Fire & Ice - All Systems Down

On January 7th, 2025, Randy Wright started his morning at Sunset Point in Pacific Palisades, sitting in a chair with his DSLR camera, scanning the horizon for great white sharks. A former professional surfer and legendary skate shop owner who now lived in his red Dodge Dakota in the parking lot of Gladstones restaurant, Randy was the unofficial guardian of this mellow point break where Sunset Boulevard meets Pacific Coast Highway. He fed his one-eyed pet seagull Andy, handed out loaner boards to newcomers, and kept the gardens around his truck watered. That morning, he watched a surfer named Kelly catch what would be her last wave before everything changed.

The Fire Comes Over the Hill

Around noon, Randy noticed smoke. Then flames appeared over the hill behind the beach. The Palisades fire had exploded from 10 acres to 200 in a single hour, driven by winds gusting up to 50 miles per hour. Randy yelled at Kelly to get out of the water. People began streaming down from the hills, walking past where he sat, trying to escape. The fire jumped across Pacific Coast Highway. Embers and sparks filled the air like something out of Star Wars. A spark landed on Randy's back, and a stranger had to pour water down his shirt to put it out.