Judi is an arts & crafts professional; Bob has a pool cleaning company. They’re the oldest of three generations living in Malibu; and all lost their homes in the Woolsey Fire. In 50 years of living in Malibu, the Hutchinson’s house had always been spared from numerous wildfires, but not this time.
Judi began the story. “It was the middle of the night when I smelled smoke, so I got my neighbors up by banging on their door. Then I got in my car and drove up to get my other neighbor, Janet, about 1:30 am. Then I laid on the horn to wake up everyone else.”
“Our daughter, Janet (living in Latigo Canyon), called and said, ‘Mom, you have to evacuate.’ I put the news on and saw the fire had just crossed the 101 Freeway north of Malibu around 6:00 am. Our other daughter, Jeannie, called and said she and our granddaughter, Amelia, were coming over with a box to put the chickens in. We had four chickens in our coop,” she explained.
The couple laughed about some of the things they packed to take with them in the panic of the moment. “Jeannie got a big jar of mayonnaise out; I took a box of cereal that hadn’t been opened, bread and two bottles of wine,” Judi said. Bob grabbed the dog poop bags. “It was the craziest thing,” Bob said. “I also grabbed my camera bag and threw it in the car. A few days later, I discovered all that was in the camera bag was lenses – no camera. I lost three Nikons in the fire.”
“Then we took everything to Jeannie’s house on Dume Drive,” Judi continued, “and I stayed there with the pets while everyone else got in the car and drove back to our house. We have video of Bob walking into the fire.”
Bob continued the story from there: “I walked onto my property and up the hill to the house. We had four other structures on our property, including a studio where Judi did painting, a glazing shed, a guest house, and a tool shed – and all of them were burning. Jeannie was honking the horn because everything was burning all around us, so we got out.”
When they got back to Jeannie’s house on Dume Drive, Amelia immediately started packing while Bob had to tell Judi that their home of 50 years was burning down. Then, while son-in-law Willy stayed at his house to defend it, the rest of the family went to nearby Zuma Beach to wait things out.
“It wasn’t until about 1:30 am that horse trailers came to take the horses away,” Judi said. “I had face wipes that I handed out to the family, and they were black after being used. We stayed there all night. The Red Cross couldn’t get in and there was no bottled water, hot coffee or anything. One lady had two cases of wine, so she started pouring for everyone.
“Willy stayed at his home on Dume Drive until the water was gone and he had to get out. He tried shoveling dirt onto the spot fires but said it didn’t look good.
“I cried more for my daughter’s house than my own,” Judi continued. “It’s my daughter and I hurt for her, and for her children who grew up in that house.”
Afterwards, members of The First Christian Church of Newbury Park wanted to do something for Malibu fire victims. Volunteers led by pastor Ken Lamont helped the couple sift through the ashes of their burned down home to see if anything was left. “Then they found out I always loved Christmas,” Judi said, “And they came and delivered a live Christmas tree and decorated our rental home.
