California musician who cares for disabled parents loses home in destructive Palisades Fire

SAN JOSE, Calif. - While the Southern California fires are so massive, you can literally see them from space, the experiences of individual fire victims and evacuees are intensely personal. 

Until you put yourself into the shoes of any of the thousands of people who had to make quick decisions with little information, it is hard to really understand how scary, and how disruptive, these fires have been to lives and to families.

One Palisades fire victim, Chad Comey, takes care of his elderly parents full-time and was not only concerned about his safety, but also theirs.  

"So both of my parents are disabled. My father – my dad is blind – and mom suffers from a rare autoimmune disorder which has rendered her paralyzed and partially visually impaired," Comey said.

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Comey evacuated his 69-year-old mother, Tina, down five flights of stairs – but his 75-year-old dad, Chas, decided evacuating was just too dangerous. 

"He ended up waiting out the night in the garage through all of the smoke," Comey said. "Because he is visually impaired, he could not tell me the state of the building. But he said at about 11 at night or 12 midnight the sprinklers came on. He just waited in pitch blackness in the garage until 5 a.m."

Completely soaked in a foot of water, Comey’s dad finally made it to the road where a complete stranger picked him up to get him out of their neighborhood.  Chad was able to then meet his father along the Pacific Coast Highway and get him to safety. 

"Humankind has this propensity to come together in the darkest of times," Comey said.  

As the fires reach the one-week mark, there is still much uncertainty.  

"We are not allowed into the Palisades neighborhood at all," said Palisades fire evacuee Melanie Bonhomme, who first went to Palm Springs with her 4-year-old son, Atlas.  

Bonhomme is now staying with friends near Paso Robles but says getting back to LA is challenging at the moment due to price gouging.  

"Prices for rentals have been skyrocketing throughout the city and it has been almost impossible to find a rental house or shack or anything that is not being scooped up," Bonhomme said.

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Comey hopes to return to "regular" life in his band but only after his parents are safe and with a long-term plan. 

"I am truly, truly appreciative for everybody that has stepped forward. So thank you from the bottom of my heart," Comey said.

Both Comey and Bonhomme have fundraisers set up on GoFundMe.com if you want to help directly.    

The service has an entire portal of fundraisers for fire victims, which the company has pre-screened as legitimate.