In the wake of the devastating wildfires that have been ravaging the Los Angeles area, Maeve Reilly, a 37-year-old renowned celebrity stylist, has come forward to share the harrowing details of her experience evacuating from the disaster that ultimately destroyed her home.
On Saturday, Jan. 11, through a series of posts on her Instagram Stories, Reilly took her followers on a journey through the chaos and fear that she and her husband, Zach Quittman, endured. It all began on Tuesday, Jan. 7, when they received the dreaded notice about the encroaching Palisades fire and knew they had to flee.
She initiated her story with a chilling video that captured the thick smoke billowing ominously behind a mountain. Reilly recounted that she was a mere “30 minutes away” from her home when the “fire erupted.” In a panic, she and her husband immediately set out to “race home from different directions.”
With tears streaming down her face, she described how she “sobbed her way through five different stop zones,” accompanying her words with a video of her car speeding towards her home. Her thoughts were consumed by the safety of her beloved pets, still trapped inside. “There was no way I was going to leave them behind,” she declared firmly.
As the situation grew more dire, Reilly shared a video of herself and her husband navigating the gridlocked streets on an electric bike, desperate to reach their neighborhood. “We had a maximum of 10 minutes in the house,” she later revealed in a subsequent post. “We grabbed nothing but an overnight bag and our precious animals. The air was so thick with smoke that we could barely breathe inside, and that was the most terrifying part. At that moment, we truly didn’t know if we would ever see our home again.”
However, the situation took a turn for the worse. “The fire advanced with astonishing speed,” she recalled with a shudder. “Just 10 minutes before we reached our home, it seemed so far away, but in a blink of an eye, we were surrounded.” She recounted how the authorities “refused to let the cars out,” leaving them stranded in a “parking lot.”
“The next part was the most petrifying moment of our lives,” she continued. The Los Angeles Police Department “rushed up to our cars and yelled at everyone to run for their lives and head towards the beach.”
“So Zach handed me all three animals and told me to go,” she shared, her voice trembling. Her husband, displaying remarkable courage, “went back for his truck” and, against all odds, “managed to get it out” and picked her and the animals up “down the hill.”
The couple then sought refuge at various places. They first went to her in-laws’ house and then to Zach’s sister’s home, only to be forced to evacuate again in the following days due to separate fires. “We were at our wits’ end and decided to go to Palm Springs,” she said. “We just needed to get far enough away to feel safe and regain some sense of calm.”
On Friday, Jan. 10, they managed to secure a police escort to return to their neighborhood to assess the damage. What they found was heart-wrenching. Reilly showed the charred remnants of the buildings lining their street before revealing the ruins of what was once their home. In a video, the house was reduced to rubble. “There was nothing left,” she wrote, accompanied by several heartbreak emojis. She also shared a photo of her shoes treading over the debris, captioning it, “Our entire lives turned to dust.”
“I have never witnessed anything like this. I still can’t wrap my head around it,” she wrote over a series of videos and pictures that documented the full extent of the destruction. “One moment I’m in a state of shock. The next, I’m sobbing uncontrollably. But then, I switch into survival mode and start figuring out our next steps.”
Amid the devastation, there was a glimmer of relief. Reilly noted that her car, which had been left on the road, had survived the fire. She was able to enter it and retrieve some essential belongings, including her “purse,” “sunglasses,” a “pair of earrings,” and her “camera.” “I’m truly grateful for the few items I had in the car,” she said.
In a final, poignant message, Reilly concluded her post on a positive note. “We made it to my office last night. The sense of comfort I felt being in a familiar place was overwhelming. I wish I had more personal things there. I can’t believe I didn’t.”
“So many people in the Palisades have lost their homes and businesses. In these trying times, even the smallest victories feel significant,” she continued. “Our hearts are filled with gratitude, not just for the help we’ve received, but for the love that has surrounded us. While our material possessions are gone, what remains is a newfound appreciation for life, our community, and the precious moments we share with our loved ones.”