FERNDALE, Mich. (WXYZ) — The California wildfires hit very close to home for a Ferndale man whose brother and nephew lived in the Pacific Palisades neighborhoods in L.A.
Pacific Palisades is one of the hardest hit areas.
“He was awoken Tuesday morning to basically sirens,” said Cole Clark of Ferndale.
Cole Clark’s brother, Spencer Clark, has lived in California for the past 15 years.
Earlier this week, Spencer and his 7-year-old son Canyon lost their home and most of their belongings after a fire destroyed their apartment.
“He had about 30 minutes to grab everything he could and evacuate,” said Cole Clark.
Spencer and his son have since been staying with friends as he looks for other places to live.
That’s when Cole says he wanted to help his brother out so he started a GoFundMe for him.
“He was hesitant at first for me to start it, he’s not one to step into the spotlight and he definitely knows their probably many more people that definitely need help more than he does,” said Cole. “But I know my brother being as humble as he is was going to be hesitant to take any quote on quote charity but so I took it upon myself to start a GoFundMe for him.”
Spencer wasn’t available on Sunday to speak with us on camera but he did tell me over the phone that he’s grateful to everyone who has and will donate.
Cole says he brother has also been encouraging people to support the L.A. firefighters.
“He would say as much as I would love to get the donations there are still people who are fighting the fires and people who are still in harms way,” said Cole.
Cole added that his main goal is just making sure his brother and nephew have what they need to find a new home and hopefully get back to normal.
“Anytime something like this happens, you love your family, you just want to do everything you can to try and help them out,” said Cole.
If you would like to donate to Spencer’s GoFundMe, you can find the link here.
