Police Academy star Steve Guttenberg is continuing to help Pacific Palisades neighbors amid raging LA fires
Steve Guttenberg is continuing to help his Pacific Palisades neighbors following his evacuation last week amid the Los Angeles fires.
The Police Academy star has been actively trying to lend a helping hand wherever he can since the devastating Palisades Fire has engulfed his city, which has mostly been reduced to rubble.
‘At this time I have the choice of sitting down and walking or standing up and doing what I can. I choose to stand and fight. And help,’ the actor told People.
A source also told the outlet that Guttenberg, whose house narrowly survived the initial blazes that have destroyed thousands of other structures, has ‘banded together with several neighbors whose homes also made it’ to do good.
‘They are having meals together, working on getting brush out of the way, trying to put out smoldering fires, and fighting embers in the air,’ the insider revealed. ‘They have been getting food and necessities, portable heaters, water, through rapid relief groups and sharing everything, and basically are taking care of each other.’
Additionally, the source stated that he and his neighbors are apprehensive about the rising winds, which are said to be kicking up.’
Steve Guttenberg is continuing to help his Pacific Palisades neighbors following his evacuation last week amid the Los Angeles fires; seen earlier this month at the Golden Globes
This has prompted Guttenberg to ‘clear and clean up as much as possible in the neighborhood.’
The star’s $5 million Pacific Palisades home narrowly avoided igniting this week as the initial Los Angeles wildfire tore through his neighborhood.
The still-burning inferno leveled many celebrity mansions in the area, including properties belonging to Anna Faris, Heidi Montag, Paris Hilton, and Ricki Lake.
Guttenberg’s home is still standing despite the singed wreckage surrounding it.
‘Just this morning, I woke up and I was really conscious of my mental state and my mental health, because the last three days, I’ve seen so much tragedy,’ the 66-year-old actor told the Associated Press on Friday.
‘It’s like when someone dies suddenly,’ he described of the shock. ‘It’s like when someone gets hit by a car. You never expect that to happen. That’s how shocking it was.’
‘There’s really a lot of pain going on right now. I’m doing whatever I can to help alleviate it,’ the star said of how he’s showing up for his community.
Steve was among the first to provide assistance last week as he helped move abandoned cars out of fire trucks’ pathway.
The Police Academy star has been actively trying to lend a helping hand wherever he can since the devastating Palisades Fire has engulfed his city, which has mostly been reduced to rubble
‘At this time I have the choice of sitting down and walking or standing up and doing what I can. I choose to stand and fight. And help,’ the actor told People (Palisades Fire pictured earlier this week)
A source revealed that Guttenberg, whose house has survived the initial blazes that have destroyed thousands of other structures, has ‘banded together with several neighbors whose homes also made it’ to do good; a California Conservation Corps fire crew seen clearing brush in Santa Monica
He told KTLA 5’s Gene Kang: ‘What’s happening is people take their keys with them as if they’re in a parking lot. This is not a parking lot. We really need people to move their cars.
‘If you leave your car behind, leave the key in there so a guy like me can move your car so that these fire trucks can get up there.’
Guttenberg explained that he had friends who were struggling to evacuate due to the traffic jam on Palisades Drive as he stressed: ‘It’s really, really important.
‘There are people stuck up there. So we’re trying to clear Palisades Dr. and I’m walking up there as far as I can moving cars.’
Tom Hanks’ multimillion-dollar cliffside home also evaded the flames caused by strong winds.
Bill Hader’s home also remarkably survived the devastating Los Angeles fires while his neighbors were not as fortunate.
Steve was among the first to provide assistance last week as he helped move abandoned cars out of fire trucks’ pathway
He told KTLA 5’s Gene Kang: ‘What’s happening is people take their keys with them as if they’re in a parking lot. This is not a parking lot. We really need people to move their cars’
The devastation in Southern California began unfolding last Tuesday when a combination of heavy wind and lack of rain created the perfect condition for a brush fire in the Pacific Palisades.
It is the largest of at least six fires that have devastated the Los Angeles area to become the most destructive in modern California history.
At least 24 people losing their lives and over 12,000 buildings burning to the ground.
At least eight of the 24 people killed by the wildfires died in the Palisades blaze.
The devastation in Southern California began unfolding last Tuesday when a combination of heavy wind and lack of rain created the perfect condition for a brush fire in the Pacific Palisades; the damage from the Palisades Fire seen above
It comes as Los Angeles was placed under an unprecedented wind warning amid fears 70mph gusts could trigger a new inferno.
The National Weather Service issued a fourth ‘particularly dangerous situation’ warning to take effect 4am Tuesday, cautioning that winds of up to 70mph will last through noon Wednesday.
Huge swaths of the bone-dry city are under the new warning from Ventura across much of the San Fernando Valley, while areas from San Diego to San Bernardino remain under conventional red flag warnings.
The fourth warning comes after the previous three this fire season brought havoc to the densely populated area, including the ongoing Palisades and Eaton fires that have become among the deadliest in California history.
The last significant rainfall in downtown Los Angeles came in May 2024, and since October 1 just 0.16 inches of rain has fallen – compared to a historical average of 5.34 inches by this time, reports the LA Times.
Climatologist Bill Patzert told the outlet that ‘the past nine months has been one of the driest in the historical record going back to 1900. During my career, I’ve never seen punishing Santa Ana events so overwhelm the normal winter rain season.’
