‘If you go any further, you will die’: Fleeing flames from Palisades addiction recovery center
Gregg Champion was trying to reach his Pacific Palisades business Tuesday morning when he was met with flames so intense he could feel their heat and smoke so dense he struggled to breathe.
Champion, 56, was about 100 yards away from the door of his business, the drug treatment and addiction center Start-Up Recovery on Paseo Miramar, when personnel battling the Palisades fire stopped him.
“If you go any further, you will die,” a firefighter told him.
Pacific Palisades fire explodes to nearly 3,000 acres as thousands of residents flee, homes are lost
More than 1,000 homes, businesses and other buildings have burned and at least two people are dead in wildfires burning across L.A. County, making this one of the most destructive firestorms to hit the region in memory.
While he and a treatment center employee had been heading toward the addiction recovery center, other staff members had evacuated all clients.
Champion was led down a hill leading away from his business by fire personnel and headed to his home on Grenola Street. He and his family gathered overnight bags and personal items and sat through an hour and a half of traffic before making it out of Pacific Palisades.
They were looking for a hotel room for the night and monitoring news reports. Champion’s daughters attend Calvary Christian School and Palisades Jewish Early Childhood Center Chabad. On TV, Champion watched the latter school burn.
“The best thing you can do is prepare to evacuate,” he said. “I have three beautiful daughters, an amazing wife and two dogs, and I’m just going to be safe rather than sorry.”
At Calvary Christian School, a teacher told The Times they were surprised by the speed of the Palisades fire.
“There have been fires before, and we’re always really cautious. We always have an eye on safety,” said the educator, who was not authorized to speak publicly. “But this popped up so quickly. It looked like a movie; it was really quite startling.”
With 15 minutes of the first notification of the fire at the school at 701 Palisades Drive, fire engines from Station 23 began streaming up the roadway. At first, the school ordered instructors to keep the children inside and began handing out masks.
“There was a tremendous amount of smoke on the campus,” the teacher said. “We could see the flames. Some of the students were upset that their homes were taken or up in flames. It was very traumatic.”
Parents began to pick up their children, so when school administrators decided to evacuate the school, most of the students had already left. The teacher, along with other staff, had carefully monitored who was picking up the children: “We just can’t hand kids off to those we don’t know.”
More than 1,000 homes, businesses and other buildings have burned and at least two people are dead in wildfires burning across L.A. County, making this one of the most destructive firestorms to hit the region in memory.
Those children who remained proceeded down Palisades Drive — hand in hand, guided by staff members — to Station 23. From there, with air quality worsening and roads closed, they continued to Pacific Coast Highway, stopping first at Gladstones Restaurant and then walking down the highway to the Bel-Air Bay Club, about a mile and a half from the school.
“We were walking all the way,” the teacher said. “We did a good job snagging kids. Some couldn’t go home because of the fire. It happened so quickly.”
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
