Pacific Palisades man who spent 17 hours fighting flames to save neighborhood speaks one year later

One year ago, CBS LA anchor Rubabeh Shahbazi met Robert Trinkkeller, the maverick savior of the Marquez Knolls neighborhood in the Pacific Palisades.

Trinkkeller had been living off the grid for the better part of a month. He defied evacuation orders when the Palisades Fire erupted in his community and spent 17 hours fighting the sea of flames that roared through his piece of paradise. He managed to save his own home and his neighbors.  

 A year later, his neighborhood is no longer the eerie hellscape it once was, but his home still bears the same scars — burned bushes, melted metal, hoses where they were dropped after an exhausting firefight.

Trinkkeller is still living in Santa Monica, in a building full of other Palisades refugees going through the insurance bureaucracy.

"They don't agree with what the damage is, of course, and they want to pay less, so it's been kind of an ongoing saga," Trinkkeller said.

He explained that recovering from everything mentally has taken some time. He added that having fought the fire for 17 years has affected his nervous system and memory.

He estimates fewer than half of his neighbors are back.

"It won't be the same. Not even close, which is also extremely sad for those of us who love the Palisades," Trinkkeller said. "A lot of people can't afford to come back. Most people were underinsured."

Twelve months ago, the water below his home was orange and black; now it's shining a familiar bright blue and the hills above are growing green over the ash, with rebirth and hope.

"This happened, there's nothing we can do about it now, and let's just try to make the best of it and come back, you know, better and stronger," Trinkkeller said.