PHOTO COURTESY DANE NIELSEN & SHANNON KELLY/Editor in Chief
NICOLE ALBERTSON
News Assistant
The Pepperdine community has become all-to-familiar with the brush fires raging through Malibu Canyon. But unlike previous close encounters with the flames, this time some students, faculty and alumni fell victim to the conquering flames.
Seniors Erin Chinen and Becca Patterson suffered severe damages when their apartment was burned in the fire. They live near Webster Elementary and Malibu Presbyterian Church off of Vista Pacifica.
“The fire came in through the back patio and burned the back and side walls,” Chinen said. “The wind blew the doors open to the bedroom and the roof [fell] in the closet. It is mainly just smoke damage but the TV melted from the heat and the whole living room is gone.”
Chinen and Patterson’s neighbor, 2007 Pepperdine graduate Dane Neilsen, also suffered damage when flames claimed his rental house at 5:30 a.m Sunday.
“We had a half hour to grab stuff,” Neilsen said. “We were driving away and in my rearview mirror I was watching the back half of my house on fire.”
Students are not the only Pepperdine victims from the fire. Associate Professor of Business Dr. Connie James and Professor of Law Bernard James lost their Malibu home that sits behind Malibu Presbyterian Church, which was also destroyed.
“We woke up at 5 a.m. and the power was out,” Connie said. “We could smell smoke and the firefighters came at 5:30 a.m. to tell us that we had to evacuate.”
The couple evacuated to a friend’s house in Santa Monica where they learned about their loss from the media coverage focusing on the Church engulfed in flames.
“We were eating lunch and watching the news and the camera panned out from the church and we saw our house, two doors down, on fire,” Connie said. “We were only left with our chimney.”
Chinen and Patterson were visiting Palm Springs when they received news at 9 a.m. about the fire threatening their apartment. The new emergency system 3n Instacom, which Pepperdine recently implemented for student protection, informed all students of the fire updates in Malibu.
“I found out [about the fire] vaguely though the text messaging system,” Patterson said. “That was great notification.”
Chinen and Patterson returned to their apartment on Monday to gather whatever belongings remained.
“It will all work out,” Chinen said. “I’m not really worried about it. Nothing is irreplaceable.”
Junior Kaliey Fullerton, neighbor to Neilson, Patterson and Chinen, also suffered damages from floods caused by the frequent helicopter water drops overhead.
The 5 a.m. evacuations forced all residents to gather important objects before they were asked to leave. Neilsen took a laptop, photo albums and his Pepperdine Diploma before he and his roommate of two and a half years, Neibel Shaw, evacuated their house.
“It was pretty insane,” Neilsen said. “You never think it will happen to you, but then I turned around and my roommate’s room was on fire.”
The James’ were able to save their two dogs, computers, photographs and medicine.
Now that this tragedy has become a reality, Pepperdine’s victims are trying to find ways to get their lives back to normal.
Pepperdine is offering Chinen and Patterson housing in the Lovernich apartments for the remainder of the Fall semester.
“It is so gracious of them to offer an apartment for us,” Patterson said.
Neilsen flew to New York on Monday and must now consider his move back to Malibu.
“It’s hard to move back to Malibu,” Neilsen said. “To find a new place to live and rent in Malibu is really difficult. But I know so many wonderful people who are offering me places to stay for the meantime.”
As long-time Malibu residents and Pepperdine professors, the James’ have encountered several wildfires that threatened Pepperdine in the past, but have never suffered losses.
“We are trying to get things adjusted,” Connie said. “The photos were very special to us so I’m glad that we have those. We are hopeful that things are going to work out.”
Associate Professor of Art History, Sonia Sorrell’s home was also burned.
The last fire to make headlines in Malibu destroyed eight houses in January, but left Pepperdine employees unharmed.
“I was here for the 2003 fire and the one in January,” Neilsen said.
“I survived a couple of fires until finally this one took my house.”
10-24-2007
