The California wildfire created havoc, engulfing many houses in its way, and Matthew Perry’s former Pacific Palisades residence was no exception.
The current owner, real estate developer Anita Verma-Lallian, revealed that the residence miraculously escaped the wildfires thanks to her chivalrous neighbors. Verma-Lallian reported that she and her family are safe, relying on her neighbors and media coverage for updates.
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More about the Pacific Palisades home
The four-bedroom, five-bathroom residence was previously owned by the late Friends superstar Matthew Perry, who died in October 2023.
Verma-Lallian bought the residence almost a year later for $8.55 million in an off-market deal, planning to use it as a vacation home for her family.
They were this close
Verma-Lallian and her family are based in Scottsdale, Arizona. The family was celebrating the New Year at the Pacific Palisades home, and thankfully, they were back in Arizona days before the wildfires ravaged the neighborhood.
Who knows what might have happened if they were still there?
The savage wildfires
According to Cal Fire, The wildfire has spread across over 27,000 acres in the neighborhood.
Live maps showed that the fires had spread to the house’s street. Verma-Lallian was initially clueless about whether the residence had survived the fires.
Verma-Lallian revealed the happy news
According to Realtor.com, Verma-Lallian’s Pacific Palisades residence miraculously survived the raging wildfires.
Verma-Lallian expressed her gratitude to her heroic neighbors who stepped up and helped save her home, with the damage being limited to the backyard.
The neighbors’ chivalry
Verma-Lallian revealed that one of her friends could confirm that the house was OK, except small fires in the backyard. Fortunately, the neighbors were able to contain these fires, ensuring that the residence was safe.
It was far from easy
Verma-Lallian felt completely “helpless” before getting reassurance from her neighbors. On her end, she only had access to news that the fires had left five dead in their wake and destroyed more than 2,000 structures.
She could only watch the events unfold and hope for the best.
They were tracking the fires from their security cameras
Verma-Lallian and her family could see the fires and smoke encroaching on their pool through the security cameras installed in the residence.
“We saw the firefighters put out some of the fires successfully — but then we lost service, and we had no idea what was going on,” she told Realtor.com.
She thought her area was low-risk
The fires surprised the CEO and founder of Camelback Productions and Arizona Land Consulting as she thought that the area the residence was in was not at high risk for wildfires. She saw Malibu as a higher-risk area but didn’t expect hers to be on the list.
She doesn’t know when she can get back
Verma-Lallian can only rely on her neighbors’ updates. It is unclear when she can go to her Pacific Palisades residence to check up on it herself. The neighbors warned her that getting clearance to go to their residence could take up to a week.
The California fires
Currently, five fires are burning through in California. Firstly, there are the Pacific Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire, which are at zero percent containment. Then, there’s the Sunset Fire, which is a “very dangerous and explosive” brush fire, according to CBS News.
Finally, there are the Hurst Fire and the Lidia Fire, which are now partially contained, firefighters confirmed.
