Southern California Blaze: Devastating Fire Claims Lives and Destroys Thousands of Homes – Live Updates

Egan is one of several artists in Los Angeles who have suffered the loss of their studios, their creations — and, in some cases, their residences — in the fires this week. Now, many are trying to reassemble their lives and express concerns about their ability to earn a living in the near future.

Diana Thater, an artist renowned for her nature-inspired film and light installations, along with her spouse, the conceptual artist T. Kelly Mason, kept their archive — consisting of decades’ worth of raw video material, master recordings, hard drives, and artworks — in a temperature-regulated garage that was consumed by flames along with their Altadena home.

“It’s challenging to reach 62 years of age and lose your whole existence in a single night,” Thater lamented from a friend’s residence in nearby Atwater Village, where she and Mason are sleeping on the floor along with their three cats.

Also gone is a project she had been commissioned to create for the reopening of the enlarged Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2026. “The raw footage is what truly devastates me,” Thater expressed. “Now, everything we possess is confined to this small space.”

Equipment and supplies can be replaced, akin to the melted camera gear that Thater estimated to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, the creations themselves are irreplaceable.

The multimedia creator Kathryn Andrews lost her Pacific Palisades residence as well as her entire art collection, which included works she had purchased or traded with prominent artists such as Rashid Johnson, Jim Shaw, and Charles Long. “They act as symbols of this beautiful community of friendship that develops among artists,” Andrews stated. “It’s just profoundly sad to lose that. No insurance can restore that.”

The artist Camilla Taylor is grieving “over 20 years of artistic creation,” encompassing hundreds, if not thousands, of prints, sketches, and sculptures crafted from metal, ceramic, and glass, which she stored in her West Altadena home studio, now reduced to debris. She had been preparing for three exhibitions this year, including one at the University of Nevada, Reno. “Typically, I’m a very last-minute artist, but I was so pleased with my progress — half of the work for a show in December was completed,” she remarked. “Now it has vanished.”

Kelly Akashi, known for creating haunting glass and bronze sculptures that reflect the transient nature of the natural world, anticipated returning to her Altadena residence and studio after leaving for a friend’s place on Tuesday evening. “You’re surveying the situation, thinking, what am I supposed to do — haul a bunch of sculptures in my Honda?” she remarked.

Ultimately, the fire consumed Akashi’s home and studio, including archival pieces, recent sculptures, and several works she intended to exhibit at her debut showcase at Lisson Gallery in Los Angeles later this month. She had contemplated titling one of her recent pieces “Monument to Loss.” Now, it is genuinely lost.

Egan, the artist who lost his creations for the upcoming showcase, resided and created out of the home where he was raised, located on Bienveneda Avenue in the Pacific Palisades. He described observing the fire advance from his window while his wife was in the shower. “There was a small plume of smoke, and by the time she exited the shower, the plume became as large as 30 football fields,” he recounted. “Within an hour, the sky turned black.”

Having sent his wife and kids out before him, Egan initially remained behind to attempt to coordinate trucks to save his paintings. However, his efforts were quickly deemed futile and misguided: every neighbor was rushing to evacuate around him. Upon his return days later, Egan discovered that his residence had “burned to the ground.”

Numerous residents of Pacific Palisades have also lost cherished artworks and family heirlooms. Several of the wealthiest collectors in Los Angeles are situated on the West Side of the city, which includes Pacific Palisades.

On Tuesday night, as the wildfire spread across the lawns, a manhopped onto his bicycle and entrusted two artworks to a nearby NBC Los Angeles correspondent, Robert Kovacik, for preservation. “The backyard is ablaze,” the cyclist stated in a clip that has gained popularity on social platforms. “I’m leaving.”

Among the renowned creators in Altadena whose residences or studios reportedly endured damage or destruction due to the fire was Paul McCarthy, who resided in Altadena close to his daughter, Mara, a gallery owner, and his son, Damon, who is also an artist. “It’s the house I was raised in,” Mara remarked during a phone conversation from a friend’s residence in Silver Lake. “Our entire family, our whole community, is heartbroken.” She further noted that as a consequence of the fire, her father had delayed his forthcoming exhibition at Hauser & Wirth in London.

The creator Ross Simonini mentioned that he lived just down the street from Paul McCarthy. “We lost our home, my studio, all my artworks from — forever,” Simonini expressed via phone from a rest area off Interstate 5. He was traveling with his wife, infant, and dog to stay with his father in Northern California. “It’s so dreadful, witnessing it now. I have an aerial photograph of our neighborhood and six blocks in every direction, there’s nothing.”