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Albanian-American investor reveals details from the apocalyptic fires in Los Angeles: I got the car ready to leave

2025-01-09 21:29:37Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Albanian-American investor reveals details from the apocalyptic fires in Los
The aftermath of the fires in Los Angeles

Valon Xharra, an Albanian-American banker and investor, lives in Beverly Hills, a city near Los Angeles, famous throughout the world, very close to the area affected by the massive fire in California. Mr. Xharra, who is closely following the situation, described the situation in an interview with Voice of America.

Voice of America: Mr. Xharra, what does the situation look like with the fires where you are?

Valon Xharra: Schools are closed today, I work in a company with 16-17 employees and we have told everyone to work from home. I was at work in the city center yesterday and it was a kind of 'Zombie Land'. During the night we woke up every two hours to monitor the situation because it was quite variable, the winds were at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour and the combination with sparks is unpredictable. Yesterday this was the main crisis while today the winds have decreased a little but it is predicted that there will still be problems with winds tonight and until Friday. Up until this moment, I saw it on the news and maps, the firefighters say that the fire is uncontrolled so they have not yet been able to bring it under control. For context for viewers, the area affected by the fire is more or less a third or a quarter of the area of ​​the capital Prishtina, it is large and mainly the most beautiful places, the most beautiful houses in Los Angeles are in the most fragile places.

Los Angeles is very close to the bush, the mountains, the hills, an hour's drive from where I am to the desert, so it is a very fragile environment, an ecosystem and this has been predictable, in the absence of rain, drought and I think we will have even more. As an investor I constantly think about how to predict risks in the future, this risk is very predictable and unfortunately I think we will see such cases again.

Voice of America: What does it mean to you to live in that very vulnerable area these days where everything seems uncertain and the wind can change direction and the fire can change direction easily?

Valon Xharra: I have also taught my 6-year-old and 9-year-old children, so we have a plan if we have to flee, we have filled the car with gas, we have water and basic things and that the situation can change hour by hour. I am here in Beverly Hills where it is more residential and we are not surrounded by nature as much but the risk of sparks with wind makes the risk of the fire spreading. So in general it is a kind of tense spiritual situation among the residents because if you look at the map from the fire department the whole of Los Angeles is in the red zone, the air outside is quite catastrophic so schools and work have been stopped so it is difficult to be optimistic in this environment when you can only see smoke and smell from the balcony. Knowing that this situation is not exceptional and unfortunately we will still face it.

Voice of America: It's clear that given your experience, you don't easily say the words apocalyptic or catastrophic, given the war in Kosovo, but these words are being used frequently these days, not only by you but also by other residents, right?

Valon Xharra: We have lived in Kosovo and experienced the war and are used to this type of crisis, but especially now that we have children, and seeing the social environment is quite fragile. Nature in Los Angeles, constructions, all of these are a kind of fragile ecosystem where they are built in places, mainly people are trying to escape from urban chaos and to escape they go to places that are still exotic in nature. In these places it is much more fragile, there was also a major crisis, where even the firefighters did not have water in the hydrants in places and had to come all the way down to the city to fill up with water and go up again, so the lack of water in these places that are a little further from the center has caused trouble. It is a little difficult to be optimistic when you see the environment, not only current but long-term and will happen again, lack of rainfall, droughts and winds are natural things here in California.

Voice of America: What do you hope for in the coming days? Of course, many things do not depend on you, they do not depend on the residents, but as a person living in this affected area, what is your hope?

Valon Xharra: My hope is that according to the experts' forecasts, the situation will calm down by Friday, especially with the wind, not so much heat, but these winds are the biggest danger. Meteorologists say that the situation will calm down and the fire will be able to be controlled. It is a tense situation, we have to wake up every hour at night to monitor the situation because it is quite sensitive.


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