“The Brutalist” star Adrien Brody fought back tears on Wednesday night as he accepted the award for Best Actor at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards. But his emotion stemmed not from the award itself, but rather the still-burning Palisades fire.
As of Thursday morning, the massive flames remained at 0% containment as firefighters battle to get things under control. So, during his acceptance speech, Brody offered his gratitude and praise to those first responders.
“I’m sorry, it’s always so hard to accept something like this when there’s so much suffering in the world,” the actor said. “My heart goes out to all the families and the animals, and our colleagues. Most of the homes on the west side, east side of PCH are gone, from Palisades on.“
“This is our community,” he continued. “I just want to thank and commend the bravery of the first responders and sacrifices and their meaningful work that deserves our recognition tonight.”
“More than 7,500 firefighting personnel are on the ground working with local and federal partners to respond to California’s ongoing historic wildfires,” Gov. Gavin Newsom shared in an update late Wednesday night.
That number comes from local firefighters, as well as from stations upstate and additional departments from five other states: Oregon, Washington, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.
As of Thursday morning, the Palisades fire had burned 17,234 acres, the Eaton fire 10,600 acres and the Hurst fire 671 acres, while the more northern Lidia fire has burned 348 acres. In total so far, five people have died, 2,000 structures have been destroyed, and thousands of locals have been displaced under evacuation orders.
