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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDick Van Dyke recalls escaping raging Franklin Fire in Malibu
MALIBU, Calif. Beloved actor Dick Van Dyke recalled how he escaped the fast-moving Franklin Fire raging through Malibu this week, thanks to the help of his quick-thinking neighbors. Van Dyke, who turns 99 on Friday, recalled seeing the flames encroach on a hill near his home this week. While he has already been through four wildfires in the past, this time, "I wasn't ready," he told NBC News.
This time I messed up. ... I have a fire hose that hooks up to my pool and shoots, like, a 70-foot stream of water. Well, I wasnt ready. I went out. It was snarled, and Im out there laying on the ground trying to undo this fire hose, and the fires coming over the hill. What I did was exhaust myself. I forgot how old I am, and I realized I was crawling to get out, he said. It was coming from over the hill you could see it, he said.
As he was struggling, three neighbors came out to help him. I was trying to crawl to the car. I had exhausted myself and couldnt get up. Three neighbors came and carried me out and came back, he said. Van Dyke said that the neighbors carried him to the car and that he and his wife and pets swiftly got in. He praised the neighbors for saving his life. [They] got me out of here, or I wouldnt have done it. I dont think I would have made it, he said. They also came back, and my little guest house had started to flame up in the back. They put that out. So they saved my life and my house.
Video from his doorbell camera showed the moment he evacuated with his wife, Arlene, and their pets. They went to a hotel in Santa Monica, where he had performed back in 1948, for a night.
https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/wildfires/dick-van-dyke-recalls-escaping-raging-franklin-fire-malibu-rcna183946

Dennis Donovan
(29,227 posts)milestogo
(19,418 posts)SpankMe
(3,370 posts)It would suck big time if it was lost to fire.
Wiz Imp
(3,688 posts)Dick Van Dyke Returns Home for 99th Birthday After Fleeing Wildfires and Reveals His Missing Cat Bobo Was Found Safe
The feline had gone missing while the legendary actor and his family were heading to safety
Dick Van Dyke has got one birthday wish crossed off his list the safe return of his cat Bobo!
A family friend of the entertainer, Laura Johnson, revealed on Instagram that Bobo escaped while Van Dyke and his wife Arlene Silver evacuated from their home in Malibu, Calif. earlier this week due to wildfires that raged nearby.
Our thoughts were with Dick, Arlene and their sweet animals this week as the Franklin Fire raged through their neighborhood in Malibu and the Van Dykes had to evacuate, just days before Dicks 99th birthday, she wrote in the post, alongside an old photo of Van Dyke and his wife cheerfully tapping their toes during an interview for the Kennedy Center Honors in 2021.
She added that the couple was finally able to return home again and be reunited with their cat Bobo (who escaped as they were evacuating! And thankfully waiting for them upon their arrival back).
https://www.facebook.com/100001040012998/videos/2855224201188886/