The Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) is the largest organization of Location Managers and Location Scouts in the motion picture, television, commercial and print production industries. Their membership plays a vital role in the creativ
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1535985
I WAS CRYING IN THE MIDDLE OF TARGET. I NEEDED TO BUY UNDERWEAR … ESSENTIALS. I FELT DUMBFOUNDED, NUMB. I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO OR WHERE TO BEGIN. I LEFT MY HOUSE WITH JUST MY LAPTOP, MY PASSPORT AND MY DOG. AND MY INSURANCE AGENT CALLED. "JUST CHECKING ON YOU, CC, DON'T WORRY ABOUT YOUR HOUSE, WE GOT YOU." –LM CARLYN "CC" COUCH house had already burned down. I got a call from a neighbor crying who said, "It's all gone CC. Everything we worked for— it's all gone." I was in denial. Zigzagging through the Altadena streets, I experienced devastation I had only seen on movie sets. Houses were exploding and on fire. Other houses were untouched. It was so random. I wondered if maybe my house is one of those untouched. I didn't recognize my street. The wires were down, and dark smoke billowed. It was too dangerous to continue. Later that night, we tried again, and this time, we got through and saw the garage was still burning. That was the last of it. I never would have thought that the people I put around me would step up in the way they did. A friend reminded me, "As a location professional, you're trained." Immediately, I tapped into my skill set to push for information and to share it with the people in my residential community who didn't have access to it. From elderly African American families who were afraid to ask the questions because they thought they could be taken advantage of, to my Latinx friends who may not have English as their native language, I've asked their questions in the media. Of course, when disaster hits, you also have criminals— somebody set up a FEMA account in my name! I used that experience to warn others. LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger may not know my name, but she sure knows my face from crashing some of her press conferences! I ask the hard questions. I've got a loud voice, and I use it to speak up for those too afraid to do so. I've taken it upon myself to find out as much as possible about the fate of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU). It's a huge issue here because there are so many places where multiple families were living on properties where it may not have been permitted, or an ADU was added. Now, when insurance pays out, they are not paying for the ADU to be built. There are also lots of first- generation homeowners who just passed the property down from hand to hand. Now their kids are dealing with everything, but they are afraid to say, "Hey, you know my name should be on this property." I'm trying to educate and inform as many people as I can, because the homeless situation created by these fires is real. I could have been my neighbor who woke up when her house was on fire. Or my neighbor who left too soon without the dog, or one of the 17 people who did not make it. Call it God, or grace but my friends made sure that I left my house just in time. Now, I'm trying to live a more purposeful life and a meaningful existence. I'm not into having a bunch of stuff I don't need anymore. I hate the fact that it was the fire that educated me on these things, but this journey has brought me an even deeper sense of belonging to this community. I'm rebuilding and I appreciate the history of my neighborhood even more. I look at that as a silver lining. My house was going to be 100 years old this year. Ironically, I was going to celebrate … with a barbecue in the backyard. FRANCIS LUCAS – KALM/DRONE PILOT (FADE TO BLACK, INSECURE, IRONSIDE) JN: I spoke with Francis Lucas, a KALM who lives in the tight-knit bedroom community of Eagle Rock. As fate would have it, his small group of unlikely heroes may have been solely responsible for keeping Eagle Rock out of the news as the next possible evacuation zone. The LAFD gratefully reported to them that their hard work and timing may have saved Los Angeles from additional disaster heartbreak. FL: We were outside in the backyard, prepping for the 70 mph winds predicted to hit Eagle Rock, when we noticed the orange glow with smoke around it on the neighbor's hillside. We sprang into action, letting others in the neighborhood know. I ran to the neighbor's yard to alert them, but no one was home. Plus, his hose didn't work. Another neighbor gave us a fire extinguisher, but it barely helped, as the fire was now rushing through the trees. Fortunately for all of us, the neighbors on the hilltop had their son-in-law visiting, who was a cadet with the Burbank Fire Department. He worked the upper portion of the hill while we were in the lower portion. Neighbors banded together, and although it was crazy because of the wind, once we had multiple hoses going, we were able to contain our area until the fire department showed up. We found out they could not have accessed us sooner due to a fallen tree blocking the way. They took over from there, but acknowledged we contained the fire even when it had grown so quickly. Francis Lucas