Actor Sebastian Harrison barely escaped with his life as the devastating Pacific Palisades wildfires approached his $2.4 million Malibu beachfront estate on Tuesday night (January 7).
The 59-year-old former Spaghetti Western movie star filmed the whole ordeal from a formation of boulders he was hiding behind as he watched his entire property go up in flames.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Harrison, known for his roles in Italian movies Bianco Apache and Fratelli d’Italia, described the “treacherous” scenes, saying: “It was hell. It was inferno... Sometimes there was no wind and all of a sudden you got a huge gust with so many orange sparks that it was a wall, you couldn’t see anything...
“I really couldn’t see because of all the orange, breathing smoke and everything... I fell on my rib, and then I just took cover behind the rocks, and there were sheets of embers just going over me.”
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“Houses on each side were on fire, they were swerving in and out of debris, there were trash cans flying, there were big pieces of tree flying in the middle of the road,” he added.
In one clip, Harrison could be seen cowering behind the rocks as he narrates the scene: “I’m still hiding behind the boulders. Yeah, all the firemen got the hell out of here. They evacuated quickly, and I should’ve followed suit. But quite honestly, my car wouldn’t start.”
While he had evacuated his 89-year-old father, Richard, who lived next door, Harrison explained to The Telegraph that he stayed behind despite receiving evacuation notices to try and protect the home that he shared with his wife, Livia Pillmann.
“I was the only one there,” he said, sharing that he used a hose to water the roof and removed outdoor furniture to try and keep the fire from spreading across the three-acre property.
His efforts, however, were in vain as he was forced to eventually flee.
“I thought, ‘Oh, I think I really need to get out of here, but there’s no one here to help me’,” Harrison said. “I mean, I have, you know, nerves of steel, but there was a point when I, you know, I thought I could catch on fire.”
Harrison filmed another series of clips, which showed his entire home overtaken by flames. “The house is on fire. That’s the guest house on fire. That’s the main house,” he said.
Pillmann, a Hungarian-born actor, has since shared a slideshow of images on Instagram showing the charred remains of their home.
“It’s with a heavy heart that I share the news of the recent fire that destroyed our property. It’s hard to find the words when you’re faced with something like this. The flames took so much, but we’re holding on to the memories that live on in our hearts,” she wrote in the caption.
“Swipe through these pictures to see the aftermath. It’s heartbreaking, but it’s also a reminder of the fragility of life and the strength we find in the most difficult moments.”
Harrison and Pillmann aren’t the only celebrities to have tragically lost their home in the fire. Billy Crystal, Paris Hilton, Milo Ventimiglia and James Woods are among the numerous Hollywood stars to have seen their homes reduced to ashes.
