A documentary filmmaker behind “Rebuilding Paradise” is now living the life she once documented after losing everything in the Palisades Fire.
Tracy Droz Tragos found herself and her family having to quickly evacuate their home as the Pacific Palisades burned to the ground on Jan. 7. After documenting the aftermath of the 2018 Camp Fire, Droz Tragos knew you’d get stuck in gridlock if you didn’t move quickly. The family took nothing with them.
“I honestly thought this was a dry run, I don’t know why,” Droz Tragos told The Hollywood Reporter. “You really don’t think it’s going to happen to you.”
Droz Tragos lost everything and has since been staying in an Airbnb near her family in Santa Barbara. “An entire community, wiped off the face of the Earth,” she told the outlet. “And it’s not just your house – it’s your neighbor’s house. It’s the park you used to walk in and enjoy shade from the trees. It’s the place you got coffee. Where your kid goes to school. All of it.”
Droz Tragos is known for her documentary movie “Rebuilding Paradise.” The Ron Howard-produced film used her footage from time she spent with residents affected by the 2018 Camp Fire in Butte County.
The Camp Fire nearly destroyed the entire town of Paradise, California – burning 95% of the area. Since then, most of the town has been rebuilt, and thousands have returned to the city.
The documentary filmmaker’s time with residents who had experienced losing everything gave her unique knowledge of what to grab during a quick evacuation.
“Neighbors were like, ‘Why are you bringing toilet paper?'” Droz Tragos recalled. “And I said ‘Trust me, you may find yourself in a situation without a bathroom, and you’ll really wish you had toilet paper.'”
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Droz Tragos lived in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, a coastal enclave to some of California’s elite. However, the filmmaker emphasized that the wealthy and famous aren’t the neighborhood’s only residents.
“I know people think Pacific Palisades is fancy, but there’s a whole part of it that’s really not,” Droz Tragos told THR. “It’s multigenerational. The high school is a really cool place where my kid is able to go to school and meet people from all over.”
“But it’s gone. The library’s gone, the grocery store is gone. All the touch points of the community are gone. The place where the quirky 4th of July parade happens – gone.”
“There’s a sign in the barbershop that is now no more, that if you’re rich you live in Beverly Hills and if you’re famous you live in Malibu and if you’re lucky you live in Pacific Palisades.”
Droz Tragos has shared some of her thoughts and updates on her situation on her Instagram. The caption alongside a photo of a whiteboard reads in part, “I’ve been in survival mode – now – 48 hours after learning of the loss of our home and Chris and my home offices (our only offices). We have shifted from being in the immediate aftermath and are in a slightly different “what now” mode. All former to-do lists suddenly meaningless – replaced. We are starting brand new ones.”
She also shared a photo of herself holding up a sign that reads, “You never know what you have until it’s gone. Toilet paper, for instance.”
In the caption, she wrote in part, “I don’t know what to do with the sadness that comes in waves. The mug I will never see again – the clothes I have collected for special events over a lifetime which will never be replaced. A great-great grandmother’s watch. When I see photos of our Christmas Tree, my heart aches to think – it’s all just gone.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Droz Tragos for additional comment.
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The 2018 Camp Fire, which Droz Tragos documented in “Rebuilding Paradise,” will be revisited again with Jamie Lee Curtis’ “The Lost Bus.” Curtis’ Comet Pictures and Jason Blum’s Blumhouse have been working to develop the film from Lizzie Johnson’s book “Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire.”
The Camp Fire, known as the deadliest fire in California history, destroyed over 18,000 homes and businesses, leaving 85 people dead. “The Lost Bus” will tell the story of Kevin McKay, a bus driver, and Mary Ludwig, a school teacher, who helped rescue 22 children from a school during the fast-moving wildfire.
Matthew McConaughey is in negotiations to play the lead in the film, according to Deadline. However, sources claimed that deals have not been not finalized, and the film still needs the green light from a studio.
Fox News Digital reached out to McConaughey’s representative for comment.
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The destruction in Los Angeles began Jan. 7 after the Palisades Fire started burning around 11 a.m. local time. By the end of the day, a total of three fires were leaving a path of complete destruction in the area. More fires have since ignited, prompting more evacuations throughout the community.
The multiple fires have burned for days and reduced 10,000 homes and businesses to ash, leaving 10 people dead as thousands have abandoned the Los Angeles County area.
Altogether, the fires have consumed about 56 square miles (142 square kilometers) – larger than the size of San Francisco – as of Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
