'Everything is gone': LA wildfires 'wipe out' Cork man's home and business

Andrew Dugganfrom Montenotte, and Renata Carolina Ortega, were forced to evacuate with their dogs after a wildfire erupted about three minutes from their home.

A Cork man caught up in the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles has described how the home and business he built with his partner were “wiped out”.

Andrew Duggan, aged 40, from Montenotte, and Renata Carolina Ortega were forced to evacuate with their dogs when the fires swept through their town on Thursday.

Ten people have so far died, and more than 9,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed as wildfires swept through LA this week.

Mr Duggan is one of thousands of LA residents who lost not only their home, but their livelihoods.

He has lived in LA for two decades and moved to the small town of Altadena near Eaton Canyon, where he and Renata set up their company Orla Floral Design three years ago.

He told the Irish Examiner there was nothing left when they returned to see their house.

“I’m in shock and it hasn’t really sunk in yet” he said. 

“Everything is gone, we came back to a pile of rubble. I don’t even know how we should be thinking, we are safe and fortunate to be alive and our dogs are fine.

“That is everything that seems to matter right now. People are contacting me asking how they can help, to be honest, I don’t know what to tell them. I don’t know how they can help. Not yet anyway.

We have nothing, everything is gone, the business, our home, our designs.

“But me and Renata are fine, and we are fortunate to have a studio to live in ten minutes away and that we didn’t have to go to a shelter”.

Mr Duggan had just spent his first Christmas in 20 years at home in Cork with his mother Ann, who lives in Merrion Court, before he returned to LA.

“A week later the wildfires started” he said. “We just had the most amazing Christmas, five wonderful days in Cork and then a week later we lost everything.

Andrew Duggan from Montenotte in Cork and his girlfriend Renata Carolina Ortega with one of their dogs. 

“My mother has been so worried, she has been ringing and contacting us, my sister Victoria is a teacher in Cork. She was sending me her first baby photo scans when the fires hit, and we didn’t have time to respond.

“They knew something was wrong then”.

He described how he saw the fires from a distance and having already been hit by the Santa Barbara fires in a previous residence, he knew “immediately” to evacuate.

“Ethan Canyon is a three-minute drive from our house and that is where the fire started” he said.

I saw which direction it was going in. I watched it from midnight advancing to our house and the worst thing was the winds were up to 100miles per hour, no firefighters could stop that.

“The wind was so loud we couldn’t hear the police speaking on the intercom.

“I took the dogs beds and their food, and we just left.

Andrew and Renata's home in Altadena in LA, after being destroyed by the fire.

“I drove back and looped around the street, I don’t know why I went back a second time, but I’m glad I did as I found an elderly gentleman with a disability and he had just woken up, he wouldn’t have made it out alive”.

The couple returned five hours later with their two Doberman pinchers and 8-year-old husky.

“It’s like nothing I can describe” he said, “The whole town was gone”.

Mr Duggan’s friend Maryam Ajayi has set up a GoFundMe page for the couple to help them rebuild their lives and it has so far raised nearly €24,000.

“I have friends in Cork who I haven’t seen in 30 years contacting me to see if I am ok” he said. “It really is overwhelming, and we are so grateful for all the support.”