How a Luxembourg doctor experiences the devastating fires in California

A few weeks ago, the famous Santa Ana winds in California were still blowing a little in Kate Winslet’s eyes in the famous Christmas movie The Holiday. But since the beginning of January, they have spread the worst forest fires in years around Los Angeles, which have already killed 25 people so far. François Aspesberro, a 56-year-old Luxembourger, was still at home in Dudelange for Christmas. When he returns to America, conditions are already ripe for forest fires to break out.

It is Sunday January 4 and François Aspesberro is having a picnic on the beach with his wife Jamie Stokke and their two children. Later, they visit the Ferris wheel at the popular Santa Monica Pier. On this occasion, the couple still discusses the fact that it hasn’t rained enough lately, that the vegetation is particularly dry. And they’re worried about Santa Ana winds, which are expected to be particularly strong this year.

Because in fact, strong winds often cause power lines to collide, what is called a “line slap,” and the sparks spread into forest fires. The Santa Ana winds, which form between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada and influence California weather, especially in winter, are also called the devil’s winds. Rightly so: a little more than 40 hours after the Aspesberro family had a picnic in Santa Monica, the fire started.

“We learned about the fires by following the news and we received alerts by SMS,” explains Doctor Aspesberro. The 56-year-old works as an intensive care pediatrician at the “City of Hope” cancer clinic in Duarte, where the Eaton fire broke out. “The same night, the hospital warned us that we might have to evacuate the patients. In the following days, all operations were also canceled because the uncertainty was too great.”

Fortunately, the fire did not reach the hospital and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where his wife works, is not in the risk zone either. “The early warning system was definitely in place. It’s just incredible to see how quickly the fire spread.”

But so far, the family appears to be lucky despite the overall situation: Their home, located in Culver City, about ten miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles, was also spared until here. The family’s future remains uncertain, however, as the winds can change at any time, so the fires continue to spread.

“As soon as the wind blows 50 or 70 miles per hour, you see the embers. It flies horizontally, over hundreds of meters,” explains François Aspesberro. In Pacific Palisades, where the fires have wreaked the most havoc so far, for example, they are said to have swept over the Pacific Highway and even burned beach houses.

Although the wind worries him, his family is still safe in Culver City. It’s a flat region, explains the Dudelangeois, who has lived in the United States since 2005, far from the mountains and all these hills. “People have always built further into the canyons, that’s true for Pacific Palisades, for Hollywood Hills, for Beverly Hills. I think that’s where people are most in danger.”

And not just right now, because there’s always a risk when building on the sandy and rocky hills of the LA area. During the rainy season, for example, there is a risk of landslides. Although François Aspesberro feels relatively safe, he monitors fires with the Watch Duty app.

That was the case last weekend, when he traveled with his family to Palm Springs, nearly 125 miles away. “We wanted to get some fresh air,” he explains. Last week, air pollution was so bad that children were unable to go to school. His Palm Springs hotel has also hosted many people who have had to evacuate their homes or who have already lost everything.

“There were also people who had with them the children of friends who had lost their homes. I have no idea where these people are going to go, how they are going to rebuild their lives. I don’t think we can understand the magnitude of what happened here and how many people will be affected. It’s already a disaster.”

As a result, US President Joe Biden, still in office until January 20, declared the area disaster-stricken. “So I’m sure people will hopefully have funds available for rebuilding.”

Many people could need it: in fact, as the Luxembourger tells us, many insurance policies for homes located in risk areas were canceled last year. “I know that State Farm, a large insurance company, canceled about 75,000 homeowners’ policies six months ago. So I don’t know if people were able to get new insurance.”

In Altadena in particular, a traditionally African-American community, people reportedly lost everything in the Eaton Fire. “Now there are a lot of concerns that they don’t have the means to rebuild this community,” explains the father.

We could therefore witness what we call “gentrification”, when wealthy white citizens buy up neighborhoods, beautify them and thus drive up real estate prices. Forest fires could therefore create social inequality, fears the Luxembourger, who began his medical training in Luxembourg and then studied in Belgium, Germany and Switzerland.

But wildfires also bring people together. There were numerous donations, and François Aspesberro and his wife also donated clothes, books and toys. People are very generous, he observes. After all, it’s nice to see and it speaks for the people of California.

After all, everyone knows people affected, including François Aspesberro himself: he says that a couple of friends bought a new house in Pacific Palisades just a few weeks ago, and now the whole neighborhood burned. “No one can go back there. There is nothing left to live for. It will take ten years to rebuild.”

But the idea of ​​returning to Luxembourg in this context never occurred to this intensive care pediatrician. “I built my life here, I’ve been here for 20 years.” In Los Angeles, there is no gray weather like in Luxembourg, but sunshine every day, and precisely the risk of forest fires. Other than that, he enthuses, life in California is fantastic.

“On the beach I can ride a bike, I can run and walk. It’s a beautiful place. There are also a lot of work opportunities.” François Aspesberro knows something about this, having already worked in Seattle, Anchorage, Santa Barbara and Las Vegas, among others.

And he doesn’t want to give up his current job in Duarte either: “I work in a very innovative cancer hospital. Synthetic insulin was developed here,” he says enthusiastically. He still comes back to Luxembourg two or three times a year to visit his family, but the quality of life in California is still difficult to beat.

This article was originally published on the website of Luxembourg word.

Adaptation: Megane Kambala