Around 2 a.m. Monday, LeBron James and his family drove around Los Angeles trying to find a place to stay. James could see the Getty fire as he left his Brentwood home, grabbing just a credit card and his passport.
The first alarm had rung at about 1:30 a.m. and the evacuation order for their neighborhood came shortly thereafter. James walked into three hotel lobbies asking if they had vacancies while his family waited in the car. Each place turned him away. Around 4 a.m. they found a fourth hotel with room for them, and by 6:30 they were able to get some sleep.
Fueled by high winds and dense brush, the Getty fire started about 1:30 a.m. along the 405 Freeway in the Sepulveda Pass and burned 600 acres within five hours. It had destroyed eight homes and damaged six others, and it was only 5% contained as of Tuesday morning.
As James spoke after the Lakers’ shoot-around about 11 a.m. Tuesday, he said his home had not been affected.
“I am blessed, and I am truly blessed to be able to get my family to safety at that point in time and not be able to face anything that was harmful to us,” James said. “And I wish the same for everyone else in the community that’s ever had to deal with these things over the years. There’s been so many natural disasters over many decades that have been harmful. People have lost lives. But like I said, the most important thing is the first responders, how important they are, how committed they are to be able to respond at that hour, at that speed.”
James sent a taco truck to a base camp for first responders fighting the fire on Tuesday afternoon.
On Monday morning, James slept for about two hours before waking up at 8:30 a.m. to get to the Lakers’ training facility in El Segundo. The team did individual workouts and met for a talk with magician David Blaine before practice. Once they gathered on the court, coach Frank Vogel canceled the rest of practice.
Vogel said the fires were close to several players’ homes, but he wasn’t sure which others had to evacuate. He was asked specifically if James’ sleep schedule would alter any of his plans for Tuesday night’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies.
“We’ll always be attentive when there’s an adverse circumstance like this, just to keep an eye on it and probably over-communicate with him on how he’s feeling,” Vogel said.
James went to work on Monday, but his kids stayed home from school. His older sons attend Sierra Canyon in Chatsworth.
“It didn’t make much sense for them,” James said. “We didn’t have much to get them to school. No clothes, things of that nature. Plus they didn’t sleep well.”
They returned to school on Tuesday, and James returned to a more normal schedule. He’ll get a pre-game nap in to help his recovery.
“It’s not hard, once I know my family is safe,” James said. “My family is safe and a little discombobulated obviously because of the situation, but they’re safe and once they were safe, to be able to come back here is greatly appreciated.”
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Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, L.A. City Councilman Mike Bonin and California Gov. Gavin Newsom look at a home along Tigertail Road in Brentwood burned by the Getty fire. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom, from left, with Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin and L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti tour a home along Tigertail Road in Brentwood on Tuesday that was burned by the Getty fire. The National Weather Service issued a rare “extreme red flag warning” for Southern California through Thursday evening, saying winds could top 80 mph and be the strongest in more than a decade. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Traffic on the 405 Freeway flows as flames roar up a steep hillside near the Getty Center in Los Angeles. The Getty fire has forced evacuations and burned more than 600 acres. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters try to save a home from the Getty fire on Tigertail Road in Los Angeles on Monday morning. (Christian Monterrosa/Associated Press)
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A firefighting aircraft drops fire retardant on the Getty fire in Mandeville Canyon near the Brentwood Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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A man walks past a burning home during the Getty fire in Los Angeles on Monday morning. (Christian Monterrosa/Associated Press)
7/24
The sun rises over smoke-filled canyons above the Getty Center and a burned home on Tigertail Road as the Getty fire burns in Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters head out for brush work along Sepulveda Boulevard in the Sepulveda Pass as the Getty fire as it burns in Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters try to save a home on Tigertail Road during the Getty fire in Los Angeles on Monday morning. (Christian Monterrosa/Associated Press)
10/24
Firefighters work heavy brush along Sepulveda Boulevard in the Sepulveda Pass as the Getty fire burns in Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
11/24
A firefighter sprays down hot spots on a home along the 12000 block of Sky Lane on Monday in Los Angeles. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
12/24
From left, Betsy Landis, 90, and her neighbor Nola Hyland, 79, who both evacuated from their homes at the end of Mandeville Canyon, talk with Rochelle Linnetz inside the Westwood Recreation Center on Sepulveda Boulevard that was turned into an evacuation center. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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An L.A. firefighter keeps down flames at a burned home in the 1100 block of Tigertail Road in the Brentwood Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
14/24
Alex Holbrook, a student emergency medical technician at UCLA, talks with Sylvia Snow, 95, inside the Westwood Recreation Center on Sepulveda Boulevard, which was turned into an evacuation center. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
15/24
The sun rises over a smoke-filled canyon above the Getty museum as the Getty fire burns in Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
16/24
L.A. Fire Department arson team conducts an investigation near a utility pole of a possible area of origin of the Getty fire along the 1700 block of North Sepulveda Boulevard. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
17/24
Barn manager Stephanie Nagler leads a horse named Howie Doin to a horse trailer while helping to evacuate around 120 horses from the Sullivan Canyon Equestrian Community near the intersection of Rivera Ranch Road and Sunset Boulevard in Brentwood. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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A helicopter makes a drop on the Getty fire, which was threatening thousands of homes in Brentwood and other hillside communities on the Westside of Los Angeles on Monday morning. (Gray Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Aerial view of homes shrouded in smoke from the Getty fire. (KTLA)
20/24
Barn manager Stephanie Nagler, left, holds a rabbit named Chi Chi while helping to evacuate animals, mostly horses, from the Sullivan Canyon Equestrian Community near the intersection of Riviera Ranch Road and Sunset Boulevard in Brentwood. (Los Angeles Times)
21/24
Firefighters work the Getty fire as it burns homes along Tigertail Road in the Brentwood Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
22/24
Los Angeles firefighters mop up after a home was destroyed by the Getty fire along Tigertail Road in Los Angeles. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters work in heavy brush along Sepulveda Boulevard in the Sepulveda Pass as the Getty fire burns in Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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A firefighter watches flames approach the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood during the Getty fire on Monday morning. (Christian Monterrosa/Associated Press)
