Los Angeles fires: Kiwi’s Malibu dream house turns to rubble in hours

Julie Booth Haberfeld bought the house with her husband last year. Photo / Julie Haberfeld

By Katie Todd of RNZ

A New Zealander who bought her dream seaside house in Malibu five months ago saw it burning to the ground on a local news broadcast.

Julie Booth Haberfeld is one of at least two Kiwis who have lost their houses in the Los Angeles fires, according to data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

She believes the Pacific Palisades fire has claimed her childhood memories, her children’s memories and all but the small handful of belongings she fled with.

US authorities say the blaze is still only 11% contained.

Haberfeld moved to Los Angeles in 1984 and purchased the house with her husband in August.

She said she was working from home last Tuesday when she heard a commotion outside and looked up to see a dramatic plume of smoke on the horizon.

Julie Booth Haberfeld bought the house with her husband last year. Photo / Julie Haberfeld

“Because of the wind, it was blowing in our direction. Next minute we started seeing the huge fire tankers coming up and loading up with water from the ocean in front of us,” she said.

“At about 11am, I looked out and saw flames on the next ridge. I thought ‘oh this is close’.”

When an emergency evacuation alert came through on her and her husband’s phones, Haberfeld said they did not hesitate to leave.

“We drove ourselves to our friends [in West Los Angeles] and got into their house and immediately put on the TV. And we just sat there, and we sat there, and we sat there in shock and just watched. These massive fires just kept popping up,” she said.

Haberfeld said she tried to keep hope that her house was okay, even as Los Angeles authorities released maps of “burn areas” that included her street.

She spent time volunteering at a kitchen on Wednesday, delivering meals to first responders, before returning to the “worst” news.

“My husband was home and he said, ‘Look, unfortunately, I need to show you something’. And it was a picture of the house burning to the ground,” she said.

The property before it burned to the ground. Photo / Julie Haberfeld

The news footage showed her house on fire, and then “the pile of rubble after the fact”, she said.

Haberfeld and her husband do not know when they’ll be able to return to their neighbourhood.

She said she believed she needed to go and see her house, even if there was nothing that could be salvaged.

“A silly thing I remember is that I have a little jandal, a little ceramic jandal, that someone from New Zealand gave me. I had that as a momentary thought because it’s just a touch of home for me and it was beautifully painted and everything else. And of course, it’s gone. But maybe there’s some other silly thing there that still survived,” she said.

Haberfeld said she had been looking forward to retirement in the three-bedroom condo on the Pacific Coast Highway, with ocean views and a 25-metre deck.

“Every morning I woke up, I looked down at the ocean and I looked at the sunrise and I just ‘this is it, you know, we’ve done it’ ... and just within a matter of hours, it went. Just like that. Just gone,” she said.

An aerial photo showing homes and businesses reduced to smouldering rubble by the fire in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Photo / AFP

‘I can’t get my head around the damage’ - Kiwi in Beverly Hills

Another New Zealander living in Los Angeles described ash “falling like snow” and smoke billowing “like a volcano” in his Beverly Hills neighbourhood over the past few days.

Patrick Veysey, an electrical contractor originally from Nelson, said he has so far skirted any evacuation orders.

However, he remained on alert to leave at short notice, with winds forecast to pick up in the coming days.

“If it starts up again, and we get those big winds blowing, a fire is quite possible up the top of Beverly Hills as there’s a lot of this bush up there and a lot of houses are close together,” he said.

Veysey said everyone in Los Angeles seemed to know at least one person who has lost a house.

“It’s just unbelievable. I can’t get my head around the damage, how many properties and businesses have just gone,” he said.

He said about 30 of his customers have lost their homes.

“We’re living in a very stressful time.”

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