On Monday morning, when the Getty fire broke out along L.A.’s heavily traveled Interstate 405, eight homes on Tigertail Road were among the first to burn down.
Six others were partially burned in Brentwood, a tony neighborhood that’s home to celebrities and ultra-rich. Thousands were evacuated from the area, with Los Angeles Lakers basketball player LeBron James among them.
By Thursday morning, Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Ralph Terrazas said most mandatory evacuations were lifted as firefighters continued to tame the blaze. Evacuation rules remained in effect only for Brentwood’s North Tigertail Road and a few side streets where the luxury homes burned.
The fire had scorched 745 acres and was 39 percent contained as of Thursday morning, officials said. Some L.A. city officials worry that strong winds — with gusts forecasted at over 20 mph — could reignite the Getty fire.
It’s still too early to make any estimates on costs of the homes destroyed, sources said.
Compass’ Fran Flanagan, who is an active broker in the nearby Palisades neighborhood, told The Real Deal that the burned homes ranged in value from $3 million to one under construction that could be worth as much as $25 million.
Brentwood boasts some of L.A.’s priciest properties, with a median home sale price of $4.16 million according to Douglas Elliman’s September 2019 report.
“Let’s just watch and see what happens,” Flanagan said. “I don’t know the extent of the implications of this.”
“There were a number of celebrities evacuated in the area,” she added, while declining to identify them. “A lot of them would stay under the radar, always. It’s the nice part of living in this part of the world, you can do that.”
James’ $23-million home for one, was not burned as the fire chewed through the brush of the coastal western L.A. suburb. He fed firefighters on Taco Tuesday as a thank you for their help.
Flanagan said the fires have not kept her in making more home sales in the area. She estimates that she has for homes sales totaling $26 million in various stages of closing.
“Everything is going along as if nothing has happened,” Flanagan said.