Incredible story of heroic brain surgeon who saved his entire Malibu street from LA's wildfires holding flames at bay for five nights https://t.co/mZSk1FIjpa pic.twitter.com/LY5Mz4dPBY
— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) January 14, 2025
A brain surgeon has been hailed a hero after he saved his entire Malibu street from being ravaged by LA’s wildfires by holding the raging flames at bay for five nights.
Chester Griffiths, 62, had just finished performing brain surgery when he dashed to his car and drove across Los Angeles to save his beachfront home from being engulfed in fire.
In a scene reminiscent of a Hollywood blockbuster, he joined forces with two other neighbors to fight tooth and nail to save their homes after having briefed his son and others on his street on his plan of action.
When the inferno swept through their sunny cul-de-sac, reducing surrounding homes to ash and rubble, the trio leapt into action.
Over the next five harrowing days and nights, they managed to defend six houses from the raging blaze, even as hurricane-force winds hurled flaming embers the size of footballs through the air.
‘At one point I started packing up my car and then I just decided I’m just not gonna let my house burn down, no matter what’, Clayton Colbert, Griffiths’s neighbor, told The Telegraph.
Armed with fire hoses, spades, and N95 masks, the three men held the fire at bay in what many would call a miraculous feat of determination.
The stakes couldn’t have been higher.