27 years after Quebec ice storm, Montrealers find themselves in L.A. wildfire's smoke

Montrealer living through LA wildfires Laura Feiner is used to ice storms and other winter weather but living through the LA wildfires is a very different ordeal.

Laura Feiner was 14 years old on Jan. 4, 1998 when her home in Montreal was hit by a major ice storm in one of the province’s worst natural distasters.

Almost 27 years to the date (Jan. 7, 2025), Feiner and her husband Gil Klein found themselves rushing to pack up their dog and cats along with some essentials to evacuate her home on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood as fires in Runyon Canyon Park raged, about a 10-minute walk from where they live.

“I was just there the other day with my dog,” Feiner told CTV News on Thursday. “There was billowing huge black smoke and, initially, we were just taking videos and we kept checking outside and my husband and I noticed it was getting worse.”

The relatively small Runyon Canyon fire, north of West Hollywood is still burning, according to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which lists 98 wildfires burning.

The major Palisades fire, northwest of LA, has consumed 20,438 acres and is eight per cent contained.

Feiner said her building wasn’t officially in an evacuation zone, but residents were grabbing suitcases, pets and other valuables, and getting in their cars to leave.

She said the atmosphere was very “every person for themself” with no official announcements, sirens or alerts.

“I'm not used to this kind of natural disaster,” said Feiner. “There was nothing official. I even asked my neighbor, who's been living here for 20 years, ‘like, are we going to hear a siren? Will there be an alarm? What if we fall asleep?’ And she said, ‘No, you just have to keep checking the news.’”

Packed up and in the car, Feiner, Klein and their animals did not get far.

“There was so much traffic, and we just really didn't know where to go, especially with pets,” she said, adding that LA is a very pet-friendly city so resources have been set up throughout including a number of animal shelters and pet-friendly Airbnbs.

As of Friday, the fires have burned more than 10,000 homes and other buildings in the area north of downtown Los Angeles since they started on Tuesday. At least 10 people have been killed.

Montrealer Stephen Smith was on vacation with his family in Los Angeles and was out for a walk in Santa Monica on Tuesday when he saw a big burst of flames coming from the mountains.

“About five minutes later, we see a warning on all of our phones, I’m here with my kids and my wife, [saying] ‘Warning, warning! Leave the area,’” Smith told CTV News on Wednesday as smoke and flames billowed outside of his window. “We decided to evacuate the area a little while after.”

He, like Feiner, is used to snow, wind, ice rain and other storms common to Quebec, but had not been close to a raging fire. He was also surprised at the relative calm surrounding him.

“We looked to see what other people were doing, everyone else was just walking around, so we walked around a little bit longer, but then we said, ‘we have to leave the area,’” said Smith.

He was staying on Sunset Boulevard near Feiner’s home in West Hollywood, and was able to make his flight back to Montreal on Wednesday night.

He said the locals were treating the fire like a Montrealer would a snowstorm.

“So far, everyone seems to be fine like it’s not a big deal,” he said. “It’s the same atmosphere as if we [Montrealers] are having a two-centimetre snowstorm. Everyone seems to be very nonchalant about it, but they are saying that they’ve never seen this really in the winter in LA and they’re a little bit concerned.”

Feiner spoke to CTV News on Thursday while on a break from work. She said it’s surreal to be working knowing that her husband is at home ready to pack up the animals and other essentials at any moment.

“I didn't sleep last night because I kept waking up thinking, you know, we might need to go,” she said. “The wind just moves so fast. I guess I'm just not accustomed to having to move that fast, like, oh, the fire's several kilometres or several miles away.”