A woman wanted to retrieve her father's vintage music records from his coastal home. Another was desperate to see his house still standing. A third person begged police to let him search for his pet turtle.
Hundreds of people descended on police barricades in cars and on foot in coastal areas of Los Angeles on Monday afternoon. They were looking for a way to visit buildings that were destroyed and salvage items from buildings that were still standing after the Palisades Fire hit the area.
According to a police officer at the scene, everyone was turned away.
“It's just an unbearable sadness,” said Elena Entin, the woman who was searching for the turtle. “The future is uncertain and we don’t know when we will be able to enter the country.”
The Pacific Palisades area and parts of Santa Monica and Malibu remained under mandatory evacuation orders Monday, nearly a week after the Palisades Fire destroyed hundreds of homes in the area and killed at least eight people. Ta.
Some residents re-entered evacuation zones last week when access became easier, but those allowed inside on Monday were limited to emergency responders, public officials, and others who are allowed to visit under California law. There were only business workers and journalists.
It was not immediately clear whether homeowners were finding informal ways to get through the lockdown around the zone. Local police and National Guard troops are manning the barricades.
On Monday, those at the barricades grew frustrated with claims that access policies were changing. Some residents said they had been allowed to enter the evacuation zone earlier this week but were now prohibited from doing so. Some said they had been promised a police escort home, but that never happened.
The Los Angeles Police Department announced over the weekend that it would no longer provide police escort into the area because such trips are straining police resources. But on Monday, some people in the area said they were trying to get inside anyway.
“I've been able to get through a few times, but today I'm thinking about how I'm going to get through,” said Matt Marquis, who was turned away at the checkpoint. He said he wanted to check the goldfish and the electrical and gas lines.
Brittany Krebs said she was looking for a way to get into her father's house in Malibu. She wanted to salvage her memorabilia, especially her platinum records from the 1970s and 1980s, before the winds picked up in the area again.
“This is what I want to have when he dies,” she said. “Everyone's out, everyone's safe. It's just sentimental.”
Others just simmer.
“They're not giving us answers,” said Ronen Malek, who wanted to know if he could salvage something from the Palisades office building he owned that was destroyed by the fire. “We are facing so much stress and anxiety.”
Santa Monica Police Department Officer Steve Romero tried to be a calming presence as cars lined up at the checkpoint Monday afternoon. He directed people to go to pharmacies to find alternative medicines and explained to evacuees which areas of their neighborhoods had been burned.
“Some people were crying and screaming,” he said. But “as long as you understand their state of mind and show compassion, you can get through it.”
