The actor and his wife, Arlene Silver, escaped from their California home
Dick Van Dyke is feeling extra grateful for his neighbors. The esteemed actor talked about his experience escaping the Malibu wildfires earlier this week and how his neighbors played a big role in his survival.
“It was coming over the hill, you could see it,” Van Dyke told the Today show. Just before evacuating, the actor was outside unwinding his fire hose. “I was trying to crawl to the car,” he said. “I had exhausted myself. I couldn’t get up.” It was then that his neighbors showed up. “Three neighbors came and carried me out and came back and put out a little fire in the guest house and saved me,” he said. The actor turns 99 tomorrow, Dec. 13.
The entire ordeal was captured on Van Dyke’s Ring camera.
The Franklin Fire started raging through the coastal California town on Monday, growing to nearly 4,000 acres by Wednesday afternoon. Along with Van Dyke, famous residents like Cher and actor Jane Seymour were also forced to evacuate their Malibu homes.
On Tuesday, Dec. 10, the actor shared an update, saying that while he and his wife, Arlene Silver, were safe, the fate of their cat is still unknown. “Arlene and I have safely evacuated with our animals except for Bobo escaped as we were leaving,” Van Dyke posted on Facebook. “We’re praying he’ll be ok and that our community in Serra Retreat will survive these terrible fires.”
