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By TERRY HARRIS

Sussex-Surry Dispatch

While images of out of control California Wildfires flooded the airwaves on January 8 with stories of celebrities watching their multi-million dollar mansions go up in flames, Carol Vick was waiting, under an evacuation order from her cottage in Altadena, for the signal that she could return home. That signal never came.

Instead, while viewing photos from news stories sent to her by a neighbor, she learned that her lovely, pale green cottage – and most everything she owned – had been consumed by one of the largest wildfires in California history.

This week, she shared details of what the devastating fires still ongoing in California are like for someone born in Rich Square, NC – population 855 – who left home after her 1969 graduation from high school, earned her BFA in Fashion design at VCU in Richmond, followed that with work in alterations at Miller and Roads, relocated to UNC Chapel Hill, NC to earn her MFA in Costume, and finally, in 1980, moved to California.

After she got to California, she worked hard and ultimately built her own small business focused on specialty alterations and a reputation that led to experiences such as beading an elaborate phoenix rising from the ashes on a gown for the Oscars. Then came last week’s fire, which completely destroyed her home and brought to a halt the business she had been operating from there.

“With the fires out here,” she explained, “it’s all about the wind. Think of the Santa Ana winds as a hurricane without water. We all learned as children that if you rub two sticks together you can make a fire. When you have tree branches rubbing together in violent, 100 mph winds, add in extremely dry conditions from no rain in 9 months, and pile on single digit humidity, you have a perfect recipe for a fire – a lot of fires.”

She revealed that there had been warnings for over a week that there was potential for a wind event expected on Tuesday, January 8.

“It started very early on Tuesday, and during the day I put away a few pieces of lawn furniture, but I really wasn’t worried. We get warnings like that all the time.”

She explained that some intuition caused her also to pack a few things – her sewing machines and some important papers – in her car during a lull in the wind, but she still was not worried.

“In the 40 years I’ve lived in L.A. I never had to evacuate,” she said, “so I had no expectation that I would then, either. Sometime after early dark one of my friends who lives on a mountain south of me calls and says she sees a light in a distance and thinks it might be a fire. Shortly afterward she called back and said, ‘it’s Eaton Canyon, and it’s gotten a lot bigger already.’”

By now, she said, it was “seriously windy” but she still was not worried – until she began hearing fire trucks.

“Even when I got the first squawking alert for a Watch – which just means be prepared – I really wasn’t too concerned,” she said. “I’ve been under watches that lasted a week. But I got out a few personal things and my keys. Then, only 20 minutes later, I got that real squawking noise for evacuation. That’s the one that really scares you. That’s when you lose all thoughts of everything but getting out of the house.”

Carol said she walked through her home blowing out the candles, grabbed her trench coat and a scarf from her extensive collection, and left.

“I got in the car and immediately realized that there were a great number of cars going the same way I was,” she explained, “so she began taking shortcuts to get out of there. I had friends tell me later of seeing flames in their rear view windows as they left their homes, and I didn’t see anything that dramatic, but I did see fires and I knew that this was pretty serious.”

She went to a friend’s house in Pasadena and did not sleep much but still believed that since her cottage was on the extreme end of the warning area there was very little danger that the fire would reach there.

“After that, days and times are a little confused,” she admitted. “There was a lot of smoke and warnings to stay inside. I remember I was sitting at my friend’s table eating breakfast and scrolling through social media when I got engaged in a text conversation with my immediate next door neighbor. She was texting me pictures from the television news. I saw one of a client’s home burned to the ground only a few blocks from my house and I just couldn’t figure out how it got there so quickly.”

“Finally, she sent me a picture of the family-owned Brake Masters engulfed in flames just across the street from my home – or, at least, the spot where it had been the day before – and it started to feel very real. Finally, when she sent a picture of the apartments right next to us and all you could see was the driveway entrance to where our houses were, and I knew. That’s how it got to the point of me being homeless.”

She quickly stopped herself and said, “No. I know words have power, so I’ll change that to that’s how I knew my cottage complex had burned to the ground. Because I do not want to reinforce that negativity. And there’s a lot of negativity now about tragedies for the movie stars, but people need to understand that everyone in LA is not rich or a celebrity. There also are millions and millions of people who work in factories, retail, as hairstylists or mechanics. Any job you have any other place you’ll also find there. And whether you have a mansion or share a space, whoever you are, if you’ve lost everything you’ve known, you’ve lost everything you’ve known. Fire does not discriminate.”

Asked what she plans to do next she immediately said, “I’m looking for a place to rent so I can get back to work! It’s a little difficult to find anything affordable with so much burned to the ground, but I’ll find a place, and I’ll get together what I need and I’ll start over with my alterations and designs business.”

When asked how she intends to “rise from the ashes” herself, she somewhat reluctantly mentioned that a few old friends from her Class of 1969 at Northampton County High School have put together a GoFundMe opportunity on her behalf to help replace everything she lost and get her life back to normal – or as nearly so as possible.

“I’ve always kept my life pretty private and I’ve taken care of myself,” she said. “I don’t ask for anything from anyone and I don’t expect anything but maybe thoughts and prayers and smiles. So I’m somewhat in disbelief at how some people seem to want to help, and more grateful than anything else. I didn’t think that many people cared about me.”

After a moment’s reflection, she added, “I guess the main way this experience has changed me is that now my way of looking at things has shifted from ‘I don’t need anything or anybody’ to deep gratitude for any kindness anyone offers and a philosophy of ‘Yes, thank you.’”

A general Go Fund Me page providing $1,000 emergency grants for individuals who have lost homes, loved ones and property due to the Palisades, Eaton and Hurst fires is available online at https://www.gofundme.com/f/wildfire-relief-fund-2025.

Anyone wishing to support Carol directly can do so at https://gofund.me/a4aaf314.

(Terry Harris, a native of Northampton County, is the Editor of the Sussex-Surry Dispatch.)