Australian family fear for Pacific Palisades home in LA fires

An Australian family is waiting and watching in horror as a winter inferno threatens to flatten their home in Los Angeles.

An Australian family living in the fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades region in LA doesn’t know if their home was destroyed, after being blocked from entering the devastated community.

Australian mum-of-two and marketing professional Stephanie Atkinson has called LA home since 2021.

Ms Atkinson, her husband Bruce and their sons Gabriel, 18, and Sebastian, 16, were preparing for the worst as they returned to the Pacific Palisades region in LA after three weeks holidaying in Australia.

As of Friday morning Sydney time, the family still did not know if their home had survived the catastrophe.

“We left Australia knowing the fires had started, we still don’t know if our house is standing because they aren’t letting us in,” she told The Saturday Telegraph.

Australian Stephanie Atkinson, her husband Bruce Mann and their sons Gabriel and Sebastian don't know if their LA home has survived the horror fires. Picture: Supplied

“It was a very anxious plane ride … we have a suitcase of summer clothes, we have no winter clothes.

“They are expecting winds tonight, if we can get through tonight it’s a miracle … we may be one of the few homes surviving but we are surrounded by demolished homes.

“There are a lot of Australians who live in LA … I know 100 people who have lost their homes already.”

Ms Atkinson said their entire postcode had their insurance cancelled at the end of 2024 but her husband had managed to secure them new insurance at five times the cost.

“For a month my husband rang every insurance company, we have to pay five times more,” she said.

The family home in Pacific Palisades. Picture: Supplied

The family has just returned home after three weeks holidaying in Australia. Picture: Supplied

“(My sons’) school has been destroyed … the heart of the Palisades has been flattened. We have a beautiful village … all that just gone.”

Ms Atkinson said the winter inferno caught authorities and locals off guard, with residents returning from Christmas holidays to find their homes destroyed.

“It’s caught everyone off guard, the government was not prepared,” she said.

“We didn’t expect something like this to happen … if we get through tonight we will be part of a small pocket of the Palisades that’s not devastated.”

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Originally published as Australian family fear for Pacific Palisades home in LA fires