When actor William McNamara spotted the deadly, raging Pacific Palisades blaze Tuesday night, he jumped into action.
McNamara, who’s appeared in “NYPD Blue,” the 1995 thriller “Copycat” and the 1994 Navy comedy “Chasers,” detailed his efforts to save pets from the historic wildfire in Instagram posts and TV interviews.
As he appeared on MSNBC in a Thursday interview, he noted that he’d recently realized his face had what felt like “a bad sunburn” due to his proximity to the blaze on Tuesday and Wednesday.
He became emotional as he told reporter Katy Tur about a family who had left two cats behind in their home but were unsure about the state of the house. McNamara urged those who evacuate to put signs on their windows alerting them to any pets that might be left inside.
William McNamara describes Los Angeles fires: ‘Like an atomic bomb’
Speaking with Jake Tapper on CNN on Wednesday, McNamara described seeing a “giant plume of smoke; it looked like an atomic bomb” while doing the dishes inside his Santa Monica home Tuesday night. He then drove north to Sunset Boulevard in the Pacific Palisades as he attempted to aid in rescue efforts and check on residents’ animals.
The 59-year-old actor, who works with the animal rescue nonprofit Eastwood Ranch, has “been doing this a long time,” he explained, noting that he’d assisted in rescuing horses, pigs and another animals during the Woolsey Fire near Malibu in 2018.
“I drove in there, and it was crazy. I’ve never seen anything like it,” he told Tapper about the Palisades flames. McNamara said he attempted to stay out of the way of first responders as he looked in windows for any pets left inside structures but admitted there was “not so much success” rescuing animals.
Since Tuesday, he has posted nearly 100 videos showing the destruction and his efforts to respond to those who left animals behind and check on their wellbeing. The clips show McNamara briefly getting trapped on Pacific Coast Highway while trying to help an RV park that was on fire; the actor waited at a parking lot next to the beach as he waited for blazes to the north and south to ease.
At one point, a police officer found him and said, “Hey, dude, you’ve gotta get out of here,” McNamara said in a video he posted Tuesday. The officer searched him and transported him away from the fires in the back of the patrol car, he said.
LA celebrities lose their homes:Cameron Mathison, James Woods, Paris Hilton, more
William McNamara asked followers to not ‘burden’ first responders by asking for his rescue
As people in McNamara’s Instagram comments expressed concern about his proximity to the blazes, he responded in the caption of one video he captured and posted Wednesday of a building furiously burning down with the help of strong winds.
“Guys I appreciate your concern. But sharing my coordinates or calling 911 is not what I’m going to do. The thing is I made a decision to try and help some animals. If I’m dumb enough to do this then what happens, happens. I do not want to be a burden to cops or firefighters. That’s the last thing a rescuer should do,” he wrote.
“That’s the reason they don’t want good Samaritans helping, they get in the way and they become a burden. We can’t do that,” he continued. “I made the mistake and that’s that. Cops and firefighters don’t have time to deal with morons like me. So don’t call 911!”
According to the California Penal Code, an “unauthorized person who willfully and knowingly enters an area closed” by officials due to a “menace to the public health or safety” and who “willfully remains within the area after receiving notice to evacuate or leave” could face a misdemeanor charge.
At least six fires were active in Los Angeles County, scorching more than 40 square miles across the region, according to Cal Fire. The coastal Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire, located east in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, remained the largest blazes with 0% containment.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said Thursday that firefighters were in a “much better posture” to battle the wildfires. But she said preliminary reports estimated the number of damaged or destroyed structures to be “in the thousands.”
“It is safe to say the Palisades Fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles,” Crowley said.
Strong Santa Ana winds and a lack of water have impeded firefighters’ efforts to fight the flames. The department’s three water tanks, which hold about a million gallons each, ran out Wednesday morning, Janisse Quiñones, chief engineer for the Los Angeles Fire Department of Water and Power, told reporters at a press conference that day.
