‘It’s like a disaster movie’: Limerick mother details teen son’s evacuation amid LA wildfires

A Limerick mother living in Los Angeles recounts her teenage son’s evacuation from basketball practice as wildfires devastated parts of the city

A photo taken by the Cunningham Ahern family from their doorstep in Los Angeles. They say they are fortunate not to have had to evacuate their home, and also commend the new community spirit in the face of the LA fires: 'We now feel a stronger connection to our neighbours than ever before.' 

A Limerick mother has described how her teenage son and his teammates had to be evacuated from his school's basketball practice as the Los Angeles fires took hold.

Nora Ahern from Mungret and her husband Adrian Cunningham from Dublin have been living in LA for the past two years where she works in Electronic Arts.

Like tens of thousands of others, the family, who are based in Brentwood, have been caught up in the LA fires that have continued to ravage the city — but so far their home has escaped damage.

Adrian Cunningham and Nora Ahern with their son Julian and daughter Coco at a Pali High football game back in September. They describe how Julian's basketball team were subject to an emergency evacuation order as the fires took hold. 

The family said it has been “touch and go” since Tuesday “like we’re 60 minutes into a disaster movie". Adrian Cunningham said: 

Every hour, the evacuation zones have expanded, creeping ever closer to our home. Thankfully, the situation in Palisades, at least, now appears to be under control.

“The same cannot be said for other parts of Los Angeles."

Nora Ahern's brother Thomas, who is based in Adare, and his family are following the story closely and have been in regular contact with her.

Ms Ahern detailed to the Irish Examiner how she and her teenage son Julian witnessed the early moments of the fire that destroyed much of the LA neighbourhood of Pacific Palisades.

“Last Tuesday morning, I was dropping him off for basketball practice at Palisades High School. He has been attending ‘Pali High’, as it’s affectionately known, since we moved to Los Angeles 20 months ago after a 17-year stint in Vancouver.

“The ground has been bone dry for weeks. The warm Santa Ana winds were unusually strong, and fire warnings had been issued".

Julian was only in gym class a short while when he contacted his parents to say boys had to evacuate the school immediately.

Mr Cunningham told how he could see smoke billowing into the sky "fuelled by flames towering four stories high, with helicopters hovering above like flies.

'Like we’re 60 minutes into a disaster movie' is how Nora and Adrian describe the devastation of the LA fires. This is another photo they took from their home in Brentwood.

“News bulletins shifted from [former US president Jimmy] Carter’s funeral to the catastrophe unfolding just 5km away.

“Access roads to Palisades began to jam up with people fleeing the area and others rushing home from the city to grab whatever they could.

“We were fortunate that my son managed to get a ride home with one of his teammate’s parents.” He added: 

Reports of residents gathering at checkpoints, begging police officers to let them access their homes — homes that no longer exist — are heartbreaking. 

But while the devastation continues the family said the trauma has brought the community together.

“LA was never the friendliest of places — we now feel a stronger connection to our neighbours than ever before," said Mr Cunningham.

“Pacific Palisades has long been known as a haven for the stars, but it was also home to mere mortals — workers, business owners, mobile home park dwellers living counter-culture lifestyles, and those residents who scraped by, perhaps even cutting corners on home insurance, to claim their own little slice of heaven.

“My heart goes out to them all.”