Woman originally from Sask. loses home in California wildfires
Fires have pushed tens of thousands out of their homes
Wildfires have raged through several California communities this week, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless.
Nadia Williamson, who is originally from Saskatchewan but now lives in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles, is one of them.
Wildfires are relatively common in California, but they usually don't reach the area where Williamson lives, she said.
"I wasn't taking it that seriously," she said.
Williamson owns a bridal shop in Santa Monica. She said she was driving to work when she saw a huge cloud of smoke in her rearview mirror.
"My next door neighbour texted me and she was like, 'We're going to evacuate. You should probably come back and take some things.' So I went back in no rush, and I just grabbed the two cats and brought them back to my store."
Williamson said she didn't think about grabbing clothes or any basic necessities, because wildfires haven't been as big or intense in the past.
"Before I knew it, the whole entire Palisades was gone. Like everything is gone," she said.
"All the elementary schools, high schools, stores, you know, thousands and thousands of homes."
She said Thursday that she is in a state of shock.
"I didn't think the fire would get to where it got to," she said. "It doesn't look like real life."
Williamson and her husband were lucky enough to find an Airbnb in nearby Marina Del Rey for the next week or so, but she said they are watching day by day to see whether they'll need to leave California altogether.
Between the sirens and air traffic, they haven't had a good night's sleep.
"It's really loud, like all over L.A. I mean, there's a lot of it burning right now," she said. "It's like you're a little bit in survival mode because we just don't know what to do next."
She said a lot of stores aren't open and many people aren't able to work due to the smoke.
Regardless of the hardships, she said people have banded together to help each other out.
"There's a community of people that this has happened to. It's happening to thousands. So I don't particularly feel alone," she said. "There's a really strong community here and everyone's really caring and generous."
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