A boulder outside Patty Phillips’ Malibu home is a reminder of her harrowing escape from the Palisades Fire and the heroism of a Los Angeles County Fire Department captain who helped her as flames closed in.
The boulder is the same rock that Phillips’ SUV became stuck on as she tried to drive out of the wildfire in a haze of thick smoke.
“To be stuck for 40 minutes in a car thinking you’re going to be burned alive is the most frightening experience in the world,” Phillips said.
Patty and husband James evacuated in separate cars on that January day. Patty took their 10-year-old dog in her SUV.
“I was literally blinded by the flames and the smoke,” she said. “I was in the middle of fire. I ended up on this dirt driveway. I didn’t know where I was. I can’t see. I put it in reverse, and that’s when I landed on the boulder.”
In the middle of a wildfire emergency, 911 wasn’t responding and her text messages failed to send. Phillips said she was convinced she and her beloved dog would die in the smoke and flames.
Then, LA County Fire Capt. Malcom Dicks’ pulled up in his truck.
Phillip’s husband encountered Dicks, who runs the department’s urban search and rescue operation, on Pacific Coast Highway. Dicks agreed to drive up the burning mountain to find Patty.
“The whole mountain’s on fire,” Dicks said. “He told me, ‘My wife’s up there.’ He was serious.”
The search in a storm of glowing embers, smoke and flames started near the couple’s home. They soon heard a vehicle’s horn and saw two flashing lights in the distance.
“That’s how they found me, with me honking the horn and my flashers on,” Patty said. “Malcolm pulls up in his truck, and I’m like, ‘I’m here. I’m here.’ I’m so grateful.
“He saved my life.”
The two reunited this week, one year after the Palisades Fire. The Phillips’ house is still standing, but many of their neighbors’ homes were destroyed.
The 23,700-acre fire became the ninth-deadliest and third-most destructive wildfire on record in California. Twelve deaths were reported in connection with the Palisades Fire, which destroyed more than 6,800 structures.
Phillips tracked down the boulder that disabled her SUV and placed it outside her home with a plaque that recognizes Dicks’ heroism.
“I thought it was important for my healing to get it, so I never forget to give thanks,” Phillips said.
Dicks has also been recognized at several high-profile events, including the Grand Prix of Long Beach and other sporting events.
“I just wish my parents were around because my mom and dad would be really proud,” Dicks said.