They made it out of the LA fires alive. But didn't escape the grips of uncertainty

LOS ANGELES – Cathryn Conn pulled out her phone and showed a video of flames on both sides of a smoky road.

It was a road on which she and her husband, Richard, said they evacuated from their home in Pacific Palisades Tuesday. And now they were wondering about their four-room house where they'd lived for more than 25 years.

“You can visualize every room,’’ Richard Conn, 75, said, “and then you know there’s a 50 percent chance it doesn’t exist anymore.’’

Richard and Cathyrn Conn, like others among the more than 100,000 people forced to evacuate from the wildfires in Los Angeles County, were grappling with the unknown. About the fate of their homes. About the fate of their neighborhood. Not to mention what might happen next during the wildfires that have killed at least 11 people.

“Thousands of residents have experienced this uncertainty,’’ Richard Conn said.

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Wearing masks, the Conns spoke to USA TODAY Wednesday at The Original Farmers Market near West Hollywood. They said they were staying at a hotel across the street, and watching video of the fiery evacuation route shifted to talk of uncertainty.

"It was like a two-mile warzone,'' Richard Conn said. "At the end of the day, we were very lucky. That could have been a mass disaster.''

Moments later, reality intervened.

“I’m trying to get clothes, so I can get to work,’’ said Richard Conn.

Conn, an attorney, said he took only two dress shirts before he and his wife evacuated as quickly as possible.

So off they headed to an adjacent outdoor mall.

New fire, more uncertainty

To the Conns’ dismay, a sign on the front glass door of the World Market read, “Due To The Fires In the Surrounding Areas We Will Be Closing Today at 5 p.m.’’

Here they were, about 13 miles east from the raging fires that forced them to evacuate in Pacific Palisades and about 15 miles west of the fires that have torn through Altadena, only for more fire to erupt.

A new brush fire was spreading in the Hollywood Hills, and dozens of onlookers gathered at the mall's eight-level parking structure for a better view.

"I feel like people are panicking,'' said Gary Baseman, 64.

Four officers with the Los Angeles Police Department drove to the roof for a look at the fires. They informed spectators that the surrounding roads were growing very congested. As in, people were trying to get out.

“Hopefully they can take care of this so the whole city doesn’t have to evacuate,’’ Baseman said.

Some residents of Hollywood Hills clearly had no choice but to leave behind their homes, uncertain what might be there when they returned.

Questions remain unaswered

On Thursday, Richard Conn told USA TODAY, he and his wife learned that several homes on their street in Pacific Palisades were destroyed.

“(But) our home apparently was not impacted,’’ he said by text message.

Still, the information will need to be confirmed, Conn said.

“And though we are relieved to avoid catastrophe, it is a fact that our neighborhood will never be the same,’’ he added. “If you have ever wondered what it was like living in Dresden after the World War II firebombing, you should come to the Palisades.’’

At the same time, Richard Conn said he and his wife feel lucky that they made it out of Pacific Palisades alive.

"We dodged a bullet,'' he said.

The Conns declined to be photographed for the story, indicating they wanted to maintain some privacy.

The couple’s uncertainty continues.

Such as figuring out when they can get back to their home.

“Hard to know and may depend on future fire and wind activity,’’ Richard Conn said. “Fires are still burning in the area.’’