As thousands of people evacuate from the devastating wildfires that ripped through Los Angeles this week, a few good Samaritans remained behind to help those most vulnerable.
When Eddie DeFerrari and his brother-in-law Ray Moore saw a senior center in need of evacuation Tuesday night, they didn't hesitate.
“There were about 90 patients locked up there,” said De Ferrari of the Pacific Palisades facility. “Everyone was in a wheelchair or on a stretcher.”
A team of able-bodied patients assembled, and De Ferrari and Moore began transporting the patients, many of them in their 90s, to a nearby 7-Eleven parking lot and transporting them by ambulance or bus to safety.
It wasn't an easy job.
“The wind was very strong and debris was flying around,” De Ferrari said, noting that some patients had to be brought to safety. “The air was very smoky. Most of the workers and patients had a lot of breathing problems.”
“Some patients were silent,” De Ferrari said. “Some expressed fear and anger. But everyone who helped us remained calm. Between my brother-in-law and I, we felt we could handle anything.”
Eventually, all 90 residents were taken to the Pasadena Convention Center, where they were treated and fed. The senior center and all surrounding buildings were gutted overnight.
Altameda resident Dawn Cafaro began evacuating on Wednesday after having sickening thoughts about her neighbor, 82-year-old Dorothy Mudge.
“I thought, 'Has someone picked up Dottie?'” Cafaro told the Post.
Cafaro, an administrative assistant, turned her car around and found Madge sitting in the living room watching the news.
“I told her, 'Okay, I have to go,'” said Cafaro, who emptied some personal items from the car to make room for the older woman.
“I can replace mine, but I can't replace Dottie.”
After evacuating his family, Aras Baskauskas, who lives in a rustic valley near the Pacific Palisades, returned to his neighborhood to help his neighbors save their homes.
On Thursday, Baskauskas, 43, put out a fire in a neighbor's house while keeping an eye on his home, which is currently undamaged.
“We are taking care of the land and putting out small fires to prevent them from becoming larger,” he said. “We are doing everything we can to extinguish the fire.”
Buskauskas hopes someone will come and protect her neighborhood, but admits that's unlikely.
“The fire department has a very small footprint, so it really takes a community effort to keep homes safe,” he said.
“This is a hellscape of LA right now,” he added. “That's strange.”
