Three Montrealers living in L.A. brace themselves for the unknown of deadly wildfires

It’s been a week since a series of catastrophic and historic wildfires have been burning in the Los Angeles area and surrounding regions.

Three Montrealers living in L.A. have not only their safety on their minds, but how the community rebuilds – and their resilience, as extreme critical fire weather is now forecasted again for Southern California.

Montreal visual artist Jamie Ross, and former Montrealers Geneviève Case and Laura Feiner all say they are bracing for the unknown.

“The aftermath that followed is total destruction of so many of my friends’ studios and archives and homes,” said Jamie Ross, Montreal visual artist/filmmaker living in L.A. and San Francisco.

“Once we realized the magnitude of it, we did start packing and had everything by the door pretty quickly, the cats carriers and the dog ready to go,” said Laura Feiner, former Montrealer living in L.A., near Hollywood Hills.

“So yeah, it was unprecedented and definitely, once we realized the magnitude, it was very scary.”

Ross had evacuated early after suffering an asthma attack due to the air quality.

Feiner and her husband had evacuated for hours, they returned home once the Hollywood Hills fire threat receded.

 They had prepared “go bags” while waiting for the evacuation order. 

“Within 60 minutes, it was chaos and pandemonium, It was just horrible,” said Genevieve Case, former Montrealer living in L.A. and San Fernando Valley.

“This is the most significant forest fire event ever in California or at least in LA history,” said Ross. “I’ve never experienced anything like it.”  

“It was really scary,” said Feiner. “[It] went from kind of a little bit of smoke to a lot of smoke very, very quickly.”  

All three Montrealers have been living in L.A. for years and noted that they are in the middle of the rainy season – but wet weather is something they haven’t experienced in a really long time they say.

“We actually haven’t had any significant amount of rain in 254 days, eight months since May of last year,” said Case.

“We are definitely all hoping for rain and keeping our fingers crossed,” said Feiner. “This is… you know, I haven’t lived here for very long, I’ve only lived here maybe for three years, but this is very unusual.”

Fires across the L.A. area have killed at least 24 people, and destroyed more than 12,000 structures across 155 square km. 

“Today, the Santa Ana winds are returning and there’ll be high winds from today, Monday until Wednesday,” said Ross.

“There’s a sense that since the rain is not scheduled to arrive, we could be in for a very long fire season.”

Fiener said donations are needed to help the wildfire efforts as she expects the rebuild could take years as reports suggest the damages are estimated to be over $200 billion in losses

Both she and Case say they are ready to leave if needed as red flag wind warnings have been made in regions across L.A. once again.

“This is going to be a long-term event for the next 48 hours, specifically this afternoon and tonight,” said Case.

“[But] we really have to be on our toes because any embers, that kick-up, any fire that’s set anywhere, the situation could repeat itself.”