'Follow the p's' - Irish woman living in LA tells of evacuation fire plans

Louise Walsh

A Meath mother living in Los Angeles said her family had been told to 'follow the p's" in packing the essentials in case of evacuation from ranging fires.

Tracey Meighan Kochout said she has boxes of hard drives, photographs and irreplaceable items by the front door in case the family have to move fast.

She also revealed how the close Irish community were trying to help others who had lost their homes through a WhatsApp group.

The mother of three told how she nearly had 'a heart attack' after receiving an amber alert to move only to learn that it was a false alarm ten minutes later.

Tracey, who hails from Navan, Co. Meath has lived in the US for almost 30 years and works as a senior design consultant for Kohler Kitchen and Bathrooms while her husband Marek is an animator for Warner Brothers.

The couple and their three children live in Burbank, about 15 miles from the fires at Palisades and ten minutes from the city centre.

"I live on a hill so I could see billowing black smoke coming over the Hollywood range which is a really densely populated area," she said.

"I drive that road every day and it is quite narrow and congested usually so I don't know how anyone got out past the dozens of fire trucks which thankfully brought that fire under control.

"On Friday morning I woke up to pure black smoke so we logged onto the Fire Watch app which lets you know if you have to evacuate. We live between mountain ranges and all it takes is a few embers in the wind to transfer from one of them to the range behind us and we could be in trouble. The winds were ferocious."

Tracey and her family were told to follow the 'p's' and prepare to evacuate the home that they have reared their children in.

"We received an email and a call to prepare for evacuation and follow the p's which is pack, pets, passports, prescriptions and paperwork.

"We have a few containers by the front door with photographs and hard drives. It is amazing how you feel everything is important when you start packing but we try to pack things that are sentimental and can't be replaced like pictures or jewellery or personal items. You learn to forget about your favourite shoes!

"We had a plan to head for San Diego if we had to. We got an amber alert to evacuate and I nearly had a heart attack. My son Ryan flew down the stairs, ready to go but I looked out and couldn't see any imminent danger.

"Ten minutes later, we got a text to say it was a false alarm.

"We have been here a few times before with fires so you learn to be a bit more relaxed but this is definitely the worst we have seen since we moved here. We know four people who have lost their homes. It is so sad.

"I'm on a whatsapp group with so many Irish living here and we have all pulled together. We get messages to say that someone has had to evacuate or has lost their home and need a room or somewhere for their pets. Everyone has tried to help each other in some way.

"I'm feeling a bit calmer now but I'm not feeling back to normal because all it takes is the winds to whip up again and we are back in trouble.

"At the minute, it is blue skies on one side and a pure black rim of smoke over the other side of the mountains. It is a very eerie silence.!