LA brain surgeon saves street from ‘apocalyptic’ wildfires

A Los Angeles neurosurgeon who fought for almost a week to save buildings on his street from the wildfires told the BBC he spent 15 years preparing for the event.

Malibu resident Dr. Chester Griffiths, 62, ignored evacuation orders to fight the Palisades fire with the help of his son and a neighbor, until emergency crews were able to reach them.

“We already knew the fire would come one day – but we didn’t know when,” Dr Griffiths told the BBC’s Today Programme.

“We didn’t know it would be so dangerous and so dangerous.”

Griffiths said he completed brain surgery hours before returning to his Malibu home last week to smoke out the fire, along with his son Chester Jnr and Colbert.

“The buildings were falling like dominoes,” he said.

Fortunately, he and his neighbor, Clayton Colbert, had made a plan to deal with such a fire and had removed the pipes to use.

Connecting four hoses and hydrants, Dr Griffiths, his son and Mr Colbert positioned themselves on a nearby roof to pump water onto the fire, and used dirt to extinguish the fire below.

“There were flames coming down on us for about 12 hours,” said Dr Griffiths.

The three were only joined by firefighters in the last few days of their weekend challenge because equipment was “stretched” due to the number of fires in the Los Angeles area.

“(The fire department) felt that all the buildings were beyond saving,” Dr Griffiths said.

He says he “totally understands” why the fire service was too busy to help, adding: “That’s why it’s important to train ahead of time, have your equipment and have the support of your community.”

Los Angeles firefighters are still battling two large fires and two smaller ones as they prepare for more destruction.

The Palisades Fire, burning between Santa Monica and Malibu west of the city, has burned more than 23,000 acres, and is among the deadliest in California history.

At least 24 people have died in the fire and 23 are missing in the Eaton and Palisades fire areas, with more than 90,000 people under evacuation orders.

Residents are waiting for another destruction as weather forecasts indicate that the winds that help fuel the flames may resume.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said “urgent preparations” are being made ahead of the approaching hurricane, which is expected throughout Tuesday.

President Biden has said that rebuilding parts of the city that were burned in nearly a week of wildfires will cost billions of dollars.