Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says family's home destroyed in California wildfires
'The Bear' actor Chris Witaske, other Chicago-area natives speak on devastation caused by fires
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Concern for California is growing Thursday amid the devastating wildfires.
From former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to a suburban actor who appears on the show "The Bear," ABC7 heard from people who have family and friends who've lost everything in the wildfires.
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Lightfoot is grateful she has a copy of her aunt and uncle's wedding photo as she says her aunt and uncle lost everything in the California wildfires.
"There is literally nothing left of their house," Lightfoot said. "They have lived there for decades. I was just there in October visiting them."
Lightfoot told ABC7 us her relatives, in their 90s, left their home of more than sixty years in Altadena quickly, with only the clothes on their back.
"I'm still processing the enormity of this loss," Lightfoot said. "My aunt and uncle are in their 90s, they are not going to rebuild."
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In parts of L.A. County, the destruction is complete, and so are feelings of helplessness.
McHenry County native Riley Golz lost her Altadena home.
"Today, we woke up and cried because it wasn't a dream," Golz said.
Tuesday, she evacuated, but returned to look for her cat, only to find her neighborhood was an inferno.
"I couldn't see," Golz said. "Ashes were blowing in my eye. My clothes were getting burned, and... Things were exploding. Cars were on fire. You can see in the video... it looked like a war zone."
She saved her cat, Packs, but her and her mother's homes are both are gone. The family has set up a GoFundMe page to help them recover from the losses.
Arlington Heights native Renee Skiera is in Malibu at Pepperdine University, where the spring semester starts Monday, under a literal cloud of uncertainty.
"A bunch of my fellow students at Pepperdine have lost their homes, their cars, all of their belongings," Skiera said.
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Actor Chris Witaske was born and raised in Saint Charles, Illinois, but he has been in Los Angeles for 10 years. The actor, known for playing Pete on "The Bear," says he's prepared to leave if needed.
"I have friends who have lost their homes in Altadena, and people are being evacuated right and left," Witaske said. "It's just really scary. It's devastating"
Cameron Petrusevski from Orland Park shared photos of the fires with ABC7. He is a grad student at UCLA. He said classes are cancelled or online, and he has a bag ready to go if he has to evacuate.
"You could just see all the smoke and the smoke plume that was popping up," Petrusevski said. "You could see the different colors of it, like it was really dark, but orange and red. It was just really weird to see... Just seeing it in real time you can see the destruction and just how genuinely sad it has been."
SEE ALSO | California fires: Passengers arriving at O'Hare from LAX fear what they might return home to
Dan Tarpey is a Chicagoan living in Los Angeles. On Thursday, he's preparing to host a family who evacuated. Even 25 miles away from the fires in Hermosa Beach, he is feeling the effects.
"It literally felt apocalyptic," Tarpey said. "I woke up yesterday morning, 1:30 in the morning, coughing. I was surprised my smoke alarm wasn't going off my master bedroom was filled with smoke there was soot all over my comforters all over my floor."
In the days ahead, some Chicagoans continue to look for ways to help those most impacted by the fire.
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