Across Los Angeles, there are pockets of defiance; renegades refusing to leave their homes to the mercy of the fires.
Whether foolish or not, they know firefighters are stretched so thin that there’s a good chance no one will save their homes or their belongings from being looted. So, they stay and fight.
I think of my own defiance of orders during the 1994 earthquake, which I recounted in Smart Cities: Rise of the Billionaires & Fall of the Middle Class. For those who didn’t read it, after the earthquake, I insisted to my husband that we drive across the city to rescue my daughter. My daughter had spent the night at her friend’s house in Northridge—the epicenter of the earthquake. Strapping my 18-month-old son into the car, I didn’t know what we would face on that drive, but nothing was going to stop me. This is what some of the freeways looked like:
I was pregnant and overtaken with worry. We had no way of knowing whether or not she was okay. The only news coming through on the radio was terrifying.
The streets were eerily empty, smoke rising to a bloodred sky. We saw such devastation along the way, but we made it safely. Thankfully, my daughter was okay, and we continued to drive out of the city, spending the night in a hotel.
One week after my second son was born, we moved out of the city. Never again did I want to be trapped inside a city, surrounded by millions of people. No matter how bucolic a little pocket of paradise appears to be, in minutes it can descend into hell.
Knowing how I had defied orders, I was interested to find out about these renegades. As reported by the Wall Street Journal:
In the still-smoldering neighborhoods of Altadena, where fires destroyed more than 2,700 structures, about 80 people have defied orders to evacuate, staying behind to protect what is left of their properties from looters and more fires after losing faith in authorities.
Residents, many of them armed, patrol streets and interrogate strangers, living in a Hobbesian world without electricity or clean drinking water. They are hemmed in by yellow caution tape at neighborhood entrances flanked by National Guard troops, Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies and California Highway Patrol officers.
“We do feel like we’re in the Wild West,” said Aaron Lubeley, a 53-year-old lawyer who is one of the holdouts and serves as an unofficial emissary with police and fire representatives.
If Lubeley and the others try to leave, they risk being unable to return.
Anna Manley, one of the Altadena holdouts, had prepared for this moment. Her house has a natural-gas generator supplying 22 kilowatts of power, enough for several refrigerators, making her one of the few neighbors with electricity. She has 60 gallons of drinking water in the basement, as well as a reverse-osmosis water filter and hot-water tanks for showering.
“My old neighbor was a real prepper, I learned it from him,” said Manley, who runs an audio-equipment business. “I also replaced my wood shingles on my roof with concrete ones. I don’t know if that’s why my house survived.”
Further along, the article mentions Pacific Palisades resident Ross Gerber, president of a wealth-management firm, who is:
…among those who have been sneaking past police to check on his house, official edicts be damned. “I have no patience for any of them,” he said. “After you survive this, you don’t care what they say.”
Using a map, Gerber said he tried stairs and alleyways to slip past authorities until finally deciding to retreat. “There are literally so many police,” he said. “North Korea is easier.”
Other residents:
On Saturday, a half-dozen residents pleaded with police officers to let them return to houses not far from the Mandeville Canyon fire in Brentwood. “We’re not letting people up there,” one of the officers said. “There have been looters. I don’t know who you are.”
Marica Zellers and a friend zigzagged around the outskirts of Altadena last Thursday, looking for an opening that would allow her to evade barricades and check on her house. “The police were guarding every single street,” she said.
Then Zellers got a tip from a friend: The parking structure of the Super King Market offered an entry point that bypassed the roadblocks.
When Zellers arrived, she saw that her house on West Mariposa Street was rubble. She hunted for her safe, which was intact. After she and her friend managed to pry it open, she said, they had to jump back. “The safe was burning inside because it was holding all the heat,” she said.
Her house was gone, she said, and so was everything in her safe: birth records, property records, sports memorabilia, family history documents and $40,000 worth of Treasury bonds.
In one moment, everything can go up in smoke—literally or figuratively. And all that’s left is our thankfulness to be healthy and alive. If we have children, elderly parents, anyone that we love, we want to know that they are okay. Suddenly, our world becomes very small and nothing else matters.
Every situation is unique, but it is a good question to ask oneself: During disasters, emergency situations, pandemics, you name it, should citizens defy government orders?
I salute the brave firefighters of Los Angeles; I always pray for them during fire season. They will fight to save us, and I trust them. But who trusts our officials anymore, especially in these blue states. I don’t, not one bit. It seems they will do anything to keep their positions, to keep the status quo, even to the detriment of the citizens they are supposed to serve.
This problem extends across the nation. I was reading an article this morning about Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who seems intent on fighting tooth and nail against any new policies of the Trump administration to expel illegal aliens that are guilty of committing crimes.
The Chicago mayor would rather reaffirm his administration's commitment to the “Welcoming City Ordinance" than expel criminals.
Alderman Ray Lopez of the 15th Ward slammed Johnson’s efforts, per FOX 32 Chicago.
"I am surprised, actually, that the mayor is going through this extraordinary effort to try and stop what Ald. Tabares and I want to do, which is to remove the small number of individuals who choose to commit crimes in the City of Chicago," Lopez said.
Lopez and Tabares’ legislation would allow local agencies to work with ICE to target undocumented individuals who have been "arrested for or convicted of certain crimes."
But the mayor doesn’t want to do this. Why? Because it might compromise the money he receives for illegal aliens.
The City of Chicago has spent more than $400 million over the past two years on migrants – with the bulk of that money going to private companies that helped forge lease agreements or provided staffing for migrants shelters.
Since August of 2022, more than 42,000 migrants have made their way to Chicago.
The lion’s share of the money – nearly $253 million – has gone to one private company, Kansas-based Favorite Healthcare Staffing, which staffs the city-run migrant shelters.
More than $76 million - $30 million of which came directly from Chicago tax dollars - has gone to Louisville, Ky.-based Equitable Social Solutions, according to the city’s cost dashboard.
According to the city, Equitable partnered with another company called, Reloshare, which worked to identify and craft lease agreements with the property owners of the buildings that eventually became migrant shelters.
I looked at Reloshare’s website which boasts that:
“Booking hotel rooms for social service programming has never been easier.”
People can do things like:
Book Under an Alias
It may be unsafe to use a guest's real name, so we allow your client to use a fake one.
No Credit Card or ID
Fewer barriers to safety since guests aren't required to provide the hotel a photo ID, credit card or deposit.
When NBC 5 Investigates asked months ago for copies of the lease agreements through a Freedom of Information Act request, they were provided just 9 out of 27 lease agreements.
Who is allowed to book a hotel using a fake name, no photo ID, and pay in cash? Not me. Not you. But apparently, illegal aliens can, including those who might well be criminals and terrorists.
In fact, such a hotel might as well put up a sign, advertising: “Criminals and Terrorists Welcome!”
This is absolute madness. The greed and hypocrisy, not to mention downright corruption, of everyone from government officials to celebrities, to the new social media influencers, to the billionaire class is beyond disgusting.
So, you know what? All I can say is, get yourself a gun if you don’t own one already. Be responsible, keep it safe, practice regularly and know how to use it.
Maybe even take that combat course you always said you were going to do. I’m thankful for my training. Make sure you have extra water, a generator, food, and an “get-away vehicle” with supplies inside. If you have friendly neighbors (sadly many do not these days) coordinate what you all might do in case of an emergency. Get busy, because anything can happen. And the last people you can rely on to keep you safe are your government officials with their empty promises.
I know this isn’t my happiest post, but listen, it’s necessary. Don’t be complacent. In the twinkling of an eye, your little pocket of paradise can turn into hell.
That is all quite disturbing. Wow!
Great read.