Dick Van Dyke and his wife Arlene Silver were forced to flee due to a devastating wildfire that engulfed Malibu, California.
The legendary entertainer, who is just three days shy of his 99th birthday, revealed on Facebook on Tuesday that the two escaped to their home before the flames.
But Van Dyke somberly announced that his family had suffered a devastating loss amid the tumult when one of their cats escaped in the rush to evacuate.
The tony coastal community is home to countless celebrities who want to escape the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles in favor of the sun and surf, but the lack of fireproofing facilities puts them at greater risk from wildfires.
The Mary Poppins star wasn’t the only actor endangered by the blaze, now called the Franklin Fire, with other stars including Cher, 78, forced to flee.
Other stars live in mandatory evacuation zones but have not yet clarified whether they have left, including Barbra Streisand and Jonah Hill.
Dick Van Dyke and his wife Arlene Silver were forced to flee due to a devastating wildfire in Malibu, California, but he revealed a devastating loss on Facebook
The actor, who is three days shy of his 99th birthday, revealed that their cat Bobo had escaped while they were evacuating. “We pray he’s doing well…” he wrote, posting a photo of the cat
On Facebook, Van Dyke shared a photo of his cat Bobo.
The sweet photo showed Bobo, an orange tabby, draped in what appeared to be a purple blanket, but the photo took on a somber tone when paired with the actor’s caption.
“Arlene and I evacuated safely with our animals, except Bobo escaped as we were leaving,” he wrote. “We pray that he is well and that our Serra Retreat community will survive these terrible fires.”
The cat’s chances will depend on the size of the fires, which have exploded due to heavy Santa Ana winds in Southern California.
However, several pets, including cats, have been documented as surviving wildfires in recent years.
Photos taken Tuesday appear to show good news for Van Dyke — and possibly even Bobo.
The Dick Van Dyke Show star’s home appeared to be unscathed by the fire, even though it engulfed neighboring properties.
Cher, who also lives in the area, was evacuated due to the fast-moving fire.
Photos taken Tuesday of Van Dyke’s Malibu property show it appeared to have survived the fire, even as neighboring properties were destroyed
Van Dyke also expressed hope that his “community at Serra Retreat will survive these terrible fires”; pictured with Carol Burnett in Hollywood in June
Fire crews sprayed water on the Franklin Fire Tuesday morning as other parts of the blaze rapidly grew larger by the minute
Cher, who also lives in the area, was evacuated due to the fast-moving fire. Her publicist Liz Rosenberg told the New York Times that Cher had moved into a hotel with her pets on Monday evening
Her publicist Liz Rosenberg told the New York Times that Cher had moved into a hotel with her pets on Monday evening.
A representative for Streisand could not provide details on her whereabouts and said he was still waiting to see where she was.
Other stars who live in the area but have not clarified whether they have been evacuated, including Beyoncé and Jay-Z.
They attended the premiere of Lion King’s computer-animated prequel Mufasa on Monday with daughter Blue Ivy and Beyoncé’s mother Tina Knowles.
The surprise red carpet appearances came just a day after Jay-Z was accused in a lawsuit of raping a 13-year-old girl in the company of disgraced rap mogul Diddy at a party after the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards.
Jay-Z vehemently denied the accusation in a bizarre statement he shared after the news broke.
Jonah Hill also owns a home in the exclusive Malibu Colony, which is in the mandatory evacuation area, as does Julia Roberts, who owns a home in Malibu’s Point Dume neighborhood.
Lady Gaga has a Zuma Beach mansion that is in the mandatory evacuation area.
Among the Malibu-based stars are Beyoncé and Jay-Z, who attended the premiere of Lion King’s computer-animated prequel Mufasa on Monday with daughter Blue Ivy and Beyoncé’s mother Tina Knowles.
Jonah Hill also owns a home in the exclusive Malibu Colony, in the mandatory evacuation area
Julia Roberts, who has a home in Malibu’s Point Dume neighborhood, was apparently also in the evacuation zone; pictured in 2022 in LA
Lady Gaga has a Zuma Beach mansion that is in the mandatory evacuation area; pictured on November 4 in Philadelphia, Penn.
Evacuations are underway in celebrity-filled Malibu after the rapid spread of a wildfire that broke out overnight
A motorist passes as a mountainside burns as the Franklin Fire grows in Malibu, which after more than half a day is still not in the slightest under control
Other big names, including Nicolas Cage and Karlie Kloss, also call the beach area home, and other stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Aniston have lived in the popular area over the years.
The wildfire not only endangered individuals, but also threatened important cultural centers in the area, including the Getty Villa.
The museum, part of the Getty Museum, is designed in the image of an ancient Roman villa and contains antiquities from Greece and Rome.
The rapidly progressing fire started around 11:00 PM PST on Monday evening, initially with a footprint of approximately 100 acres. By 7am it had expanded to 2,200 hectares. At noon there were more than 2,600.
As of Tuesday morning, zero percent of the Franklin Fire was contained as it continued to rip through the eastern part of Malibu, which is under a mandatory evacuation order.
On Tuesday morning, the evacuation order went out to more than 6,000 residents.
Residents of neighborhoods like Sweetwater Canyon and Serra Retreat were among those forced to flee their luxurious residences. Footage of the fire-ravaged area filmed early Tuesday morning showed firefighters battling the flames.
‘Flames are everywhere. People are running in vehicles from Malibu in both directions on the coastal highway,” a local resident said Los Angeles Timesafter the fire spread to more than 4,000 acres by sunrise.
“Malibu Pier and other structures were affected. Structures were impacted at Malibu Knolls Rd and Sweetwater Cyn,” the city added in an emergency update around that time, as students and staff at Pepperdine University were ordered to shelter in place.
“The fire is burning so hot that it is altering local winds… (and) deflecting them toward and into the fire,” the National Weather Service in Los Angeles warned later that morning, as the fire burned through an area larger than three miles. football fields.
Chilling footage shared on