Eugene Levy’s has joined the ranks of those devastated by the massive wildfires raging across the Greater Los Angeles area.
The 78-year-old Schitt’s Creek star lost his home in LA’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood after the rapidly spreading Westside fire burned it to the ground.
On Tuesday, he told the Los Angeles Times that he had been caught in gridlock traffic as he tried to evacuate the neighborhood ahead of the flames.
Levy had reportedly purchased his property back in 2006 for a relatively modest $3.9 million, according to Urban Splatter.
The two-story home featured three bedrooms and three baths and was spread out over 2,081 square feet.
It reportedly dated back to 1950 and featured an attached garage, as well as an elegant set of curving steps leading up from the driveway to the front door.
Eugene Levy, 78, has lost his $3.9 million Pacific Palisades home in the brutal wildfires sweeping across Los Angeles
Levy, who is Canadian and has a much larger mansion in Toronto, has been serving as Pacific Palisades’ honorary mayor since 2021; seen in 2020 in NYC
Despite being small by celebrity standards, the home still boasted lovely touches like tasteful trees and shrubs providing some privacy at the front of the house.
But all that has been reduced to a pile of smoldering rubble now.
The American Pie star is Canadian and spent much of his life in Toronto, where he raised his children, Dan and Sarah Levy, both of whom appeared with him on their popular comedy series Schitt’s Creek.
He has a much larger mansion there, and his Pacific Palisades home was apparently primarily used when he was filming projects around Los Angeles.
While speaking to the LA Times on Tuesday, Levy described the fire’s smoke as ‘pretty black and intense’ as it hovered over Temescal Canyon. ‘I couldn’t see any flames, but the smoke was very dark.’
Levy has a special connection to Pacific Palisades, as he was named the neighborhood’s honorary mayor in 2021.
The position only makes non-binding declarations for the neighborhood, as it is governed by LA’s government as part of the city, but Levy would have made appearances at community events as part of his position.
Neither Eugene nor his children Dan or Sarah made mention of the horrific wildfire that had engulfed his home on social media.
His destroyed home had featured three bedrooms and three baths over a little over 2,000 square feet. The home had reportedly been built in 1950
Levy described the fire’s smoke as ‘pretty black and intense’ to the LA Times as it hovered over Temescal Canyon. ‘I couldn’t see any flames, but the smoke was very dark’; pictured in February 2023
He was stuck in a throng of motorists trying to flee the blaze. Many drives panicked and fled their vehicles, forcing fire crews to use bulldozers to clear the road for emergency vehicles
The Pacific Palisades fire broke out on Tuesday morning and was fueled by high winds.
It presented the perfect environment for a wild fire, as the area has lately been dry, but also has experienced significant vegetation growth from recent wet winters, leaving plenty of fuel for the blaze.
Pacific Palisades is also far less dense than other parts of the Greater Los Angeles area, so there are more trees and shrubs to fuel the fire, as opposed to denser spaces of concrete and asphalt that would provide little fuel for the flames.
Over 30,000 people have been evacuated so far, with many having to leave with little more than the clothes on their backs and their pets, if they were lucky enough to grab them in time.
The iconic Sunset Boulevard runs through Pacific Palisades, but it had turned into a disaster scene as panicking drivers fled their cars amid gridlock, leaving a fleet of luxury vehicles that had to be pushed out of the way by bulldozers to allow firefighters to access the area.
Homes along the Pacific Coast Highway and into Malibu have also been burned to the ground.
The Getty Villa, a museum designed in the image of an ancient Roman villa, was threatened by the fire, which destroyed some of the foliage on the property, though the buildings and their sculptures and artwork appear to have survived thanks to the museum’s safety measures.
The Palisades fire isn’t the only blaze LA residents need to worry about. The Eaton fire sparked up further east around Altadena and spread to the heavily populated Pasadena, forcing many more evacuations.
Other stars, including Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, were forced to evacuate. Some were less lucky, such as James Woods, who lost his home; pictured in LA in 2017
The Oscar-nominated actor took to X/ Twitter with multiple posts detailing the damage as a fast-moving wildfire approached his home. He fled, but the house was destroyed
Steve Guttenberg, who lives in the area, was seen doing his best to help others escape. told KTLA, ‘I have friends up there and they can’t evacuate … I´m walking up there as far as I can moving cars’
The intense winds, which have topped 100mph in some areas, have made attempts to stop the blaze extremely difficult, and firefighters have also had to contend with a lack of water due to burst water mains from the fires.
Other stars were spotted evacuation from the fires, including Ben Affleck, who rushed to his ex Jennifer Lopez’s home to help her escape as well.
Some stars were less lucky, including Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, whose home was destroyed, while Anna Faris also lost her mansion.
Actor James Woods shared video of the approaching flames shortly before he evacuated ahead of the destruction of his house.
Brody and Meester are among a host of celebrities affected by the blaze.
Hollywood movie star Anna Faris has lost her mansion during the devastating fire.
The reality stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag saw their home destroyed in the wildfire, and Spencer was pictured looking somberly at the approaching flames before his family was forced to flee.
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