LOS ANGELES, Calif., Oct. 24, 2007

Fires Chase Celebs Off Sets, Into Hotels

TV Production Disrupted; Star-Studded Rehab Clinic Evacuated

    • Actress Jamie Lee Curtis holds up a headline about the wildfires as she speaks at the California Governor and First Lady's Conference on Women in Long Beach, Calif., Oct. 23, 2007.

      Actress Jamie Lee Curtis holds up a headline about the wildfires as she speaks at the California Governor and First Lady's Conference on Women in Long Beach, Calif., Oct. 23, 2007.  (AP)

    • Hotels just outside the fire zone filled up quickly with fleeing Californians. Above: Gov. Schwarzenegger (center) and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff (right), with evacuees at Qualcomm stadium.

      Hotels just outside the fire zone filled up quickly with fleeing Californians. Above: Gov. Schwarzenegger (center) and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff (right), with evacuees at Qualcomm stadium.  (AP/Pool/San Diego Union-Tribune)

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  • Photos Ferocious SoCal Fires

    Blazes bedevil firefighters, force thousands to flee and leave rubble and ash in their wake.

(AP)  The rich and famous of Hollywood couldn't evade Southern California's devastating fires. Production on TV series has been disrupted and rafts of stars have traded their beachfront homes for shelter in posh hotels just outside the fire zone.

Kelsey Grammer was among those who fled Malibu, the celebrity-favored oceanfront town that also is home to Mel Gibson, Cher, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Aniston, Mel Brooks, Ryan O'Neal and more.

Grammer made light of the evacuation for the sake of his 6-year-old, Mason.

"My daughter was nervous in the beginning," he told the E! entertainment channel Monday. "I said, 'Oh, honey, it's nothing. Just relax. Come on, we're going to have some fun.' So she shined the flashlight around and we got out... We're safe. We got the dog, we got the kids."

His house remained untouched Tuesday, said his publicist, Stan Rosenfield.

Fast Facts

Shows affected by the fires include "NCIS" at CBS, "Big Shots" at ABC, and "24" at Fox. Potentially endangered: an inn owned by Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott and featured on their Oxygen show, "Tori & Dean: Inn Love."

Promises, the Malibu rehabilitation center where Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan have sought treatment, moved staff members and about 18 patients.

"We evacuated Sunday morning before the order came because the conditions there were very frightening," Promises founder and CEO Richard Rogg told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "The power went out, the winds were blowing at hurricane force and you could see flames coming over the mountain top."

Rooms were booked for patients in an "upscale hotel" near the Promises facility in west Los Angeles, where staff members "regrouped and tried to keep the schedule going as normally as possible," Rogg said.

Promises, which said its Malibu facility was undamaged Tuesday, does not disclose patient names.

Malibu resident Jane Seymour was sweeping across the stage Monday on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" while her husband, actor-director James Keach, protected their house.

"The fire is close to our home, and there was a mandatory evacuation. My husband is illegally there, fighting the fire," Seymour told People magazine. She stayed focused on her performance "with great difficulty," she said.

"I actually decided to abandon my cell phone today. I told a friend if there's something I need to know, then let me know," said the actress, who is best known for her starring role on "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman."

The couple's home was undamaged and didn't appear to be in any imminent danger Tuesday, according to a spokeswoman, Susan Madore.

Continued



By Lynn Elber © MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment See all 22 Comments
by kevzgrl October 26, 2007 10:56 AM EDT
My heart hurts for all the ordinary people who have lost their homes, their savings, all their possessions and some even their lives in this horrible tragedy.

However, I cannot work up a whole lot of sympathy for the "star studded rehab center" that had to move, or the fact that some productions of what passes for TV these days has been disrupted for a while. Fire cleanses in some ways, so maybe it will clean up some of the trash they try to pass off as entertainment - myself, I would just as soon read a good book.

I also find it kind of tough to squeeze out a tear or two for those who have to stay at upscale hotels and posh resorts away from the fire zone, after all, they have the money to do it. Many of the people whose lives are being "disrupted" don''t have that, and will be homeless with no possessions but the clothes on their backs that they escaped in. Please, Jane Seymour - you left your CELL PHONE behind??!! Aw, poor baby.....
Reply to this comment
by jimbo554 October 25, 2007 12:50 AM EDT
I''ll tell you whats wrong with America, it''s not some celebrities who hold political opinions that differ from others, it''s people with hatred and contempt for people who are facing disaster. How could anybody have anything but sympathy for people who have lost their houses?

There are some twisted people out there. I hope some of you can find peace and love before it''s too late for you.
Reply to this comment
by jowand October 24, 2007 10:52 PM EDT
FINALLY one of those Groups gets to feel what we''''ve been feeling the past 7 years. Hurricane Katrina, Fascism, Iran/Iraq/Afghanistan WARS, Brittany Spears latest albulm - ALL HORRIFIC DISASTERS.

EVERYTHING IS POLITICAL EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING.


