Amongst the rubble and devastation caused by the out of control wild fire s in Los Angeles, a lone Volkswagen van sits – despite the neighbourhood around it being completely destroyed.
Devastating wildfires in Los Angeles have wiped out entire neighbourhoods and killed at least 24 people so far, among fears the situation could continue to escalate over the coming days. Gusty Santa Ana winds are expected to intensify this week, the National Weather Service (NSW) has said, prompting rare Red Flag Warnings over the “particularly dangerous situation” – an alert reserved for “extreme of the extreme fire weather scenarios.”
Now, incredible pictures have shown among the sadness and destruction a lone blue Volkswagen survived the flames. Preston Martin, 24, had parked the vehicle in the Malibu neighbourhood before the Palisades fire ripped through and was astonished to see it was in one piece.
Preston said: “There is magic in that van. It makes no sense why this happened, It should have been toasted but here we are.
“It’s so cool it’s become this, like, beacon of hope.Everything around it was toasted, just destroyed and then here’s this bright blue shiny van, sitting right there.”
Martin purchased the 1977 Volkswagen Type 2 on a whim sometime around his junior year studying mechanical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Last summer he sold the van to pal Weinraub, 29, and the pair went swimming on January 5.
Afterward Martin parked it on a flat spot up the hill from her apartment by the Getty Villa, as she is still learning to drive the manual transmission. When the Palisades fire broke out, Weinraub fled with her dog, Bodi, in her usual car and left the van behind.
Last week a neighbor sent her a photo and in the background was the bus, still blue and white and not at all damaged. She added: “I freaked out. I was in the bathroom, and I screamed.”
She called Martin, who also freaked out. He called his mum, who was ecstatic and texted: “I’ve never cried for a car before.”
Weinraub, whose home also survived, does not know when she will be allowed back to her apartment or to Azul.
Red Flag Warnings cover a large part of Southern California around LA, including densely populated Thousand Oaks, Northridge and Simi Valley. These warnings mean that “warm temperatures coupled with very low humidity and strong winds are expected to combine, bringing a greater risk of fire danger.”
Pasadena fire chief Chad Augustin warned of “potential disastrous wind conditions” as he told the BBC : “Unfortunately, we’re going right back into red flag conditions with some potential disastrous wind conditions between now and Wednesday, with the peak winds expected to be on Tuesday. While we’re making some progress, the end is not even close yet.”
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