A Malibu resident is talking about how he took the now-viral photo of a Volkswagen bus that survived the deadly Palisades fire.
“Get out of your house now! There’s a huge fireball coming towards us,” said Matt Baker, a Pacific Palisades resident who said he received an emergency call from a friend when the fire broke out. .
“We stayed in the danger zone longer than we needed to. We were determined to make sure everyone in the neighborhood could evacuate safely,” Baker said of staying behind to fight the fire.
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He gathered his belongings, moved his car away from the oncoming flames, hosed down his home and other homes on the same block, and helped elderly neighbors evacuate.
“The heat, the smoke, the exhaustion were intense, but the instinct to help and hold on was stronger than the fear. It’s moments like these that make us truly understand the meaning of community and resilience. It can be done,” Baker told KTLA.
Photos of the Volkswagen bus that survived the deadly Palisades fire are now going viral.
The day after the fire, Baker surveyed the neighborhood. He said he quickly noticed that his neighbor’s 1977 Volkswagen Type 2 bus had somehow survived the fire.
“I had to tell her right away,” he said. “We are all so close and this was a ray of hope!”
Megan Weinraub, the bus’s owner, had parked it on a flat area near her apartment building before the fire started because she wasn’t used to driving sticks and wanted to avoid launching it on a hill.
She just recently purchased a bus from her friend Preston Martin.
Photos of the Volkswagen bus that survived the deadly Palisades fire are now going viral
She knew others would be worried about the bus when she had to evacuate her home.
“From the day I brought the van home, it became part of my neighborhood,” she said. “I’ve been posting pictures of it and now everyone on the street recognizes it. Even the dog is with it, we hang out together a lot.”
Weinraub said he was unable to return home and was grateful that Baker sent him a photo of the bus.
“I immediately shared it with Preston, knowing how emotionally attached he was to the van,” she said. “I’ve kept him informed because it means a lot to both of us.”
The bus’s original owner, Mr. Martin, always said there was “magic” to the bus.
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“The most surprising thing about how quickly this van went viral is that it resonated with people,” the pair said in an interview with KTLA. “It has become a symbol of light and hope, especially in these dark and uncertain times.”
Weinraub said she wants to use this viral opportunity to raise awareness and give back to the community. She is an artist and owner of the customer surfboard shop Vibrant Boards.
She has launched a raffle and donation campaign to help those affected by the bushfires. All information can be found on her website.
Baker said he looks forward to seeing “Megan’s Magic Blue Bus” crisscrossing PCH as it always has, adding, “Amidst so much loss and turmoil, this bus is a symbol of resilience and “It feels like a little symbol of hope and a reminder to us.” Some can withstand even the most severe storms. ”
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