James Woods’ house survived after he thought L.A. fires destroyed it

James Woods has offered a hopeful update on his home amid the Los Angeles wildfires.

The Salvador actor shared a video on Friday showing his Pacific Palisades property looking relatively untouched by the Palisades Fire, which has destroyed more than 5,000 structures so far.

“A miracle has happened,” he wrote in his caption. “We managed to get to our property and our home, [which] we were told is gone forever, is still standing. In this hellish landscape ‘standing’ is relative, but smoke and other damage is not like the utter destruction around us.”

In the video, Woods panned across the landscape beyond his house, which looks almost entirely decimated by the fire. “This is everything below us — oh my God,” he said, moving to show the family of his elderly neighbor whom he helped evacuate. “That’s our neighbors’ house. Sarah and Francis, whose father we saved, [are] now putting out fires on our hillside.”

Woods previously described his harrowing experience escaping the fire in an emotional interview with CNN, saying he’d just completed renovations on his “beautiful little house” last month. 

“We finally had it done, and we were swimming every day, and my blood pressure was going down,” Woods recalled. “If you ever saw the views from that house before this fire, they were just… It was paradise. And our neighbors, we knew them all.”

“One day you’re swimming in the pool and the next day it’s all gone,” he said, noting that he and his wife fled with only “the clothes on our backs.”

Numerous other entertainers were not as fortunate as Woods. This Is Us star Milo Ventimiglia returned to the remains of his Malibu home in a CBS News segment this week. “Man, it hits you so quick,” he said. “You start thinking about all the memories in different parts of the house and whatnot, and then you see your neighbors’ houses and everything around and your heart just breaks.”

Billy Crystal also lost his Pacific Palisades house to the fires. “Words cannot describe the enormity of the devastation we are witnessing and experiencing,” the actor said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly. “We ache for our friends and neighbors who have also lost their homes and businesses in this tragedy.”

Paris Hilton saw her home destroyed in live news coverage. “Heartbroken beyond words,” she wrote on social media. “Sitting with my family, watching the news, and seeing our home in Malibu burn to the ground on live TV is something no one should ever have to experience. This home was where we built so many precious memories.”

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Other celebrities who have lost their homes to the Los Angeles fires include Mandy Moore, Anthony Hopkins, Jeff Bridges, Leighton Meester, Adam Brody, Diane Warren, Anna Faris, Harvey Guillén, Jennifer Grey, Tina Knowles, Cary Elwes, John C. Reilly, Miles Teller, and Eugene Levy 

The Palisades and Eaton Fires have resulted in 11 confirmed deaths so far, reports Reuters. The blazes have destroyed more than 10,000 structures, and more than 153,000 are under evacuation orders across Los Angeles County.

Woods, who hasn’t appeared in a film since his agent dropped him in 2017, has denied that the fires are related to climate change, calling out an X user for suggesting it.

“This fire is not from ‘climate change,’ you ignorant asshole,” he wrote. “It’s because liberal idiots like you elect liberal idiots like Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass. One doesn’t understand the first thing about fire management and the other can’t fill the water reservoirs.”

Click here for more information on ways to support victims of the California wildfires.