Man reflects on devastating loss as Pacific Palisades fire destroys family home

By Olivia Leach

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    DALLAS (KTVT) — “It was like watching a movie and I don’t think it will hit me until I go,” said Ryan Akins, looking down at the pictures of what’s left of his family’s home of nearly 50 years.

Akins lives in Dallas now but grew up in the Pacific Palisades community. His parents lived in a ranch-style home there for nearly 50 years.

“Watching the news it just got worse and worse and it just got scarier and scarier and then we saw a map of the area and where it was spreading and started to really get concerned,” said Akins.

Then his parents got the evacuation order.

“My mom got home from a doctor’s appointment, my dad’s like we have to leave right now and they had to rush out. They weren’t able to grab photo albums or any meaningful things,” said Akins.

Akins watched the news in horror, hoping the fire somehow skipped their home, but the next day his worst fears came true.

“We got a video from a neighbor that was able to get up the street and saw that the house had been reduced to ashes. There was nothing left,” said Akins.

The house he had grown up in was gone.

“Last night I was on the phone with my sister, crying for two hours, talking about all the places in the Palisades where we love, the places we grew up, our elementary school we went to, burned down,” said Akins. “So it’s not just our home, it’s almost like our entire memory of childhood getting wiped out in one fell swoop.”

Now that close-knit community is coming together again to help each other heal.

“Based on the support I’m seeing people give each other, the GoFundMe accounts that have been started, I see people collecting clothing and just helping each other. I think the community will rebuild,” said Akins.

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