A SCOTS actor last night told of his devastation after his new home was burned to the ground in the California wildfires.
Rory Macrae, from Edinburgh, only moved into the property in Pacific Palisades two months ago with his parents Tom and Carol.
They have now been left homeless just two months after moving to the celebrity enclave, where the deadly blazes took a grip before devastating swathes across Los Angeles.
Exhausted crews are finally starting to get the devastating infernos which killed 27 people under control. Around 200,000 residents have been forced to evacuate.
The neighbourhood is one of the worst hit inferno zones as at least 16 people died and hundreds of thousands were forced to flee their homes.
Speaking from a hotel in Beverly Hills, the shocked actor, 27, said: “We watched it from the very start. My mum went and made tea and came back and there was smoke in the air.
“We were grabbing our things to go and I knew it was serious when I could see flames coming down the hill towards us.
“We had to go out and ask a neighbour who I hadn’t met yet if he could give us a lift with our suitcase and backpack.
“I have security cameras and I looked back at them and started seeing one or two little embers from the fires coming.
“At that point I couldn’t watch anymore but I checked again a few hours later and all the cameras were offline.
“But they sent a final photograph of our front door on fire with fire and smoke coming out the windows.
“I was pretty sure the house was gone. Neighbours later took photos of our street and sent them to us.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Scots TV star Ross King emotional over ‘apocalyptic’ scenes around his LA home” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6366902479112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]“It was burned to the ground.”
Among precious belongings lost were Rory’s musical instruments plus his mum and dad’s vintage collection of The Broons comic books.
Braveheart star Mel Gibson plus veteran actors Sir Anthony Hopkins, Billy Crystal and Jeff Bridges are among A-listers whose properties have been reduced to rubble.
“I play violin and bagpipes and lost them both which is frustrating.
“My mum and dad were collectors of The Broons books and they had every edition which will be gone.”
Other Scots have been hit as flames propelled by 80mph winds scorched 40,000 acres of land.
Domino Geddes, 24, from Musselburgh, East Lothian, told how she drove for six hours to seek refuge with pals in Arizona as the flames fast approached.
The talent manager, 24, left, said: “I packed my visa, my teddy bear and my watch.
“It’s been like the apocalypse. The whole sky has been on fire.
“It’s raining ash. There’s snowflake-sized pieces of ash and debris.
“I am preparing mentally for the fact everything I have could have burned down.”
Firefighters have been taking advantage of a lull in the wind to make significant progress in containing the blazes over the weekend.
Officials were beginning to ease evacuation orders and lift curfews across the city with residents returning to face the damage.
While the Eaton fire has destroyed over 15,000 and 7,000 structures with 15 per cent contained.
As well as Rory, celebrities such as Mel Gibson, Paris Hilton, and Sir Anthony Hopkins have also lost their homes.
It’s already been estimated by private forecaster Accuweather that the total damage and economic loss could top £120billion.
Rory’s dad, who works in the oil industry, is currently in Azerbaijan and his brother Roddy was visiting from Glasgow when the family was forced to evacuate.
They gathered important documents and a few days worth of clothes assuming they’d be able to return soon after.
But they’re now holed up in a hotel trying to find rented accommodation after losing almost all of their possessions.
He said: “We’re looking for houses to rent now but there’s over 50,000 people looking for that after the fires.
“My dad is trying to organise insurance from Azerbaijan where he’s working. The most annoying thing is the lack of information. I don’t know when I can go back to see our home officially.
“I did try to walk back but was shouted at by a sheriff. I’ve lost a lot of clothes and stuff. I play violin and bagpipes and lost them both which is frustrating.
“My mum and dad were also collectors of The Broons comic books and they had every edition which will be gone.
“It’s a lot to take on board. As soon as my neighbour sent the photos and I could see the house was destroyed the only word I thought of was ‘damn.’”
And Rory isn’t the only Scot to have been caught up in the wildfire chaos.
Domino Geddes, from Musselburgh, was forced to drive six hours to friends in Arizona to seek safety.
The talent manager, 24, had earlier evacuated her home in Santa Monica and was volunteering to help firefighters when the situation got even more dire.
She said: “It’s been like the apocalypse here. The whole sky has been on fire since Tuesday morning.
“We’ve run out of water, don’t have enough firefighters and have started using incarcerated prisoners to fight the fires.
“I’m three miles from the Palisades fire. They evacuated my area on Wednesday and I moved East to stay with friends in West Hollywood.
“I went back to my flat to see how bad it was. It was bizarre. It’s the middle of Santa Monica so you don’t think it can happen.
[boxout headline=”Ross King emotional over ‘apocalyptic’ scenes around his LA home” featured-image=”32889368″ intro=”SCOTTISH TV star Ross King told of his devastation over the “apocalyptic” scenes around his Los Angeles home as horror wildfires rip through the city.”]The Good Morning Britain and Lorraine showbiz presenter spoke of the “most destructive fire in LA’s history” which has left 180,000 people displaced.
Speaking to STV News at 8.30am PST, Ross described the “scenes of devastation” around his home.
He said: “Everyone’s still absolutely terrified, the most destructive fire in LA’s history; I’m very lucky that I’m back in the house; it looked like we were going to have to evacuate at one point.”
Ross added: “You go outside, the smell of smoke is absolutely everywhere; there’s an eerie silence in many places.
“We’re way over 150,000 people evacuated, four million people without electricity; it is most unbelievable.”
Ross added that he is ready to leave his home at a moment’s notice.
He said: “The risk is very much here. The Santa Ana winds are just so unpredictable at the moment, they’re swirling around, it just takes one tiny ember, which can travel many miles, just to set off another fire.
“Everyone’s still very much on edge.”
He also revealed that he has five friends who have lost their homes in the devastating fires.
“It looked like it was snowing on the balcony and in my garage. It’s raining ash, there’s snowflake sized pieces of ash and debris.
“All the houses burning down in Palisades were built in the 60s and 70s. These aren’t wealthy celebrity homes, they were built by led paint so it’s literally raining asbestos.
“You can’t breathe it in. It really does look like the set of a movie. It looks like it’s dusk all day. Everything is orange.
“All the animals that were in the hills like coyotes and deer that you don’t get in concrete jungles are running into our neighbourhoods because they’re confused.”
Domino, whose family are still in Scotland, added: “I packed my visa, my teddy bear and my watch. I am preparing mentally for the fact everything I have could burn down, there’s zero percent containment.
“We’ll be finding bodies for years after this, it will take years to rebuild, the start of a very long catastrophe.
“I think it might get harder if and when they put these fires out and we see the truth of everything, how many people really died.
“I’ve been visiting LA since I was six. We have wildfires all the time but this is the first time it’s become an urban fire and rocked the city.
“After this I don’t think this is somewhere I’d live long term now.”
High winds combined with low moistures mean the fire threat across much of Los Angeles is expected to rage on.
A ‘red flag warning’ is in effect until Wednesday, with north and north-east gusts of up to 55mph expected.
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced he was deploying 1,000 more California National Guard service members to assist in Los Angeles.
More than 7,500 firefighting and emergency personnel have already been deployed since the wildfires started a week ago.