The documentary filmmaker behind 'Rebuilding Paradise' is now living the life she once documented after losing everything in the world. Palisades fire.
Tracy Drews-Tragus found herself and her family having to quickly evacuate their home Pacific Barriers It burned to the ground on January 7. After documenting the aftermath of the 2018 Camp Fire, Droz Tragos knew you'd get stuck in a dead end if you didn't act quickly. The family did not take anything with them.
“I honestly thought this was a trial run, and I don’t know why,” Droz Tragos said. Hollywood Reportp. “You really didn't think this would happen to you.”
Droz Tragos lost everything and has been staying in an Airbnb apartment near her family in Santa Barbara ever since. “An entire community has been wiped off the face of the earth,” she told the outlet. “It's not just your house – it's your neighbour's house. It's the park where you used to walk and enjoy the shade of the trees. It's where you have coffee. It's where your child goes to school. All of it.”
Tracy Drews-Tragus lost her home in the Palisades fire. The director is best known for her work documenting the aftermath of the 2018 Camp Fire. (Getty Images)
Droz Tragos is best known for her documentary “Rebuilding Paradise”. The film, produced by Ron Howard, used her footage from her time spent with residents affected by the 2018 Camp Fire in Butte County.
Camp fire The hurricane nearly destroyed the entire city of Paradise, California, burning 95% of its area. Since then, most of the town has been rebuilt, and thousands have returned to the city.
The documentary filmmaker's time with residents who experienced the loss of everything gave her unique knowledge of what to gain during a rapid evacuation.
“The neighbors would say, 'Why are you bringing toilet paper?'” Droz Tragos recalls. “And I said, 'Trust me, you might find yourself in a situation without a bathroom, and you'll really wish you had toilet paper.'
Air tanker crashes on Palisades Fire. (Brian Van Der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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Droz Tragos lived in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, a coastal enclave for some of California's elite. However, the director emphasized that the rich and famous are not the only residents of the neighborhood.
“I know people think Pacific Palisades is fictional, but there's a whole part of it that actually isn't,” Drew Tragos told THR. “It's a multi-generational school. High school is a really great place where my child can go to school and meet people from all over.”
A person walks through the devastation left by the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood on January 9. (AP/JC Hong)
“But it's gone. The library is gone, the grocery store is gone. All the points of contact with the community are gone. The place where the quirky Fourth of July parade was held is gone.”
“There's a sign in the barbershop that doesn't exist anymore that says if you're rich you live in Beverly Hills, if you're famous you live in Malibu, and if you're lucky you live in Pacific Palisades.”
Droz Tragos shared some of her thoughts and updates about her situation on her Instagram. The caption is next to the chalkboard image Partially reads“I've been in survival mode – now – 48 hours after learning about the loss of our house, Chris, and my home offices (our only offices). We've gone from being in the immediate aftermath and are in a little different mode.” “What Now” mode. All to-do lists have become “The previous ones are suddenly meaningless – they've been replaced. We're starting with completely new menus.”
She too Image shared by Of herself holding a sign that reads, “You never know what you have until it's gone. Toilet paper, for example.”
“I don't know what to do with the sadness that comes in waves. The mug that I'll never see again – the clothes I've collected for special occasions over the course of my life that will never be replaced,” she wrote in the caption. Great-Grandma's Clock When I see pictures of our Christmas tree, my heart hurts when I think – it's all gone.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Droz Tragos for additional comment.
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A home burned as the Camp Fire moved through Paradise, California on November 8, 2018. Driven by high winds and low humidity, the fast-moving Camp Fire swept through the city of Paradise and quickly charred 18,000 acres, destroying dozens of homes in a matter of hours. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The 2018 Camp Fire, documented by Droz Tragos “Rebuilding Paradise” It will be revisited again with Jamie Lee Curtis' “The Lost Bus.” Curtis' Comet Pictures and Jason Blum's Blumhouse are developing the film from Lizzie Johnson's book “Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive America's Wildfires.”
The Camp Fire, known as the deadliest fire in California history, destroyed more than 18,000 homes and businesses, killing 85 people. “The Lost Bus” tells the story of Kevin McKay, a bus driver, and Mary Ludwig, a school teacher, who helped rescue 22 children from a school during a fast-moving wildfire.
Matthew McConaughey is reportedly in negotiations to star in the film To the deadline. But sources claimed that the deals have not been completed yet, and the film still needs a green light from the studio.
Fox News Digital has reached out to McConaughey's representative for comment.
Matthew McConaughey is reportedly in negotiations to star in Jamie Lee Curtis' The Lost Bus. (John Nation/Getty Images)
An aerial view of the devastation caused by the Camp Fire on November 15, 2018 in Paradise, California. Ninety-five percent of the city was destroyed by wildfires. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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The devastation in Los Angeles began on January 7 afterward Palisades fire The burning began around 11 a.m. local time. By the end of the day, three fires had left the area completely devastated. More fires have burned since then, prompting more evacuations throughout the community.
Water is dropped by helicopter on the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills section of Los Angeles on January 9. (Ethan Swope/AP)
The fire burned for several days and reduced 10,000 homes and businesses to ash, killing 10 people as thousands abandoned the Los Angeles County area.
In all, the fires had burned about 56 square miles (142 square kilometers) — larger than San Francisco — as of Friday.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
