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A California father of two who lost his home to wildfires on Jan. 8 calls for significant leadership changes “that absolutely failed” state residents in a crisis.
“There’s a deep part of me right now that thinks it wasn’t just my house that burned and my life’s work that burned. It’s the trust in leadership and systems that absolutely failed us,” he said. Blake Mallen. “…There’s a part of me that’s just disappointed, disappointed, angry, that I…failed leadership in a system that I worked my whole life doing the right thing to get to a point where everyone is supposed to.” they must arrive.”
Mallen, a 44-year-old businessman and lifelong California resident, He made sure his wife and children, ages 6 and 9, were safely evacuated before staying behind to try to save their Pacific Palisades home when flames began reaching their neighborhood.
Mallen spent Jan. 7 trying to get her family’s sentimental items out of the house and preparing it as best she could for the impending fires.
“It is trust in leadership and systems that absolutely failed us”
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Blake Mallen, a 44-year-old businessman and lifelong California resident, made sure his wife and children, ages six and nine, were safely evacuated before staying behind to try to save their Pacific Palisades home when The flames began to reach their neighborhood. (Brochure)
“We filled all the sinks, got all the towels, put them under the doors. We took out the hoses. We turned off the fire extinguishers,” Mallen told Fox News Digital. “We did everything. We started getting all the… things that would be hard to replace.”
For hours that day, Mallen and his neighbor, Alex, worked to eliminate hundreds of “hot spots” around their homes using garden sheds and buckets.
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Mallen and his neighbor spent hours trying to put out “hot spots” in their neighborhood themselves using garden hoses and buckets. (Brochure)
As night fell, the fires and wind grew stronger, and Mallen watched as they approached his neighborhood in the darkness.
“Night came and Armageddon began to turn.”
“Obviously everything went dark, which means the flames look like an inferno,” Mallen recalled. “And I watched him go up the mountain and up the canyon and jump over the canyon.”
As night fell, the fires and wind grew stronger, and Mallen watched as they approached his neighborhood in the darkness. (Brochure)
Mallén said that with winds blowing strongly in all directions, the fires became “apocalyptic.”
“It was a firestorm,” he said.
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Finally, the water ran out in the early hours of January 8, so they began filling buckets with water from the neighbors’ pool to combat the falling embers and flames. There were no firefighters in the neighborhood at that time.
Finally, the water ran out in the early hours of January 8, so they began filling buckets with water from the neighbors’ pool to combat the falling embers and flames. There were no firefighters in the neighborhood at that time. (Brochure)
Mallen “started running” away from his neighborhood in search of firefighters “out of desperation” and came across three fire trucks parked on the side of the road around 3 a.m. on Jan. 8. He knocked on the windows of the trucks, and when Mallen caught the attention of one of the firefighters, the lifeguard told Mallen that they, too, were out of water.
“Firefighters and machines were sent to the scene ready to fight, like trained people, heroes, ready. They couldn’t do anything,” Mallen said, adding that “it wasn’t their fault.”
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Mallen returned to his neighborhood feeling defeated, but he and Alex continued trying to put out the flames with pool water.
Blake Mallen poses with his wife and children on the beach. (Brochure)
The next morning, they thought they were over the worst. Mallen even called his relatives to let them know he thought he had saved his house, but soon after, while walking down his street, Mallen noticed a house four doors down from his own smoking from the attic, a telltale sign, Mallen said. of a house that was about to catch fire.
That attic smoke eventually did what he suspected, turning into an attic fire and then a structure fire that jumped to other neighboring homes, including Mallen’s.
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The 44-year-old finally saw a fire truck driving down his street and “begged” the men inside to help him put out the flames that he was sure were about to consume his home.
The 44-year-old eventually saw a fire truck driving down his street and “begged” the men inside to help him put out the flames that he was sure were about to consume his home. (Brochure)
“I just begged them. I told them, ‘This is my house right here. This house is on fire. We need to stop this fire because if this fire goes out, my house will burn and the street will burn.’…So I begged them and they listened to me.” ” Mallen said.
Mallén said the firefighters who stopped to help him made a heroic effort with half a tank of water in the engine they used to help him.
“They took the most inspiring and definitive stance. You could imagine a fire team… like a movie scene. Heroism,” Mallen said. “They brought out chainsaws. They cut a line of hedge with chainsaws between the houses to remove the hedge. They physically begin to uproot trees in preparation to stop the jump. They line up the fire and the giant cannon hose in the middle, waiting to protect the work. “
Mallén said the firefighters who stopped to help him made a heroic effort with half a tank of water in the engine they used to help him. (brochure)
But despite Mallen’s efforts and the brave work of firefighters trying to stop the fire and put out the flames, the fire eventually reached his attic. No one could do anything to stop the fire because there was not enough water.
Mallen and his family lost their home of seven years, which was completely paid for.
“If that hydrant had had water, my house would have been saved. If the trucks had had water, the house and the street would never have caught fire.”
“We had limited rotating water. So… it wasn’t like a perpetual stream. There’s a hydrant literally right in front of my house, 20 feet away. If that hydrant had had water, my house would have been saved,” he said Mallen. . “If the trucks had had water, the house, the street would never have caught fire… The firefighters there, that’s all they said all the time.”
Mallen and his family lost their home of seven years, which was completely paid for. (Brochure)
Mallen said State Farm dropped its coverage in September. (brochure)
On January 10, Governor Gavin Newsom’s office shared a letter about hydrants running out of water, stating that “while overall water supply in Southern California is not an issue, water mobility in the initial response yes it was.”
“Current reports of loss of water pressure at some local fire hydrants during the fires and unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir are deeply concerning to me and the community,” Newsom wrote. “We need answers about how that happened.”
The governor added that he launched an investigation into the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).
To make matters worse, State Farm dropped Mallen from its insurance coverage in September, he said.
“How is it possible that I am the story of the American dream, a businessman who worked hard to get his family’s house, pay it off, and have no debt or a mortgage… the dream we are all supposed to have. ..and I literally didn’t have an option for the safety, security, and security of my family home and my life’s work?” Mallen said.
State Farm did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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A destroyed house in the Mallen neighborhood. (Brochure)
He noted that Californians pay “an exorbitant amount of taxes” (taxes he has been paying for decades, as a lifelong Californian) and yet “we can’t even have water in our own hoses to protect our own homes,” Mallen said. .
Mallen said she is speaking out now to share her story, which she said represents thousands of other families who lost everything when they were displaced by the California wildfires. He wants to “highlight a story that is ours but also represents thousands of people in similar situations in a way to create absolutely necessary change,” he said.
The Mallen family’s destroyed backyard. (Brochure)
“The only thing more powerful than a wildfire that just burned thousands of homes, and my home, will be the community that comes together to rebuild it,” he said.
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Members of Mallen’s family have started a GoFundMe titled “Mallen Family Restart” to help Blake and his wife rebuild after the devastation.
Starting Friday morning, lime fire reported that more than 40,600 acres had burned and more than 12,300 structures were destroyed in the fires. At least 27 people were confirmed to have died in the fire, although that number could increase as dozens are still missing.
