Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick confirmed his family lost their home in the devasting wildfires earlier this week.
Wildfires continue to burn in the US city with at least 11 people killed in the blazes and 153,000 people under evacuation orders.
Redick said the rented home burned down on Tuesday while the Lakers were on the road in Dallas. Redick’s wife, Chelsea, and their two sons were safely away from the neighbourhood, but Redick drove to the area on Wednesday to see the fire’s shocking impact.
“I’m not sure I’ve wept or wailed like that in several years,” Redick said.
“I was not prepared for what I saw.
“It’s complete devastation and destruction. I had to go a different way to the house, but I went through most of the village, and it’s all gone. I don’t think you can ever prepare yourself for something like that. Our home is gone.”
Redick, who joined the Lakers last June, was renting the home in the Pacific Palisades area while they decided where to settle permanently in Los Angeles.
“Everything that we owned that was of any importance to us in almost 20 years together as a couple and 10 years of parenting was in that house,” Redick said.
“There’s certain things that you can’t replace, that will never be replaced. The material stuff is whatever. My family and I were processing the self side, the individual side, of losing your home, and you don’t ever want to wish that on anybody. It’s an awful feeling to lose your home.”
Redick is back at work with the Lakers, whose match on Saturday against the San Antonio Spurs has been postponed. Their previous match against Charlotte was also called off due to the fires.
The NFL has already moved the Los Angeles Rams’ wild-card playoff game on Monday against the Minnesota Vikings to Arizona.
