Mother Recalls 'Catastrophic' Experience Trying to Return Home to Save Pets from L.A. Fires, amid Gridlocked Traffic

Mar. 15, 2025

Monique Marez (middle) and her three daughters.

On Tuesday, Jan. 7 around 10:45 a.m. local time, Monique Marez was in a meeting at work when she received an alert from her Ring Camera about theLos Angeles fires.

“I look outside and literally the whole entire mountain’s on fire,” says Marez, 43, who works in fashion and luxury as a senior client advisor for St. Laurent. “Then all of a sudden you just start to hear sirens and firefighters.”

She got an evacuation alert and called a neighbor who told her smoke was coming in. Then they planned to flee the area.

Marez works only seven minutes from her home. But Sunset Blvd. was gridlocked. It took about 90 minutes to get close to her neighborhood before a police officer insisted she abandon her friend’s Tesla Model S that Marez was driving.

“It’s catastrophic. People are running, the smoke had already come in and it was really heavy. And I run towards my street,” she recalls.

Monique Marez’s two dogs.

She was rushing home to try to save her two dogs, a 9-year-old Maltipoo named Cosmo and a 4-year-old toy goldendoodle named Gigi. She also wanted to save the 5-month-old kittens she and her daughters had recently rescued.

“I was determined just to get home and get the cats and dogs,” she says.

Then her ex made a video call, saw the heavy smoke and insisted she leave.

“The father of my kids FaceTimed me and was like, ‘What are you doing?’ " she recalls. “I was like, ‘I’m going to go up and get the dogs.’ And he’s like, ‘Absolutely not.’ He’s like, ‘You’re going to kill yourself. The smoke is so bad you can’t.’ "

A neighbor drove her to pick up her three daughters, 17-year-old senior twins and her 15-year-old who is a freshman in high school. “It was just complete chaos,” she says. But she was able to get her children safely to their father’s home.

Marez returned to the Palisades on Thursday and found out her home was completely destroyed.

“The house is completely gone,” she says. She’s devastated that she wasn’t able to rescue her pets. “I’m praying to God that they escaped.”

She adds, “It’s heartbreaking. We’re all completely devastated and heartbroken. My kids have lost everything… everything’s gone. It’s completely devastating. I feel like I’m in a nightmare.”

Her home and her neighborhood is now “unrecognizable,” Marez says, adding, “There’s just thousands and thousands of empty lots and just ashes everywhere.”

AGoFundMehas been established to help the family.

“I have an amazing loving group of friends,” Marez says. “I can’t even explain how much love and support… Everyone’s just like, ‘Whatever you need, just let me know.’ So I’m very, very grateful for that. I don’t feel alone in this, I feel very supported.”

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source: people.com