Author Sheldon Collins lived in Los Angeles County for the majority of his life, until 48 hours after one of the most destructive fires in California history burned down his home.
“We left by around noon, and the fire actually completely tore through our entire mobile home park, burned 151 homes by 5:30 p.m. that day,” Collins said from his father’s house in San Luis Obispo. “It is a low-income housing community, but it’s uniquely set right on the coast. So, we had a view of the ocean, and it was just a real gem of place. We have beautiful memories there.”
Collins, his wife, and their 11-year-old daughter lived in Pacific Palisades for six years before powerful Santa Ana winds pushed a wildfire on Jan. 7. The Palisades Fire, now fully contained, ravaged large swathes of Pacific Palisades, Topanga, and Malibu. According to Cal Fire, the Palisades Fire killed 12 people and burned 23,448 acres. That’s almost the size of the Netherlands.
“When thinking back upon it, the fire really traveled through the air,” Collins said. “You don’t really think of that when you’re a homeowner and you’re trying to protect your house with fire retardant or whatever; like, I have sprinklers on my roof.”
Not many people thought that the flames would hit the sea-facing community. But the rapidly billowing smoke alerted Collins to take the fire seriously and make plans to evacuate.
Grabbing a stash of clothes and other essentials, the Collinses traveled to his mother’s house in Pasadena where they thought they would be safe.
Then, winds roared the Eaton Fire to life.
Killing 17 people and engulfing 14,021 acres of land, the Eaton Fire is considered the fifth deadliest wildfire in state history. It blazed through foothill communities, including the historically Black town of Altadena.
“That’s when I made the decision that this is just crazy,” Collins said. “Let’s just get out of Los Angeles County. … It’s just getting nuts down here with all the fires, and take a little time to settle and figure things out.”
But not before he visited the ruins of his home one last time. Collins told New Times he felt compelled to visit the site after watching a TV news segment about a neighboring mobile home park that also burned down.
Wearing a ski helmet, ski goggles, and an N95 mask, he returned to Pacific Palisades the following day to survey the damage.
Small pockets of fire dotted the remains of the mobile home park, and the air smelled smoky and toxic, he said. Decimated to smoldering rubble, their house no longer existed. The only non-living survivor: his daughter’s pink scooter.
In the hurry of evacuating, the Collinses left one of their cars behind. They assumed the BMW would be safe parked at the bottom of a hill. Collins found it completely melted to the ground. He said it felt surreal.
“You have to actually go visit the area to really feel the devastation,” he said. “I mean, it’s just all your neighbors. Over the years, you hear all the work and love they put into their homes.”
Coastal living wasn’t completely lost.
The Central Coast became the family’s reprieve thanks to Collins’ father living in the city of San Luis Obispo. They’ve lived with him ever since and have already received help from locals.
One of them is Los Osos rancher Kristin Dell.
A horse lover who manages a veterinarian practice, Dell introduced Stassa—one of her five horses—to Collins’ daughter, who has autism. While Dell said she isn’t a therapist, she calls herself the “middleman” who connects people with horses.
“It’s really neat to see Sheldon’s daughter on the horse,” Dell said. “At first, she was talking a lot and repeating things that were comfortable for her, and as she started riding, she got silent, and she would smile. It was precious.”
Collins got in touch with Dell at the recommendation of his father’s neighbor. The family plans to return to her ranch this month for more horse rides for their daughter.
Hippotherapy—equine therapy—not only helped his daughter but also Collins and his wife, according to Dell.
“I love to observe them, and I think making a connection with such a powerful, honest, present animal is very empowering,” she said. “I mean horses, they’re aware of our emotional energies, and they can often sense what we are feeling better than we can.”
Dell isn’t alone in her kindness. Collins told New Times that several locals he’s talked to—be it at REI and Target while restocking supplies, when enjoying meals at local restaurants, during dinners with their new neighbors, or even strolling through the Thursday downtown SLO farmers market—have extended welcoming words of support.
Ever since fires broke out in LA County, several SLO County businesses stepped in to help. According to a compilation on enjoyslo.com, places like Idler’s Home, Rod and Hammer Rock, Fablerune, Active Church, Bird House Tattoo, Traffic Record Store, and Xochitl Wines, among others, put out calls for in-kind donations.
Now Collins, an author, wants to give back to the community. His first novel, The Legend of Valentine, made its debut amid his family escaping the fires. Collins discovered that SLO’s Barnes and Noble store was displaying his book when he walked in on Jan. 30. He’s offered to return on Valentine’s Day to sign any customer copies of his book from 10 a.m. to noon.
These days, Collins and his wife are busy homeschooling their daughter, who used to attend a special needs school in Culver City. They coordinate with her LA caretaker, who commutes every week to SLO for three days.
Collins is also wrapped up in communication with their insurance company and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Before the fires, he said he made sure his family was insured to replace their home.
But the challenge remains. While the Collinses owned their mobile home, it rested on leased land. If the mobile home park is unsalvageable and shuts down, the family would have to build their house elsewhere—losing home equity in the process.
“I think a lot of people, including ourselves, have to wrap our mind around the fact that … our home is going to be somewhere brand new now, and that’s something we just have to kind of re-create until, potentially, one day we do return that home,” Collins said. “Let’s be grateful for what we have right now. We have a place to stay, thank God. Not everybody has that. We have our lives.” Δ
Reach Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Feb 6-16, 2025.
“According to Cal Fire, the Palisades Fire killed 12 people and burned 23,448 acres. That’s almost the size of the Netherlands.” Ooops, missed it by a little. That would be 16 square miles. The 5M people of the Netherlands live in 16+ THOUSAND square miles.