LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Many Californians will be relocating either permanently or temporarily to Las Vegas, as the fires in the Los Angeles area show no signs of letting up.
It’s forced residents to make the hard decision of leaving. Ari Stylez, a musician, did just that. He packed his belongings in a car and drove east to Las Vegas.
“When I go outside and I walk to the corner. I look at the hill. It’s just flames and smoke coming, bright flames,” Stylez said.
He left Wednesday evening and arrived in Las Vegas early Thursday morning. Ari Stylez said he was living at a townhouse in West Hollywood near Fairfax and Sunset when he saw homes on fire.
“My neighbors, everybody was going to their cars with suitcases. They’re like, ‘We’re getting out of here. It’s too close.’ It was too close, it was a block away. I’m not about to be the last one left in here,” Stylez said.
He sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic for hours and authorities closed roads near his home, telling some people to abandon their cars and walk on foot.
“They had to bulldoze through the cars and all those cars just got burnt up with all those people’s stuff in it,” he said.
Ari Stylez made it on to the expressway driving through side streets. One of the reasons, he said, he left Los Angeles was due to the air quality.
“It’s impossible to fit all those people in those little recreational centers,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of people in their cars just at the evacuation center.”
Ari Stylez’s friend Olivia Crutcher took him in and she said she’s heartbroken by the fires.
“We need to be prepared for what’s going to happen next because there’s already a homeless crisis in LA,” Crutcher said.
Ari Stylez plans to stay in Las Vegas until the smoke clears and it’s safe to return to his neighborhood in West Hollywood.
Several Las Vegas hotels are offering special rates to those fleeing the LA fires. Some of them include Resorts World Las Vegas, MGM Resorts International and its Strip properties, Fontainebleau, Treasure Island, and Virgin Hotels.
