Family visiting Philadelphia describes leaving L.A. as fires burn: "It felt apocalyptic"
Grace Isaacs and her brother Brian had planned their flight from Los Angeles to Philadelphia for their grandfather's 90th birthday well before flames began tearing through Southern California. As they boarded their flight Wednesday afternoon, the pair were fleeing several catastrophic wildfires.
"It looked like a movie. It looked eerie. The sky was black," Grace Isaacs, a Burbank resident, said. "Driving to LAX was unbelievable — the sun looked like a ball of fire."
Brian Isaacs, who lives in West Hollywood, admitted he wasn't sure their flight would even take off.
"To be honest, I thought there was no chance," he said. "As we took off through the sky, it was very scary. Everything smelled like a bonfire."
Grace Isaacs' home is located within 10 miles of the Eaton Fire, which continues to burn in Pasadena. On Tuesday night, Brian Isaacs captured the distant glow of flames from his balcony in West Hollywood.
"You could see the flames billowing up the hill," he said.
The devastation has left many residents reeling, including Lisa Leone, a South Philadelphia native who has lived in Studio City, California, for nine years. Leone works as a nanny for a family in Pacific Palisades, where she says the fire reduced their home to ashes just hours after evacuation orders were issued.
"I've never seen anything like this. Ever," Leone said. "We're just in disbelief — like the Palisades are done. For as bad as this is, and as many people are safe, I think it's a miracle."
Leone said she feels conflicted.
"It's like a weird thing where I feel like I don't know how to feel," she said.
The Isaacs shared a similar uncertainty, grappling with the decision to leave Los Angeles during such a dire time.
"It felt very uncomfortable to leave," Grace Isaacs said. "We were texting with our dad, who lives there also, like, 'Should we go?' It just felt like we had a responsibility to be there."
Brian Isaacs echoed the sentiment.
"Yeah, there was a sense of guilt," he said. "The whole city felt heavy. It felt apocalyptic. Even on the plane, you could feel the sense of dread."
