A California father of two who lost his home to wildfires on January 8 is calling for significant changes in leadership “that absolutely failed” the state’s residents during a crisis.
“There’s a deep part of me right now that feels like it wasn’t just my house and my life’s work that burned down. Blake Mallen stated, “It is the trust in the leadership and systems that has completely failed us.” “…
“There’s a part of me that’s just let down, disappointed, and pissed off that I was failed by leadership in a system that I worked my whole life to get to a point that everyone’s supposed to get to.”
Mallen, a 44-year-old entrepreneur and lifelong California resident, ensured that his wife and two children, ages six and nine, were safely evacuated before staying behind to try to save his Pacific Palisades home as flames spread throughout the neighborhood.
Mallen spent January 7 trying to get his family’s sentimental belongings out of the house and preparing it as best he could for the impending fire.
It is the trust in the leadership and the systems that absolutely failed us”
“We filled up every sink, collected all of the towels, and placed them under the doors. We took out the hoses. Mallen told Fox News Digital that they put out the fire extinguishers. “We accomplished everything. We began collecting items that were difficult to replace.
Mallen and his neighbor, Alex, worked for hours that day to put out hundreds of “hot spots” around their homes with garden houses and buckets.
As night fell, the fires and wind intensified, and Mallen watched as they approached his neighborhood in the dark.
“Nighttime came, and it started to turn to Armageddon.”
“Obviously, everything went dark, which means the flames look like hell,” Mallen told me. “And I watched it come up the mountain and all the way up the canyon and jumped the canyon.”
Mallen described the fires as “apocalyptic” due to strong winds from all directions.
“It was a firestorm,” he explained.
When the water ran out in the early hours of January 8, they started filling buckets with neighbors’ pool water to fight the falling embers and flames. There were no firefighters in the neighbourhood at the time.
Mallen “started running” away from his neighborhood in search of firefighters “out of desperation” and discovered three fire engines parked on the side of the road around 3 a.m. on Jan. 8. He knocked on the trucks’ windows, and when Mallen caught one of the firefighters’ attention, the first responder informed Mallen that they, too, had run out of water.
“Firefighters and engines were dispatched to the scene, ready to fight—trained people, heroes, ready. “They couldn’t do anything,” Mallen said, adding that it was “not their fault.”
Mallen returned to his neighborhood defeated, but he and Alex continued to try to extinguish the flames with pool water.
The next morning, they thought they’d survived the worst of it. Mallen even called his family members to tell them he thought he had saved his house, but as he walked down the street, he noticed a house four doors down from his smoking from the attic — a telltale sign, Mallen said, of a house about to burn down.
That attic smoke eventually did what he expected, igniting an attic fire and then a structure fire that spread to other nearby homes, including Mallen’s.
The 44-year-old eventually saw a firetruck driving down his street and “begged” the men inside to help him extinguish the flames that he was sure were about to engulf his house.
“I begged them. I said, “This is my house right here.” This house is currently on fire. Stop the fire as it will cause damage to my house and the surrounding area. “So I begged them, and they listened,” Mallen explained.
Mallen claimed that the firefighters who stopped to assist him performed heroically, using half a tank of water in the engine.
“They took the most inspirational and ultimate stand. Similar to a movie scene, imagine a fire crew. “Heroism,” Mallen declared. “They took out chainsaws.
To remove the hedge, they used chainsaws to cut it down between houses. They begin physically pulling out trees in order to stop the jump. They position the fire and the massive cannon hose in the middle, ready to protect the job.”
Despite Mallen’s efforts and the bravery of the firefighters who attempted to stop the fire and extinguish the flames, the fire eventually reached his attic. There was nothing anyone could do to keep the fire from spreading because there was insufficient water.
Mallen and his family lost their seven-year-old home, which had been fully paid off.
“Had that hydrant had water, my house would have been saved. Had the trucks had water, the house, the street never would’ve caught fire.”
“We had limited rotating water. So it wasn’t a continuous stream. There’s a hydrant 20 feet across from my house. Mallen stated, “If that hydrant had water, my house would have been saved.” “If the trucks had water, the house and street would never have caught fire. … “That’s all the firefighters said the entire time.”
On Jan. 10, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office released a letter addressing water hydrants that had run out of water, stating that “while overall water supply in Southern California is not an issue, water mobility in the initial response was an issue.”
“The ongoing reports of loss of water pressure to some local fire hydrants during the fires and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir are deeply troubling to me and to the community,” the California governor wrote. “We need answers to how that happened.”
The governor also announced that he has launched an investigation into the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).
To make matters worse, Mallen was dropped from State Farm’s insurance coverage in September, he claims.
“How is it that I’m the American dream story — an entrepreneur that worked his a– off to get his family home, to pay it off, and not have debt and not have a mortgage … the dream we’re all supposed to have … and I literally did not have an option for protection, safety and security of my family home and my life’s work?” Mallen said.
A State Farm spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the company recognizes “this is a very difficult time for those impacted by these wildfires.”
“In general, if an insurance policy coverage expired in September 2024, there would be no coverage for a loss, regardless of cause, in January 2025,” the spokesperson said in response to a question about Mallen’s case.
“Any consumer whose policy is not renewed by their current insurance provider is strongly encouraged to seek coverage elsewhere to ensure their property is financially protected from loss,” a spokesperson told me.
He pointed out that Californians pay “an exorbitant amount of taxes” — taxes he has been paying for decades as a lifelong Californian — and yet, “we can’t even have water in our own hoses to protect our own homes,” Mallen said.
Mallen said he is speaking out now to share his story, which he believes represents thousands of other families who lost everything when they were displaced by California wildfires.
He plans to “shine a spotlight on a story that’s ours but also represents thousands of others in similar situations in a way to create absolutely needed change,” according to him.
“The only thing more powerful than a wild wildfire that just burned thousands of homes, and my home, will be the community that comes together to rebuild it,” he told reporters.
Mallen’s family members have started a GoFundMe page called “Mallen Family Restart” to help Blake and his wife rebuild after the devastation.
Cal Fire reported on Friday morning that the fires had burned over 40,600 acres and destroyed over 12,300 structures. At least 27 people were confirmed dead in the blaze, though the number could rise as dozens remain missing.