A Saskatchewan business owner lost her home in Los Angeles when wildfires devastated parts of the city.
“Everything is gone, our entire community, it’s unbelievable.” Nadia Williamson, owner of Regina-based bridal company NWL Dresses, said Friday. “Everything, thousands of homes have disappeared, primary schools, secondary schools.”
Williamson, who runs a satellite store in Santa Monica, said she received a text from her neighbor while she was at work earlier this week telling her to come home.
“They told me, ‘You should come home as if we were evacuating.’ You should really come get some stuff and your pets and come home and take care of everything,’” he recalled. “I thought, you know, we have fires every year. “I didn’t take it that seriously, but she urged me to come back.”
Williamson said he returned, grabbed his two cats and then returned to work. He said that three hours after returning to work, his entire community in Pacific Palisades was gone.
“That’s what I felt. “I don’t know the exact timeline, but everything disappeared,” he said.
Williamson said he has been moving from place to place since the wildfire destroyed his home.
“I’m already on my third location. Now I’m at a friend’s house in Manhattan Beach. That night I left at 2am, my husband and I were at an Airbnb in Marina del Rey, we woke up and the smoke was horrible, so I called my friend at 2am last night, we drove to Manhattan Beach and now I’m giving my first walk in three days,” he explained.
“It’s scary,” he added. “No place feels safe. No area seems really safe.”
Williamson said that before evacuating, she was able to stop by her store in Santa Monica to buy dresses for brides whose weddings are coming up.
“I took them to my husband’s office, which is also in Santa Monica, but a little closer to the other side of the fire. So I hope they are safe. [there]”, said.
Williamson said he continues to experience different emotions, but the support from the community has helped everyone deal with the situation.
“To be honest, it’s been very scary and my brain is all over the place. You know, at one point I feel like I’m strong and I can handle it and, and I do, I have a lot of support. I just have to say that there is great support from the community,” he said.
“To be honest, I’m just taking it one day at a time,” she added. “We just need to be safe right now. I think you’re in survival safety mode. We’re not really thinking about, you know, we have to start thinking about where we’re going to live long term. But right now we are jumping from one place to another.”
– With archives from CTV News Channel
