Gossip Girl reboot actress Samantha Rose Baldwin has told DailyMail.com about her dramatic run through fire and ashes to save her cat in the Palisades Fire.
Instead of running from the blaze, Baldwin, 26, bravely ran home to save her beloved 10-year-old turtle, Kitty.
The actress, who made her television debut in the second season of the Gossip Girl reboot that ran from 2021 to 2022, overcame Countless obstacles to return to her apartment, including facing a stream of endless traffic of people fleeing for their lives.
A typical 28-minute drive from West Hollywood to Pacific Palisades turned into a two-and-a-half-hour nightmare, leaving the New York resident no choice but to abandon her car and run on foot to save her cat.
‘When I got close to my house again, the cars were no longer running. There was bumper to bumper traffic and when I looked at my GPS it said it would take at least another two hours to get home. Then I decided to park my car and run.
“I ran on Sunset Boulevard for about 15 minutes until I got home,” Baldwin told DailyMail.com.
Samantha Rose Baldwin, 26, bravely raced home to save her beloved 10-year-old cat, Kitty
Baldwin faced a stream of endless traffic of people fleeing for their lives to get home – abandoning her car to run to her Pacific Palisades apartment
After twenty harrowing minutes, Baldwin was able to find Kitty in her couch and wrap her in a blanket to put in her cat carrier.
Meanwhile, the actresses’ father, Michael, a security guard who works at a nearby elementary school that has since burned down, helped students safely evacuate.
“It was an immediate action and a culmination of questions racing through my mind: Can I get my cat out?,” Baldwin said. “Is my father safe and ready to go?”
Once in her apartment, the next challenge was finding her tortoiseshell cat who was hiding.
‘It took me twenty minutes to find her. She had gone to her best hiding place, which was the couch. I grabbed her, wrapped her in a blanket and put her in my cat carrier.
“Once we got outside, the fire had gotten closer and the path back to my car was no longer an option.
‘I thought to myself, ‘Where should I go?’ The fire was all around us. The scary part was when a big gust of wind and smoke came in so fast that you couldn’t see anything anymore.’
When she emerged from her apartment with her cat and suitcase in hand, she told DailyMail.com she had no idea where to go and was worried about her father, who worked as a security guard at a nearby school.
Baldwin made her television debut in the second season of the Gossip Girl reboot, which ran from 2021 to 2022
Baldwin said the wind came in so fast that smoke surrounded her and she couldn’t see anything, so she made a break for the water where she could reunite with her father.
The actress continued, “Here I was stuck between the fire and the ocean, so it only made sense to go to the water. I was literally running for my life with my cat strapped to my back and a suitcase rolling behind me.
‘I had to run in and out of cars and avoid flaming branches and palm leaves that fell to the ground all around me like a minefield.
“It felt like something I would see or do in an action movie, not my real life.”
Once Baldwin reached safety on the beach, she was reunited with her father, who had successfully evacuated the school and was now helping firefighters direct traffic and those in need.
“While I was running to the ocean, I called my mom and told her I loved her. I honestly didn’t know if I was going to make it,” Baldwin said.
“When I finally reached PCH (Pacific Coast Highway), the family behind me said they had been told by police to get out of their car because the fire was moving so quickly and run toward the ocean.”
Baldwin is now in North Hollywood staying with a friend. She said her cat Kitty is adjusting as they travel everywhere together when she is on location filming a TV show or movie
The Palisades fire broke out Tuesday shortly after the start of a Santa Ana storm that the National Weather Service warned could be “life-threatening” and the strongest to hit Southern California in more than a decade.
Baldwin is now staying in North Hollywood with a friend and tells DailyMail.com that her cat Kitty is adjusting as they travel everywhere together when she is on location filming a TV show or movie.
The young actress has two films coming out in 2025, including Kaitlyn’s Chance, in which she stars alongside Sean Patrick Flannery, Jennifer Taylor and Jamie King.
But for now, she’s grateful for her cat’s safety and has noted the pet’s resilience: “This is Kitty’s second natural disaster, she originally came to me by taking her on as a foster for a family that was rescued by the Hurricane Maria had hit. .
‘My body hurts. I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus and run over three times. I had so much ash on my face yesterday that I looked like I had just walked out of Mad Max.
“My chest is sore and my throat is a little scratchy, but overall I’m so grateful that I’m alive and that my dad and cat are safe.”
The Palisades fire broke out Tuesday shortly after the start of a Santa Ana storm that the National Weather Service warned could be “life-threatening” and the strongest to hit Southern California in more than a decade.
Overwhelmed Los Angeles firefighters made a plea for off-duty firefighters to help them encounter mounting obstacles like drying hydrants and abandoned cars blocking the roads
From the first fire, several fires broke out in the Altadena and Sylmar neighborhoods.
Mandatory evacuations are widespread along the Pacific coast inland as far as Pasadena, and overwhelmed Los Angeles firefighters have issued a plea for off-duty firefighters to aid their efforts.
Abandoned cars that prevented emergency personnel from making their way to the devastated areas (forcing the use of a bulldozer) and hydrants running dry are just some of the obstacles firefighters currently face.
Two people have been killed and thousands of structures have been destroyed by the raging fires.