Malibu man thanks firefighters who saved his home from LA wildfires

A Malibu man drove south this week to attend a ceremony honoring the El Segundo firefighters of Engine 31 C Platoon who assisted with the massively destructive Palisades Fire to personally thank them for saving his home. 

Dr. Anthony Nesburn told FOX 11 that he wouldn’t have missed the ceremony, sharing that not only were the firefighters able to spare his house, but they also left him a note in his mailbox. 

The note said that the house to the right of his was engulfed in flames and the fence separating the two homes was about to catch his on fire, “and we kept the fire from that door.” 

He said he was so grateful for the letter, “because I did not know how the house survived.” 

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It’s an important bit of good news after Nesburn’s wife died last year. He told FOX 11 he felt  she was watching over him as the fire raged. 

The note from firefighters also added, “We’re so sorry for the devastation your neighborhood has endured.”  

Besides a charred side door, Nesburn’s home remains completely intact. Many of his neighbors, however, weren’t so lucky, and his son, who lives in the Pacific Palisades, also lost his. 

“That was one of our prouder moments being on the incident,” El Segundo firefighter Matt Goodenough told FOX 11 of being able to protect Nesburn’s ocean view home. “There’s many houses we saved, but that one in particular was just one of those that we were proud to kind of put – I don’t know if you heard about the pink ribbon, but hanging the pink ribbon was an indication of a save.” 

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El Segundo firefighter Bryan Partlow said in the 20 years he’s been on the job, he’s never seen winds like they experienced during the Palisades Fire. 

“The winds were unbelievable,” he said. “We already had an uphill battle.” 

He added, “We go out there and we do the job. We handle the task, and we go back to the station, and we don’t normally talk about what we do. It’s a very humbling feeling.” 

Thousands of people have been left homeless by the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire, further east, that both sparked last month and just recently have been 100% contained after weeks of battling them.