American writer in Edinburgh heartbroken as LA wildfires ravage former home

An American writer living in Edinburgh has said it is “heartbreaking” to see her former home in the Pacific Palisades ravaged by wildfires.

Jess Ross, 42, moved to Scotland’s capital with her husband Aaron, 53, who is an author, and six of their 10 children in January 2020.

They previously resided in the Pacific Palisades, in Los Angeles, for between 15 to 20 years, with Mrs Ross telling the PA news agency when she found out about the wildfires, her and her husband’s initial thought was: “What would have been the first thing we grabbed after the children and the pets?”

She added: “We said passports and pictures but I don’t think beyond that we got very far because it’s almost as if at some point your brain is not capable of imagining.

“It’s heartbreaking to see the place where I met my husband, where our babies grew up, all just wiped out and the playgrounds, the trees they used to climb, schools they went to just gone, obliterated.”

Mr Ross plans to travel to Los Angeles towards the end of January to help with relief efforts, as more than 10,000 homes and other structures have been destroyed since Tuesday by the massive blazes.

One of Mrs Ross’s closest friends, Nicole Gyarmathy, is one of those whose home has been destroyed.

She is currently residing in a hotel with her husband, their daughter and their dog, uncertain of how they rebuild their lives.

“They didn’t really have time to grab anything except their passports and some fruit and when I was on the phone with her, there would be moments where there would be a silence and I’d have to ask if she was still there and she would say, ‘I am, but I’m struggling to find words’,” Mrs Ross said.

“She’s this very vivacious, open-hearted woman who even stayed to help elderly people out of their apartment building, but she was too shocked to speak.

“She sent me photos of the remains of her home and my 13-year-old was behind me and started to cry and then told me: ‘I realise I’m never going to be able to go back there, it’ll never be the same’.”

Her friend has been volunteering in a shelter, handing out clothes to those also left displaced, with Mrs Ross saying despite the harrowing situation faced by those in the Palisades, there is still an overwhelming sense of community.

She added: “I have set up a GoFundMe for my friend as they had a tree business in the Palisades and there’s no trees now so it will be hard for them to bring in any income.

“It has been amazing to see people who don’t even know them donate and I think that’s a beautiful thing.”