Escaping the L.A. Fires
Published January 17, 2025 · 11:37 · 341,619 views
About This Video
Van Neistat evacuates his family from Topanga Canyon during the January 2025 Los Angeles fires, 11 minutes and 37 seconds of footage that 341,619 people have watched. The video is what emergency preparation looks like when the emergency arrives.
The fires hit Pacific Palisades first. Van rides his dirt bike to the house to grab what matters: passports, birth certificates, the hard drives. He shuts off the propane. The family leaves Topanga for Ojai with the truck loaded. What keeps the refrigerator running during the power outage is an EcoFlow portable power station. Van does not make a production of mentioning it. The thing just works.
The Watch Duty app delivers fire perimeter updates faster than any official source. Van checks it constantly. The app is crowdsourced and volunteer-run, which means it operates the way the best amateur radio networks do during disasters: faster than the institutions, built by people who need it.
Colin and Samir, fellow creators and friends, lost their houses. Van mentions it plainly. No narration over the fact. A GoFundMe exists for the neighborhood. The video's turning point is what Van calls the deus ex machina: firefighters arrive, the wind shifts, the fire passes Topanga. The family goes home.
What stays is the preparation. Van had the off-grid power already configured. He knew where the propane shutoff was. The passports were grabbable in under a minute. The video is not about the fire. It is about the years of readiness that compressed into one night. More on fatherhood as operational responsibility, and the complicated relationship with L.A. that keeps the family in Topanga.
What Van Uses: EcoFlow portable power station (kept the fridge running during the outage), Watch Duty app (real-time fire tracking), dirt bike (fast access to the house when roads were questionable).
Related: We had to evacuate when a wildfire threatened our home (earlier Topanga fire evacuation), Exploring the L.A. flooding, DIY Solar Powered Playhouse A/C (another EcoFlow use).
FAQ
Did Van Neistat's house survive the January 2025 LA fires?
Yes. Topanga Canyon was threatened but firefighters arrived and the wind shifted before the fire reached Van's property. He evacuated his family to Ojai and returned after the danger passed. The nearby Pacific Palisades neighborhood was not as fortunate.
What power backup did Van Neistat use during the LA fire evacuation?
An EcoFlow portable power station kept the refrigerator running during the power outage. Van had already set up off-grid power for his studio, so the backup hardware was in place before the fire started.
Did Colin and Samir lose their homes in the LA fires?
Yes. Van mentions that Colin and Samir, YouTube creators and friends, lost their houses in the January 2025 fires. A GoFundMe was set up for the affected neighborhood.
Transcript
[Applause] wind's blowing up a gale today and they closed our road hi I'm coming up I'm going to get the guns in the truck looks a lot bigger in real life that is not a cloud this is my street and that's the fire there's a chinuk somewhere up there that's a fire it is [ __ ] blowing towards us they just abandoned their cars this is one neighborhood away from us yeah we're refugees we we're in Tanga it's basically just like the next next Canon over but it's like minutes from the house and they just like forc evacuation from our
area okay here's the police checkpoint hi hey sir this road is not open to traffic okay I'm a resident I I understand that but this road is closed off there's no way I can get up there want to turn off some propane tanks unfortunately I can't let you up there though okay yeah because they want us to be shutting this road now so now I'm going to go check stunt road to see if I have access on the dirt bike my house is on the left side of this bridge my house is on the left side of this fire it's to the left stunt road's closed got no prayer I can't get in there I can't get into my house old Tanga has a police blockade stunt Road has a police police blockade I know of one other place that I can maybe stage the dirt bike and get into the
canyon let's go see the house Private Road that's why there's no police uh block road block oh we're getting into the belly of the be here fires over there I think we're safe I think I'm safe so that's just uh west of the Palisades that's on the other side of the panga Canyon Boulevard toena Canyon Boulevard runs left right in this Frame that's Tanga it's coming up the mountain that's the feng gun it's coming up the
M I made it now now I got to go real slow and think this through is Isabelle's passport is in here somewhere got it fire is over there okay now I got to unlock the doors for the fire department see that e flow is keeping our fridge is still working thank you ecof flow 67% unlock the front door for the fire department okay this might be the last time I'm ever in this house God forbid okay birth certificates Etc okay oh shut off theing propane okay shut off the propane down
at the street this is where X and Electra took their first steps it's clear that way Fire's over there there one last thing I want to document I hope I can see it h the rug does the rug cover it now here it is can you read this it says on this spot was born ex van neistat to van neistat and Isabelle Donaldson July 25th 2018 at 7:42 a.m. one thing's for sure that tile will survive this fire god save our home please dear God please save this house and if not I loved you my beautiful son was born here
I made beautiful things here Isabelle and I started our family here and our life here and we love this Canyon heading south on to panga Canyon Boulevard heading south on to panga Canyon Boulevard since I stopped it's gotten 25 ft 50 ft closer those Flames coming right towards us this water the fire is coming this way a little bit okay
I feel like I have to get this moment and this is from watch Duty radio traffic indicates the fire is advancing up the canyon and will reach old Tanga in about an hour we're about a mile and a half up old panga hey how you doing there's a huge fire at Valley Circle and Victory Boulevard and it might even be Ventura like three blocks from my studio huge they have the tankers and everything I'm watching them right now out my window so it's right across the 101 from us I'm seeing theing smoke you're not seeing it go outside right now are you at the hotel the hotel is the hotel's right there I got to go right now Jesus
Christ um so we have to just go I have to just go and have my keys keys Keys it's coming towards us that's the direction of the wind the wind is blowing South the fire is north of us I think we got to just turn on the TV hi little baby so this is across from the 101 from where we are right now we getting we have firstand data so it's not through the news uh you should go and go quickly all right we're packing the car right it seems like there's more we're headed to Sherman Oaks and it seems like there's more fire and smoke over here
than there was from where we fled uh it looks like Ino Hills maybe or we made it we're refugees in uh Sherman Oaks thank you SJ for taking us in I'm at the 405 right before Stanley and June's exit it looks like it's getting very it looks like it's getting pretty close ho as [ __ ] oh [ __ ] yeah it looks close as Valley Vista is closed [ __ ] so in drama there's this thing called Deus X makina and it's when some magic kind of saves the day and in the
movies it's very disappointing but in real life you know we call it a miracle you know what the firefighters and the air support couldn't do on Wednesday in the Palisades after the winds knocked down they were able to stop the fire before it reached the valley before it reached Sherman Oaks and they were also able to save a lot of toena and as far as I know our house is is fine a lot of friends lost houses Colin and Samir Friends of the channel they uh they both have pregnant wives and they lost their houses in the Palisades my friends Carly and Jay they have four kids they lost their house and everything in it and there's a GoFundMe for them in the description of this video thank God my family and I are safe and thank fire departments from all
over the world that saved us it was unbelievable able how good they were you know I lost we lost nothing really but time but if you want to support me if you want to support my channel just join the patreon and um and they're still fighting the fires it's uh it's like a week and a half after since they started
Products & Tools Mentioned
- EcoFlow mentions — sponsor, used for portable power during evacuation
- Watch Duty mentions — fire tracking app used during LA fires
People Referenced
Colin and Samir