More than 200 acres of land near Los Angeles is on fire as emergency services deal with wildfires in California. The US National Weather Service has warned residents to be prepared to be evacuated and described the situation as life threatening. Cavan actor Richie Stephens lives just a few miles away from the devastation.
Richie who says he has a suitcase in his car "ready to go" has been living in America for almost 20 years and moved to LA back in 2013. The local actor who is originally from the Arva/Gowna area says he knows many people who have lost their homes, not just celebrities but working class people who have "lost everything."
Speaking to Northern Sound, Richie says when living in LA you can expect wildfires and earthquakes in certain places, but nothing of this scale; "Depending on which way the winds go if it comes South-West I'm in trouble and if it goes any other direction then I'm not. I have a suitcase in my car ready to go and that's all I plan really. I just have to keep an eye on things cross my fingers. I'm at the top of a hill here and there's some fellas behind me cutting trees because everyone is scared if there's a powerline near it the wind might blow it and create another fire."
