Actor Steve Guttenberg, who rose to fame as Police Academy‘s Officer Mahoney, is among those currently trying to fight the Los Angeles wildfires.
Guttenberg, also known for his roles in hit films such as Three Men and a Baby, Short Circuit and Cocoon, was interviewed Tuesday during a live news broadcast. The reporter initially did not recognize the actor, who was trying to move cars that had been abandoned on the street so that firefighters could get through to battle the blaze in his Pacific Palisades neighborhood.
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“What’s happening is people take their keys with them as if they’re in a parking lot. This is not a parking lot. We really need people to move their cars,” Guttenberg told KTLA in the video posted below. “If you leave your car behind, leave the key in there so a guy like me can move your car so that these fire trucks can get up there.”
In a July 2024 story promoting his appearance as the Grand Marshall of the town’s Fourth of July parade, Guttenberg was described as “one of the most beloved residents” of Pacific Palisades. “I’ve lived here for 37 years and every day in the Palisades is like a vacation,” he explained. “[I love] the enthusiasm of the people. There is an air of delight and town togetherness for the various events.”
As of Thursday morning, the New York Times reported that multiple Los Angeles-area wildfires, fueled by a recent lack of rain and the Santa Ana winds, has so far burned more than 27,000 acres of land and killed at least five people.
“This is the worst fire I’ve ever seen in my life, and it’s terrible. The sky at one in the afternoon is dark, it looks like evening,” Guttenberg told NBC News on Wednesday. “If you’re able-bodied, help people, help people in wheelchairs, small children, mothers that have anxiety and are in panic attacks. It’s really important to help people.”
While praising the efforts of his neighbors to help each other during this tragedy, Guttenberg expressed hope for the future. “When all this is over and we go back to normal life, let’s try to keep this empathy, let’s try to keep this kindness and this thoughtfulness. This is a time that we’ve got to band together. We’re not one street or one town or one city, we’re one community.”
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