TV viewers were left in total shock after a news anchor made a heartbreaking revelation during the horrifying LA fires.
ABC’s Matt Gutman shared gut-wrenching personal news as he filmed outside a destroyed home brought down to little more than rubble.
While hosting The View show, Gutman revealed how the uncontrollable wildfires destroyed his aunt’s home.
The news anchor took his viewers along a decimated road in Pacific Palisades, where the fires started and have wreaked most havoc.
Gutman explained the sheer devastation that had unfolded in the affluent LA neighborhood.
“I can feel the heat emanating from this house, which happens to be my aunt’s house,” he said.
Gutman shared the heartbreaking news that his aunt’s home was destroyed by a fire, fortunately, she was not there when it happened.
The news anchor, who lives in LA, explained the heartbreaking personal impact these destructive blazes have had on him.
Gutman shared how his own LA home was threatened by fires just 300 yards away but was thankfully put out before they could damage his house.
“My kids were afraid and I, like many hundreds of thousands of other people, told my family, ‘We have to get a go bag ready right now,’” he recalled.
“‘We have to have it prepared by the door because you really don’t know at this point.’”
“Like so many people in this part of LA, I know multiple people who lost their homes in this fire,” he added.
Gutman said his aunt, who lived just off Sunset Boulevard, was “struggling” and added it had been “hard for the family”.
Whoopi Goldberg, one of The View’s hosts, also made a heartwrenching revelation as she told Gutman she used to live in the now-destroyed area.
Goldberg watched in horror as the news anchor pointed out the piles of rubble that sat where homes once stood.
He also cautioned that even though the fire had subsided in his aunt’s area, there was still a risk of lingering fires smoldering near tree roots and underground.
APOCALYPTIC SCENES
This out-of-control blaze has forced more than 180,000 to flee as over 10,000 homes have been burnt to ashes.
Firefighters have struggled to put out the flames pushed by a deadly combination of peak dryness and hurricane-force winds.
So far, authorities have confirmed ten deaths – but it is feared the toll could be much higher as the flames continue to spread.
Five blazes are currently ripping through the iconic city after the wildfire started around 10:30am on Tuesday.
The Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, Hurst Fire, Kenneth Fire, and Lidia Fire are raging across the north of the city.
A-LIST LOSS
The hard-hit Pacific Palisades and Malibu neighborhoods are some of the most expensive and coveted in the country.
A-list celebrities from blockbuster actors to major TV stars have bought mansions in the area.
These stars have also been hit by the devastating fires which also turned their beloved properties into piles of ash and rubble.
Yesterday socialite Paris Hilton revealed her $8.4 million waterfront Malibu pad had been turned to ash by the wind-fuelled blazes.
She has since made an emotional return to the charred remains, calling her heartbreak at what has happened “truly indescribable”.
“When I first saw the news, I was in complete shock — I couldn’t process it,” she wrote on Instagram.
“But now, standing here and seeing it with my own eyes, it feels like my heart has shattered into a million pieces.”
Mel Gibson revealed his home was destroyed by the blaze while he was in Texas recording a Joe Rogan podcast.
Heartbroken supermodel Bella Hadid revealed her childhood home had been burnt to the ground.
Bella captioned the heartbreaking image with a sad face emoji: “Childhood bedroom.”
She also shared another devastating photo of the home in the daytime.
The Malibu mansion, dubbed the Carbon Canyon Estate, was also once rented by Kylie Jenner for nearly a whopping half a million dollars a month.
Some other celebrities who live in the area have narrowly escaped disaster.
Tom Hanks, Ben Affleck and Mark Hamill’s mansions were spared the wrath of the terrifying fires.
Celebrities lose homes to wildfires
The wildfires haven’t spared the homes of the rich and famous with Hollywood A-listers tragically seeing their houses turned to smouldering rubble.
Those who have had their homes burned down include:
- John Goodman
- Anthony Hopkins
- Paris Hilton
- Leighton Meester and Adam Brody
- Billy Crystal
- Miles Teller
- Eugene Levy
- Anna Faris
- Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag
- James Woods
- Hunter Biden
Other celebrities have been forced to flee their homes after evacuation orders were issued around the Palisades fire and the Sunset fire.
They include:
- Mark Hamill
- Mandy Moore
- Tom Hanks
- Reese Witherspoon
- Ben Affleck
