Best friends flee California fires, seek refuge in Phoenix
PHOENIX - With Los Angeles just six-to-seven hours away, there are some Californians evacuating the fires and coming to Arizona.
Among them are two best friends who say they're privileged to have a family home to come to here in Phoenix.
These images are what Casey Bae sent to his mom before evacuating from West Hollywood yesterday with his best friend.
The high winds, visible flames and overpowering black smoke all factored into the choice to head east.
"Regardless of where you are in LA, if you have the privilege to get out, you should," said Rachel Thorpe.
Best friends, Rachel and Casey, have lived in the Los Angeles area for years and know fires happen too often in the Golden State.
But this week, the fires were raging less than a mile from where Casey lives.
"I go outside and just walk out to the street and I see the mountain that I literally see every day is just on fire," said Bae. "I was completely taken aback and I was just like, 'Oh my god, it's here!'"
Casey says his safety concerns were not just for himself, but also his two pets.
"It's so hard to keep an animal safe in general life but then you add a natural disaster on top of that," said Bae.
Rachel says she lives a bit further from the evacuation zones but was quick to sign on for a drive to Casey's family home in Phoenix with her own two pets in tow.
The pair left L.A. on Wednesday and, according to Rural Metro Fire's Shawn Gilleland, anyone evacuating a fire zone should prepare for 72 hours away with a to-go bag full of essentials ready.
"You're talking about important papers and documents you may need. Insurance paperwork, birth certificates, memories maybe saved to a hard drive of some kind, something portable. Medications, prescriptions, medical equipment, if you have kids, stuff to entertain the kids, charging cords. You really have to think ‘what am I gonna need for 72 hours to wait for my house if there's a fire?'" said Gilleland.
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Casey and Rachel say they're grateful to have a safe place to ride out the fires but share concern for those who aren't able to leave or choose not to.
"Some don't have family nearby or just don't have access to the resources or can't afford to just go out and get an Airbnb not knowing if they will get reimbursed, you know there's a lot of unknowns with this and especially with it happening so fast," said Casey.
"California does have wildfires, but this is completely out of the ordinary and I think it should be taken very seriously and it's nothing light," said Rachel.
Both Casey and Rachel mentioned the Watch Duty app.
It's a tool we use here in our newsroom to keep track of fires in our communities.
As we know all too well, fires are raging here in the Grand Canyon State and having an evacuation plan is a good idea for Arizonans.