Residents of the well-known Hollywood Hills neighborhood in California were evacuated on Wednesday evening as a wildfire spread into the area. One of those evacuated, the renowned director from Kosovo, Blerim Gjoci, who lives in that neighborhood, described the situation in an interview with Voice of America.
Voice of America: Mr. Gjoci, thank you very much for agreeing to share your thoughts and describe the situation. Where are you now?
Blerim Gjoci: I am now in Hollywood Hills, right behind me you can see the Hollywood sign, that’s where I live. Last night, around 7 p.m., we received the evacuation order, so we all left as instructed. However, it wasn’t a major chaos; everything was quite orderly even though the traffic was very congested. We descended and ended up in a group of Albanians here on Hollywood Boulevard. We have a café where we meet, and we gathered there. As we were leaving, the hills had turned orange, it was what I would call an apocalyptic scene. But since we are from Kosovo, we’ve seen worse things than this, so we didn’t lose our patience. We met and discussed what to do. We decided to stay and wait for a while, to see if this would pass. Around midnight, the fire calmed down a bit, and we decided to spend the night with friends. Now we’ve returned home because the evacuation order has been lifted, although the smoke continues to cover the valley called Beachwood Canyon. The smoke is still falling over clothes and bodies, but it seems the situation has calmed down a bit because the wind has died down a little.
Voice of America: The images from the entire area are dramatic, but we know that in California, in this area, there have been fires in the past. It is being said that these fires are historic. How would you describe what you have experienced in the last 24 hours?
Blerim Gjoci: To be honest, this was a bit different from the other times. We’ve experienced other fires before, but these spread so quickly. The wind was carrying the fire so fast that no one, not even the firefighters or law enforcement trying to keep the situation under control, could reach all the places where the fire was happening.
For this reason, the evacuation was more chaotic, and the news was a bit more chaotic as well because while they were telling us that this area was safe, five minutes later they would say, “No, you need to evacuate from here too.”
The sparks were being carried by the wind very quickly, and as you know, California is very dry, so the fires started immediately and spread at an extremely fast pace. This made everything unpredictable, even though the authorities were trying to keep us informed all the time. It was difficult because while we were heading in one direction, fires started in that direction, and we had to turn around and go the other way.
Voice of America: So, the uncertainty and unpredictability were concerning for you and the other residents, as you describe?
Blerim Gjoci: Definitely, the fires were spreading very fast, and the destruction was huge. As you know, Palisades is almost destroyed. It’s one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in Los Angeles, and it’s really strange and terrifying. Then there was also the intervention—helicopters were in the air last night, dropping water and other tools to put out the fire. But we were afraid that they would crash into each other in the air because there were so many of them. They then started pulling them away one by one because it was becoming dangerous. As you know, fire is very unpredictable and hard to control.
Voice of America: Blerim, what’s not seen in the footage is what’s caused by the smoke—the way you feel it or inhale it. How would you describe that?
Blerim Gjoci: As soon as you step outside, you feel the smoke. The air has become very heavy. The sun has just risen, but up until now, it was a red sun. When we were kids, we used to say it looked like dragons were fighting with serpents. That’s how the scene looked—it was truly apocalyptic. But now, the sun has risen higher, and the smoke seems to have settled lower. From where I am, I usually see the view all the way to Santa Monica, but now I can’t see anything because everything is covered in smoke in that direction. Also, to my left, Pasadena and Altadena are almost entirely burned, and behind me is the fire that occurred last night—the “sunset fires,” as they called them here in Hollywood Hills. This fire has calmed down a bit but hasn’t been completely extinguished yet. However, we don’t have much smoke from that direction. Still, we’re surrounded by smoke, and we’ve turned on all the air filters inside the apartments because the air has become unbearable.
