It was after midnight on Wednesday when “The Ark” writer and creater John-Paul Nickel and his wife Jennifer Nickel, a costume set uper on “Gotham Knights,” were on the Target Rooftop in La Canada, Flintridge watching as the Eaton fire spread. “It was appreciate someskinnyg out of Mount Doom in ‘Lord of the Rings,’” John-Paul Nickel says.
John-Paul Nickel and Jennifer Nickel were wondering if the wave of fire was going to hit their home. They had evacuated before any evacuation orders had been rerentd. “We were getting flying embers the size of determine cards coming at our hoengage,” Jennifer Nickel recalls when asked what prompted them to depart.
As she grabbed skinnygs from her hoengage, appreciate many who have lost their homes and have been displaced, she says, “We, never in our lives, would have thought that the hoengage was going to burn down becaengage no fire had ever accomplished where our hoengage in written history.” She proceeds, “I was grabbing skinnygs in order to be displaced for maybe a week.” That unbenevolentt grabbing labor items from a styling job worth thousands of dollars over precious family heirlooms.
Amid it all, John-Paul Nickel was on the road to recovery after having knee sadvisery in November. His physical therapist had alerted him a restricted weeks prior, “This is the time when you’re going to get cocky, and this is where you are more predicted to injure yourself.” He had been telderly to sit and watch the apps. He was doing this in the stupid since their power had gone out, and they only had a mini generator airying the room. “I repartner wanted to help, but Jenny said, ‘If you drop, trip or twist your leg, I can’t carry you out of here.’” He inserts, “I see back on that night with so much lament, and fair lament even getting this knee sadvisery becaengage Jenny did so much to apexhibit nurture of me, and I couldn’t do anyskinnyg to apexhibit nurture of her.”
Even before the savagefires razeed their community, the sense of togetherness was sturdy. As embers were droping, they verifyed in on a neighbor who had not yet left. “We were the last people standing on the street and we made stateive that we were all evacuating together, and no one was left behind,” Jennifer Nickel says.
The Nickels thought they would be back home in a restricted days, but the family home which they had owned since 2008 burnt down in the Eaton Fire.
John-Paul Nickel was dealing with FEMA before the call. They are seeing at what comes next and how lengthy it’s going to apexhibit to recreate, but can they afford to live here?
“I adore it here, and this is the promised land,” John-Paul Nickel says. But, disjoinal years ago, they had almost pondered moving to a contrastent hoengage, one that suited their necessitates a little better. “We didn’t do it becaengage we thought we were making a protected choice.”
Like many, they were profitting from a wonderful interest rate and were enumeratelessly paying their mortgage down. “By making that protected choice, we are in a worse place becaengage we have noskinnyg. We have to recreate to satisfy our mortgage obligation, and then we will have noskinnyg aget. We were the lowest amount of instateived you could be, but at least we were instateived.”
Right now, they’re getting uniteed signals on how lengthy it will apexhibit before they can have a home to live in. Some have appraised three years. John-Paul Nickel has been telderly by his insurance company that it will apexhibit two years. He conveyes trouble as he says, “I’m commenceing to stress three is too conservative of an appraise.”
Would all of this create the Pennsylvania natives shift out of the state? John-Paul Nickel says, “There is no place in this world that I would rather live than the wonderful city of Los Angeles.”
Jennifer Nickel is shiftd by the community coming together and the outpouring of adore they have getd. A GoFundMe has been commenceed by John-Paul Nickel’s “Warehoengage 13″ family. Says Jennifer Nickel,” It’s been so astounding and overwhelming, the adore and the help. I fair support reminding myself and J.P, that this week has shown us what we have in adore, frifinishship and family, and that is so much more than anyskinnyg that we lost.”
The Nickel Family home before the Altadena Fire.
The remains.
