'Purgatory': Los Angeles fire leaves nothing but a tiny momento / Photo: Cecilia SANCHEZ - AFP
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'Purgatory': Los Angeles fire leaves nothing but a tiny momento
When Kyle Kucharski and Nicole Perri moved into their dream home in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, they bought a crate of wine to mark the realization of a dream, and put it aside for a special day.
That day never came.
Now after a raging fire destroyed almost the entire neighborhood, all they have left is the empty box with the brand name written across it: Purgatory.
"We bought it when we moved in," said Kucharski.
"It was like we bought wine for our place to celebrate, and we never drank it."
"It is kind of funny... 'purgatory'," he winced.
The couple and their two babies -- a newborn and an 18-month-old -- were among thousands who fled their homes in terror on Tuesday as a wind-whipped wildfire ripped through Pacific Palisades.
Firefighters were helpless in the face of winds hitting 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour that flung fireballs from house to house, reducing whole streets to ash.
Around 10,000 buildings have been destroyed in multiple blazes that erupted around Los Angeles, in a chaotic nightmare that has upended the city.
The Palisades fire was the first, followed by an inferno that has flattened much of Altadena. Several other fires have sparked fear and evacuations, with over 150,000 people displaced and 11 dead.
On Friday Kucharski and Perri crossed police checkpoints to get back into the Palisades evacuation zone to see what remained of their lives.
"I was expecting to find... I don't know... anything," said Perri as tears welled in her eyes. "Anything to take home and remember this place."
Instead there were ashes and twisted metal; the useless remains of two happy years in what used to be one of the most desirable parts of Los Angeles.
"The nursery was right there," Perri said, gesturing to the still-smoking mess.
"The kitchen was there. Our bedroom was right here. And this is the garage... well, was the garage."
As they picked their way through the outline of the ground floor, rubble crunched underfoot -- the furniture, artwork, kitchen appliances, books and clothes that made up their lives.
"Oh man, oh man," says a shaken Kucharski, turning to hold his sobbing wife.
"I feel broken. I feel lost. I feel devastated," said Perri.
"I don't want to have to tell my boys that this was their home and it's gone."
K.Willems--JdB
