. The six fires are zero percent contained, authorities said. Five people died in the Eaton fire that has been burning since Tuesday afternoon in Altadena, near Pasadena.
Bure and her family lived in Pacific Palisades for more than 30 years. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Bure told Fox News Digital that seeing the destruction from the inferno in Pacific Palisades was “heartbreaking.”
“Right now I’m staring out my window and watching the mountain burn,” she said. “It’s devastating. And it’s so emotionally overwhelming. We’ve lived in the Palisades for 30 years. We just sold our home last year. But all of our friends in our community are still there.
“We raised our children there,” added Bure. “And they were going to school and we were going to church and eating frozen yogurt and grocery shopping. And to see that completely even out is — it’s heartbreaking and devastating. And it’s sad. And we just have so many friends and family, and it works are about the countless people we know personally who have lost their homes.
The affluent area is home to a number of celebrities affected by the massive fire. (Michael Ho Wai Lee/Sipa via AP)
“I think the hardest part right now is that we’re still watching it burn,” Bure added. “The winds aren’t improving. They’re not supposed to really weaken until tomorrow at 6. So it’s like you’re actively trying to, you know, want to do something, and yet there’s not much you can do until it settles down and it looks like it’s going to be forever.”
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More than 100,000 residents of Los Angeles County remain under evacuation orders. Bure told Fox News Digital that she has been in contact with her former neighbors since they fled the Palisade fire Tuesday.
“I talked to them all the time,” Bure said. – Everyone was evacuated.
The Palisades Fire has burned more than 15,800 acres, Fox News reported Wednesday afternoon. (Etienne Laurent/AP)
Bure explained that she and husband Valeri Bure saw the destruction in their former neighborhood through videos posted on social media.
– Now the hardest thing is that we are still watching it burn.
“There are some houses that are still there, and a lot of them are gone,” she said. “We personally have friends who [were] they are still waiting to see if their house is up and then confirmed they have lost everything. So, yeah, it’s pretty tough.”
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“It’s like you want to help, and there’s just not much you can do at this point,” Bure added.
Bure and her husband Valeri were in contact with their former neighbors who fled the area. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
As a longtime resident of Pacific Palisades, Bure recalled that she and her family have dealt with numerous wildfires over the years. However, she said their most harrowing experience came when glass fire rampaged through Northern California’s Napa Valley in 2020 and threatened their home in the area.
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“We thought we were going to lose our home,” she recalled. “We didn’t. But the flames immediately erupted and the firefighters were able to save our home there.
“So, yes, we’ve experienced it. It’s heartbreaking and terrifying. There’s something about fire over everything [other] natural disasters. I mean, they’re all horrible and terrifying.
“However, when it comes to fire, you just—you look at it, and it feels like hell.”
