SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — Prominent music producer and composer from metro Detroit Hilton Wright says the wildfires that have been raging across the Los Angeles area have devastated communities, completely burning down his son's elementary school and over 1,000 other structures.
The Pacific Palisades fire is now described as the most destructive fire in Los Angeles history.
Tens of thousands have been forced from their homes. In just days, multiple fired have formed from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena. Thousands of firefighters are working around the clock.
“Right now as far as containment, we’re not making very much progress. We’re still making sure that we get everyone’s lives, the people out of the way," Cal Fire Battalion Chief Brent Pascua said.
Wright is a Southfield and Farmington Hills native. He's lived in Los Angeles for 12 years now, working as a music producer on shows like "black-ish" and with artists like Big Sean.
He's seen his fair share of wildfires, but nothing like what he's seeing now.
"I've never experienced anything traumatic like this. It's still hard to compute as I'm talking about it," Wright said. "The best term to describe it now is... it's like an apocalypse has happened."
Related video: 70,000 under evacuation orders in Los Angeles
Wright lives in the Mid-City neighborhood, about a half hour drive from Palisades. However, his 5-year-old son Trey attends Palisades Charter Elementary School. On Tuesday, his son was in class, but when Wright turned on the news, he saw what was happening and heard the evacuation warnings. He drove as fast as he could to pick his son up.
"And as I'm driving, as I approached to turn to get to high school, those planes that drop the water out of the sky were hovering above and I saw them drop the water out," he said. "To see it happen right above my head was just like something else."
Wright grabbed his son and other students. Many of his son's classmates are now left without homes. Wright’s home is still standing, but his heart breaks for his son’s school, which he later found out has completely burned to the ground.
"The wind conditions are just right for pushing that fire right up against these very densely populated areas," University of Michigan associate professor of civil and environmental engineering Ann Jeffers said.
Jeffers says the winds gusts that are reaching over 50 mph are the largest concern. She and other scholars and officials say unfortunately, the fire is expected to get worse before it gets better.
Organizations like the Michigan Red Cross, the Michigan DNR wildland firefighters and departments like Detroit fire told 7 News Detroit they are on standby waiting for the call from California officials should they need any help.
Meanwhile, residents like Wright just asks that Michiganders keep the people of California in their prayers as these fire continue to spread.
