LA fire: Criticism of the leadership of the Californian father who tried to save the house from wildfire
A California father of two who lost his home in wildfires on Jan. 8 is calling for a major change in leadership, saying the state’s residents have “absolutely failed” in the crisis.
“There’s a deep part of me right now, it’s not just my house that’s on fire and my life’s work that’s on fire. It’s our faith in the leadership and the system that’s failing us,” Blake Malen said. “…there’s a part of me that’s angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry, angry.”
Mallen, a 44-year-old entrepreneur and California resident, made sure his wife and children, ages 6 and 9, were safe before staying behind to save their Pacific Palisades home as the fire began to reach their neighborhood.
Mallen spent January 7 moving the family’s emotional belongings out of the house and preparing as best he could for the coming fires.
“It is the belief in the leadership and the system that saved us.”
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Blake Malen, a 44-year-old entrepreneur and California resident, made sure his wife and children, ages six and nine, were safe before staying behind to save their Pacific Palisades home as the fire began to reach their neighborhood. (manuscript)
“We filled every sink, we got all the towels, we put them under the doors. We took out the hoses. We turned off the fire extinguishers,” Malen told Fox News Digital. “We did everything. We started getting all the hard-to-replace….”
For hours that day, Malen and his neighbor Alex worked around their home using garden tools and buckets to remove hundreds of “hot spots.”
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Mallen and his neighbor spent hours in their own area using garden hoses and buckets to try to eradicate “hot spots.” (manuscript)
As night fell, the fire and wind grew stronger, and Malen watched them approach their camp in the darkness.
“Night came and began to turn towards Armageddon.”
“Everything went really dark, which meant the fire looked like an inferno,” Mallen recalled. “And I saw him climb the mountain and climb the canyon and jump the canyon.”
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As night fell, the fire and wind grew stronger, and Malen watched them approach their camp in the darkness. (manuscript)
Mallen said the fire became “apocalyptic” with strong winds blowing in all directions.
“It was a firestorm,” he said.
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They finally ran out of water early on January 8, so they started filling buckets with water from the neighbors pool to fight the falling flames. There were no firefighters in the area at the time.
They finally ran out of water early on January 8, so they started filling buckets with water from the neighbors pool to fight the falling flames. There were no firefighters in the area at the time. (manuscript)
Mallen drove away from the area to look for firefighters “out of desperation” when he came across three fire engines parked on the side of the road around 3am on January 8. He got the attention of one of the firefighters, who told Malin that the first responder was out of water.
“Firefighters and engines were sent out there ready to fight — like trained men, brave, ready. They couldn’t do anything,” Mallen said, adding, “It wasn’t their fault.”
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Defeated, Malen returns to camp, but he and Alex continue to try to put out the fire with pool water.
Blake Mallen poses with his wife and kids on the beach. (manuscript)
That next morning, they thought they were in for the worst. Thinking he had saved the house, Malen even called his family members, but soon as he walked down the street, he noticed Malen smoking a cigarette on the porch of a house four doors down. A house that was about to burn.
That attic smoke did as he suspected, turned into an attic fire, and then a fire that jumped to other neighboring homes, including Mallen’s.
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The 44-year-old man eventually saw a fire truck driving down the road and “begged” its occupants to put out the fire he believed was about to consume his home.
The 44-year-old man eventually saw a fire truck driving down the road and “begged” its occupants to put out the fire he believed was about to consume his home. (manuscript)
“I just begged them. This is my house, this house is burning, we have to stop this fire because if this fire goes, my house will burn, the road will burn,” I told them. … So I begged them, and they listened to me,” Malen 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.
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“They took the most inspiring last stand. You can imagine the firemen… like a movie scene. Bravery,” Mallen said. “They got the chainsaws out. They cut through the chainsaw fence between the houses to get rid of the fence. They physically prepared to take out the trees to stop the jump. They’re waiting for the fire and the huge cannon pipe between them. To protect the job.”
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. (raise hand)
But despite Mallen’s best efforts and the valiant efforts of firefighters to stop the fire in its tracks and put it out, the fire eventually reached the attic. Because there was not enough water, no one could stop the fire from spreading.
Malen and his family lost their home of seven years, which was fully paid for.
“If that culvert had water, my house would have survived, the cars would have had water, the house, the road would not have been on fire.”
“We were on a limited flow of water. So … it wasn’t like an eternal stream. There’s a 20-foot pool across from my house. If I had that hydrate water, my house would have been saved,” said Mallen. “If the trucks had water, the house, the road wouldn’t be on fire. … The firefighters over there, that’s all they were saying.”
Malen and his family lost their home of seven years, which was fully paid for. (manuscript)
Mallen said that State Farm dropped the cover in September. (raise hand)
On Jan. 10, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office shared a letter describing the water hydrants, saying, “While the overall water supply in Southern California was not a problem, there was a water mobility problem in the first response.”
“Reports of loss of water pressure to some local fire departments during the fire and lack of water supply from the Santa Ynez Reservoir are of great concern to me and the community,” Newsom wrote. “We need answers to how it happened.”
The governor added that an investigation has been launched into the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).
To make matters worse, State Farm dropped Maley from insurance coverage in September.
How am I? I am the story of the American Dream – a self-employed entrepreneur – to bring his family home, to pay it off, and to be debt free and loan free… I have the dream that we all dream of… and I literally had no choice but to protect, protect, and secure my family home and my life’s work. ? Malen said.
State Farm did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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A dilapidated house in the Mallen neighborhood. (manuscript)
He pointed out that Californians pay “excessive taxes” — taxes that have been paying for decades, like California for life — yet, “we can’t even have water in our own pipes to maintain our own homes,” Mallen said. .
Mallen said he is speaking out now to share his story, representing thousands of other families who lost everything when they were displaced by the California wildfires. He said, “We want to shine a spotlight on an absolutely necessary way to create change that is ours but also representative of thousands of other similar situations.”
Mallen’s family’s destroyed back porch. (manuscript)
“The only thing more powerful than a wildfire that burns thousands of homes is the community that comes together to rebuild my home,” he said.
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Mallen family members have started a GoFundMe titled “Mallen Family Restart” to help Blake and his wife rebuild after the disaster.
As of Friday morning, Cal fire More than 40,600 acres were reported burned and more than 12,300 structures were destroyed by the fire. At least 27 people have been confirmed dead in the fire, but the toll could rise as dozens are still missing.