Former Miss California Tried to Save Her House with a Hose as L.A. Fires 'Exploded,' Then Help Arrived (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

From left: Sherrie Crumpler and her view of the L.A. fires.Photo:Sherrie Crumpler

Sherrie Crumpler

Sherrie Crumpler watched, wide-eyed, as wildfire begin to engulf her picturesque Malibu neighborhood of Big Rock, just west of Los Angeles, with fierce 50 mph Santa Ana winds pounding at her dwelling.

ThePacific Palisadesinferno — the first of a series of fires that tore through the L.A. area starting on Tuesday, Jan. 7 — could have easily been the opening scene of a disaster movie: flames tearing across parched hillsides, racing toward the canyon.

But at first, that didn’t shake Crumpler’s confidence.

“I could see the smoke — then the smoke turned orange. Then I knew it was fire, and it was powerful," Crumpler told PEOPLE in an interview at the Los Angeles West Recreation Center on Wednesday, Jan. 8, after she safely evacuated. “Suddenly, I saw things start going up in flames, like homes.”

It wasn’t until later that the true scale of the devastation hit her.

“When I first saw the fire, I didn’t understand the magnitude. Later, I realized it was like the Holocaust. It was Armageddon," she says, shaking her head in disbelief. “Though vasty different, they are both irrefutably inhumane. To me, both are horrendous disasters — just like these horrific fires.”

Though she had weathered the infamous 1993 Southern California wildfires, nothing could have prepared her for the nightmare that unfolded 32 years later, she says.

“It was nothing like that experience," she says, her voice strained with emotion. “It was beyond anything I could’ve imagined.”

What made evacuating difficult at first, Crumpler explains, was the fact that she has scoliosis, back and hip issues and walks with a cane.

Despite these physical limitations, she tried to fight the fire as it drew closer, grabbing a hose to douse hot spots on her property.

“My ficus hedge caught on fire because the wind was so bad,” Crumpler recalls of trying to prepare her home before leaving. “I thought, ‘Well, I’ll put that out.' When I sprayed water on it, it exploded — a ball of fire that blew up in the air, and all these pieces started coming down on me. My hair got burned, and my face was black.”

Soon it became difficult to see after the electricity was turned off, plunging her into total darkness, she says.

As Crumpler tried to water palm fronds in a desperate bid to stop the fire from spreading, she could hear blaring sirens growing louder in the distance. The gusting winds knocked over her trash can, igniting the contents.

She called the authorities for help, grabbing a lantern to guide the firefighters toward her. At the time, her house was not on fire, but the first responders feared the worst could happen. The situation was dire.

“I was not allowed to get my purse or any critical legal documents or forms of identification,” Crumpler remembers. “I said [to the firefighters], ‘Let me just turn around and get my belongings.’ And they said, ‘No, you’re going with us now.’ ”

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As she pleaded, three firefighters picked her up and placed her in the fire truck, she says. She didn’t understand why they wouldn’t let her retrieve her essentials. But as they drove down the mountain, her panic set in.

Flames consumed her neighbors’ homes, embers flying through the air.

“You don’t ever see or experience anything like this,” Crumpler says softly. “It was out of control. I was braver that I should have been. But I didn’t know what the fireman knew — and then I saw the dismantled power lines, the total destruction before us. Structures were decimated. I knew in that moment they risked their lives to come for me.”

The firefighters first took her to a fire station in Carbon Canyon. While waiting in a garage, Crumpler, who was donning wet clothes, inhaled plumes of smoke as she struggled to breath. She then went to a lounge area that also was filling up with more fumes.

“I went to the doors and I saw these two guys with hoses,” she says. “I asked, ‘What’s going on?’ They said, ‘The firehouse is surrounded with fire.’ They were trying to put it out, but it was causing more smoke.”

Photo of Sherrie Crumpler.Sherrie Crumpler

“I could barely breathe because the smoke was so bad. My lungs were hurting,” she continues. “I probably should have been checked, but I just haven’t done it yet. I felt kind of burning when I was breathing yesterday, fighting the fire. But then I didn’t notice it last night until this morning when I woke up and then I was a little hoarse.”

(According to Crumpler, she refused to go the hospital despite having difficulty breathing.)

During her temporary stay at the fire station where she rested, Crumpler was given food, a mask, a warm jacket and a blanket, she says.

“I was shaking — freezing from being in soaked clothes and socks. One of the firefighters gave me his jacket. He said, ‘Don’t worry, I want you to wear it.' He thought of me during a crisis while he had nothing else to wear. I was so humbled,” she says.

Later, a warm, fire-resistant sleeping bag was offered, a final gesture of comfort from the team keeping her safe.

“The firefighters were thinking of one more thing to comfort me while they were risking their lives. They are the true heroes,” Crumpler says, her voice reflective.

Crumpler eventually landed at the Westwood Recreation Center, where she continues to seek refuge as, she says, a stomach bug has been circulating among the people at the shelter.

At the moment, Crumpler doesn’t know if her house, which she didn’t have insurance for, is still standing.

Meanwhile, she says authorities won’t let her check until the damage assessments are completed, and that could take about five to 10 days. “I don’t know if half of it’s there — or none of it’s there,” she says.

“Everything was in my house that needed to come with me and I couldn’t get it out,” she continues. “It takes me four times longer with this impairment, with the bone on one of my hip joints, and I can’t use both arms and carry a box out or anything, really.”

Despite the uncertainty, Crumpler says that she’s trying not to get into the doldrums. “I’m trying to think of what plan God has for me now,” she says, looking toward the future with hope. “I’m just kind of waiting for direction and trying to figure out what the status of the situation is and what I can possibly do.”

Though the fires have wreaked havoc on her community, Crumpler says she is grateful for the first responders who saved her life and for all those keeping her safe in the shelter.

Despite the grim news, she is focused on what’s ahead and waiting to take stock of her loss.

“It’s not about the memories lost — because you have your mind — until you realize it’s all gone. Letters written or pictures taken, it helps you hold onto those memories,” she pauses. “I won’t know how I feel until I know what’s gone.”

Click hereto learn more about how to help the victims of the L.A. fires.

source: people.com