83-Year-Old with Parkinson's Escapes L.A. Fires Thanks to His Son-in-Law's Help and His Own 'Heroic Effort'
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01/09/2025 02:23 PM
"We're alive, so that's the most important thing," said Aaron Samson
- Aaron Samson was home caring for his 83-year-old father-in-law, who has Parkinson's Disease, in the Pacific Palisades when he got an alert about a wildfire
- While in traffic, Samson and his father-in-law were ordered to get out of their neighbor's car as the flames were getting closer
- Samson helped his father-in-law down a hill to safety
A man is grateful after he and his 83-year-old father-in-law — who has Parkinson's disease – escaped the devastating Palisades fire by foot on Tuesday, Jan 7.
"We're alive, so that's the most important thing," Aaron Samson told CBS Morningson Thursday, Jan. 9. "We're doing okay."
According to the Associated Press, Samson was in Los Angeles' Pacific Palisades caring for his father-in-law at his home when he got an alert on his phone notifying him of a wildfire in the area.
"For the next hour, I was figuring out, 'Do we go? Do we go?' " Samson recalled to CBS Mornings. "We got another ping through the phone and at that point, I went outside and saw smoke and fire near my father-in-law's house and realized we needed to go."
Because both men didn't have a car, Samson called 911 and used Uber to figure out how to evacuate his father.
Fortunately, a neighbor had a car and was willing to give Samson and his father-in-law a ride. Samson grabbed his father-in-law's medication before the three drove out.
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They were stuck in traffic for more than 30 minutes, the AP reported.
"As we're driving down, there are fires on both sides of the car," Samson told CBS Mornings. "You can feel the heat. And the fires were getting closer and closer. We were completely stuck in traffic and the fire jumped about 15 feet from the car on the right. The policemen started running up the street, 'Get out of the car, get out the car!' "
Samson got his father-in-law out of the car and led him down a hill away from the danger on foot — and heard him say something devastating.
"My father-in-law was saying, 'Aaron, if we are ever in a position where the flames are right there, you just run and leave me here,' " Samson recalled to the AP.
During the ordeal, Samson was trying to pump up his father-in-law, telling him, "We got to do this!"
"This was a heroic effort on his part," Samson said to CBS Mornings of his father-in-law.
"Finally I turned him around and sat him down on that walker and started wheeling him myself," he added.
Another driver offered Samson and his father-in-law a ride after the two had walked for 15 minutes.
Currently, Samson is up north in Berkeley, while his father-in-law is with relatives in the San Diego area.
Asked by CBS Mornings about how the Palisades fire compared to previous wildfires he had experienced, Samson said, "This is huge … this will have ramifications in so many different ways. I can't put it into words how big it is and how much it has affected my family and me personally."
As of Thursday, state officials said the Palisades fire has burned more than 17,000 acres and has not been contained.
Click here to learn more about how to help the victims of the L.A. fires.
