MALIBU, Calif. — Beloved actor Dick Van Dyke recalled how he escaped the fast-moving Franklin Fire raging through Malibu this week, thanks to the help of his quick-thinking neighbors.
Van Dyke, who turns 99 on Friday, recalled seeing the flames encroach on a hill near his home this week. While he has already been through four wildfires in the past, this time, "I wasn't ready," he told NBC News.
“This time I messed up. ... I have a fire hose that hooks up to my pool and shoots, like, a 70-foot stream of water. Well, I wasn’t ready. I went out. It was snarled, and I’m out there laying on the ground trying to undo this fire hose, and the fire’s coming over the hill. What I did was exhaust myself. I forgot how old I am, and I realized I was crawling to get out,” he said.
“It was coming from over the hill — you could see it,” he said.
As he was struggling, three neighbors came out to help him.
“I was trying to crawl to the car. I had exhausted myself and couldn’t get up. Three neighbors came and carried me out and came back,” he said.
Van Dyke said that the neighbors carried him to the car and that he and his wife and pets swiftly got in. He praised the neighbors for saving his life.
“[They] got me out of here, or I wouldn’t have done it. I don’t think I would have made it,” he said. “They also came back, and my little guest house had started to flame up in the back. They put that out. So they saved my life and my house.”
Video from his doorbell camera showed the moment he evacuated with his wife, Arlene, and their pets. They went to a hotel in Santa Monica, where he had performed back in 1948, for a night.
Van Dyke praised firefighters tackling the blaze as “incredible.”
“They had me out of here and pouring water on my house instantly, and that fire just overwhelmed them. They must be exhausted, those guys, but they deserve every accolade they can get,” he said.
Van Dyke said the only damage to his house was to the guest house.
The Franklin Fire, which sparked Monday night, had burned 4,037 acres and was 7% contained Thursday morning, according to the city of Malibu. The blaze has destroyed nine structures and closed down roads, and 20,000 people are under evacuation orders and evacuation warnings.
Actor Jane Seymour was also affected. She posted dramatic photos of the flames near her home.
“While the Franklin Fire continues to burn in Malibu and has gotten extremely close to our home, we remain evacuated and we are safe,” she wrote Wednesday on Instagram. “To everyone fighting the flames and keeping us safe, thank you. Your courage is extraordinary.”
Dana Griffin reported from Malibu and Marlene Lenthang from Los Angeles.
