‘It’s Like A War Zone’

The wildfires in the Los Angeles area have rapidly expanded, consuming nearly 17,000 acres and destroying thousands of structures, making it the most destructive wildfire in the city’s history.

The blaze has led to the evacuation of more than 100,000 residents, including several celebrities, and has resulted in at multiple fatalities. Fueled by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds, the fire has been challenging to contain and has been spreading to various areas. It remains largely uncontrolled with zero percent containment, as of Thursday morning.

Hollywood resident, Cathy J. Hood, a successful publicist in the Los Angeles area, shared her perspective of what it’s like being in the middle of this terrifying situation exclusively with The Blast.

Hood, a 15-year resident of Hollywood, shared her perspective of the wildfires and how it’s impacting the entire area with The Blast. While she has a scary view of how things are unfolding around her, she’s safe but said “it’s like a war zone outside.”

“It’s interesting because you’ve been seeing a greater impact in the Palisades and then also Palos Verdes. There’s a couple of fires happening, actually forming this circle around Hollywood, in this area,” she told The Blast exclusively. “It’s very creepy. It’s like a war zone outside.”

She also described the scene as “really terrifying” seeing many historic parts of the Los Angeles area being destroyed.

“The highway, where it leads into Malibu, it’s crazy to see the fire and the destruction,” she continued.

Hood told The Blast that she’s far enough away in Hollywood that she’s not in an evacuation zone, but the air is “dangerously terrible.” She said the entire situation has been “eye opening.”

When asked if she’s worried about it getting closer, she explained her perspective.

“I’m a bit worried, because we don’t know with the wind, it’s really, really windy out here, and you really can’t tell when they’ll be able to put the fires out because it is spreading, so I’m concerned about how far it will spread,” she explained.

“And every time I’m looking online, which I’m religiously checking, you really start to see the major effects and you start to see this move. As I’m looking at the clouds right now, I’m actually seeing the smoke move. It’s interesting because one side of L.A. is light, there’s no smoke, but then the other side, there’s very heavy smoke.”

For the people who are safe from the fire but are impacted by the rapidly spreading smoke, Hood said it’s important to think about the air quality and to find ways to protect your health.

“With the smoke, for those that are greatly impacted, evacuate and go somewhere safe, and for those who are on the brink of being impacted or are impacted by the smoke, learn about air purification at your home. That’s so important,” she explained. “As the smoke is going on outside our doors, what does that air pollution look like in people’s homes? All of those chemicals and pollutants are just there from what we’ve taken from outside.”

Hood explained that this is the perfect time to look into a “top notch” air purifier. This is especially important for people who suffer from asthma or other health conditions.

“There are even products to monitor air quality from outside versus inside the home and start learning about that because that’s how we could really save people’s health conditions long term,” she explained. “Some people have asthma. Imagine the people who have health conditions, heart conditions, asthma, and the smoke is getting closer and closer to their homes. What do they do?”

She also said it’s important for people to try to stay indoors and keep windows closed to avoid as much of the smoke as possible.

Regardless of where people live or work in the Los Angeles area, the normal day-to-day life is being impacted in multiple ways. Like most people, Hood said she has a daily routine, and it’s being impacted in a few different ways.

“I woke up this morning and wanted to take my 7 a.m. cycling class, and the power went out,” she said. “Even on the way to the class, all of the streetlights were out in Hollywood, so it was really dangerous this morning to drive.”

She also said in some areas, there’s also been an internet outage.

Being a publicist with clients in areas that are heavily impacted by the fire means Hood is concerned and constantly checking in with people to make sure they’re okay. She’s also trying to find ways to help people throughout this tragic event.

“This is all everyone’s talking about right now. It’s very, very scary,” she said. “It’s really sensitive seeing people going through this.”

Hood’s final thoughts on this scary time is that everyone should understand that there’s “a lot going on in this world” and that people can make a “big difference and go a long way if we all participated.”

“So if you see someone in need, take action, donate, reach out to see if a friend is okay,” she said. “I think this is a wakeup call. I think these things happen to wake us up to realize that we’re human. We can all come together to really fix things and not make it chaotic.”