Posted by fascistusa at 07:23 PM : Oct 24, 2007

You forgot Pelosi''s /Armenian/PPK/Turkey bloviating
Reply to this comment
by poopusbuttus October 24, 2007 6:52 PM EDT
Well, Bush did say that we were going to smoke all of the terrorists (Libs) outt there holes, didnt he?
Reply to this comment
by bareemperor October 24, 2007 5:35 PM EDT
Yes, this story is about the elite and their losses.
However, many responses to the story are written by people who are obviously as self-centered and hypocritical as those they hate.
I hope you never see a column of fire advancing towards everything you have ever worked for, your hatred of others would disappear in an instant...
Reply to this comment
by tnt1954 October 24, 2007 4:25 PM EDT
parable of lazarus and the rich people and their
dives. lifestyles of the poor and anonymous?
new hit series, starring rich, famous people.
nudist colonies opening now at the north
and south pole. ban all sports. its getting
hotter and hotter. its all that friction.
in bed that''s making it so hot.
either that or planetary orbital decay.
slowly but surely planet earth falling into
the sun. start the evacuate the planet movement.
Reply to this comment
by mike71067 October 24, 2007 4:07 PM EDT
Rats! Why I first saw the photograph, I thought this was going to be an article about a new David Bowie tour. Turns out it was just an article about a bunch of America-hating liberal spoiled brat celebrities being inconvenienced by the wildfires in California.
Reply to this comment
by cashion02 October 24, 2007 3:48 PM EDT
Hell has no fury like a God that is spurned. I wonder if these people who do not believe there is a God are saying, "Please God save my house". My prayers are for the innocent and even for the not-so-innocent. This fire literally scares me out of whatever witts I ever had. I cannot believe what I am seeing on TV. I am praying "God please hear the innocents'' prayers and bring the flames under control. These fires are only a small part of what I believe hell would be like and I don''t plan to go there. That is a never-ending fire. It burns like fire without consuming it''s victim. Not for a day or week or year but for eternity.
Reply to this comment
by mike71067 October 24, 2007 3:45 PM EDT
My heart pumps purple pisss for the poor liberal spoiled brats. I hope that while the wildfires are burning out of control, the pampered celebrities will still be able to snort gobs of cocaine, donate tons of money to leftist politicians, and spew forth anti-American bigotry.
Reply to this comment
by emma915 October 24, 2007 3:38 PM EDT
My heart goes out to ANYONE who loses everything they''ve worked for to such loss.
Reply to this comment
by aaabee-2009 October 24, 2007 3:06 PM EDT
The enviro-hypocrits should live in tents...
Posted by jowand at 09:42 AM : Oct 24, 2007

That is exactly right. The sacrifices of the few made to compensate for the selfishness of the many.

Hats off to you for calling it on your own behalf.
Reply to this comment
by gunownerdan October 24, 2007 2:13 PM EDT
We must make sure the dumbing-down of America keeps moving right along.
As long as they get all the celebrities out, that''s all that''s important.
Reply to this comment
by mike71067 October 24, 2007 1:09 PM EDT
It''s heartbreaking to see the upstanding, morally upright citizens of Hollyweird having to leave their multi-million dollar mansions. I hope the fires don''t destroy their cocaine stashes, or interfere with their ability to spew forth their liberal hate-filled bigotry to middle America.
Reply to this comment
by papabc October 24, 2007 12:56 PM EDT
Poor babies.
Reply to this comment
by mike71067 October 24, 2007 12:52 PM EDT
Oh my! The pampered liberal celebrities are enduring a hardship! I hope this doesn''t interfere with their ability to snort loads of cocaine, donate gobs of money to leftist presidential candidates, and produce sleazy movies that impose their "moral" standards on middle America.
Reply to this comment
by jowand October 24, 2007 12:42 PM EDT
The enviro-hypocrits should live in tents with electriciy, eat cold food and one sheet of toilet paper per day to offset the global warming effect and pollution caused by the fires
Reply to this comment
by shanev137 October 24, 2007 11:37 AM EDT
Great now we''ll have to listen to billionaire celebs moan about their houses for weeks on end now.
Reply to this comment
by oleander8 October 24, 2007 11:32 AM EDT
To the people bashing celebrities losing their homes...what''s the matter with you?? Celebrities have homes, children, pets, photo albums, roots in their communities - they weep, they bleed. You need to look at yourselves and your envy - better yet, get some help.
Reply to this comment
by greeneyes222 October 24, 2007 11:17 AM EDT
People are losing their homes and having their lives totally disrupted, and I''m supposed to care about celebs? I don''t think so. They''re not camping in a football stadium or losing a lifetime''s work. This is totally inappropriate.
Reply to this comment
by mythoughtsr October 24, 2007 11:07 AM EDT
*yawn* facistusa, you are probably one of those gun loons sitting in a turret in your house looking for FBI agents and aliens. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Some of the losers that post on here ARE entertaining to say the least. However, I must stop giving the troll something to chew on. (got to stop typing, laughing too hard!)

God bless all those in the path of these fires. Hey facist, maybe Bush started the fires! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA
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