LeBron James details Getty Fire evacuation, commends first responders – The Mercury News

EL SEGUNDO — The first alert on his phone came around 1:30 a.m., just a few hours after LeBron James and the Lakers had finished wrapping up a 120-101 win over Charlotte.

The second came about 15 minutes later, and 15 minutes after that, the James family had shaken off their sleep enough to pack up and take flight from their Brentwood home, joining an estimated 20,000 Los Angeles residents who had to evacuate the potential path of the destructive Getty wildfire.

Because it doesn’t matter if you’re a prince, a pauper or a four-time NBA MVP – when a fire threatens, you have to run.

“I was talking to my wife about it a little bit and I said I hadn’t been in a fire drill since like the seventh grade,” James said Tuesday, a day-and-a-half after being evacuated from his neighborhood. “It’s just challenging at that hour, getting my family, getting my kids, getting everybody and having to evacuate at such a rapid rate. You don’t really have much time to think about what you can get or what you can do.”

Many Angelenos are sleeping in unfamiliar beds as fire crews fight the blaze that has already consumed more than 600 acres and at least eight homes. James, his wife and three children are among them – he told reporters that Monday morning, he left his home with his family, his credit card and passport. Driving around the city, he walked into four hotels as his family waited in the car before finally finding temporary lodgings at around 4 a.m.

James is a creature of routine, fastidious about his diet, training and perhaps most of all his sleep. He admitted the evacuation under the cover of darkness had been disruptive to all of those cycles that anchor his life – his children didn’t go to school Monday after not going to sleep until 6:30 a.m. – but now that his family is safely harbored, basketball has given him some refuge as well.

James showed up Monday morning to the practice facility for his morning workout and the team’s Genius Talk, despite just about two hours of sleep himself.

“It’s not hard once I know my family is safe,” he said. “My family is safe and a little discombobulated obviously because of the situation, but they’re safe and once they were safe, to be able to come back here is greatly appreciated.”

Coach Frank Vogel canceled practice Monday, but said the decision was not directly related to the evacuation of James, one of the team’s biggest stars. Vogel said he did offer James the chance to take the day off, but he declined.

Against Memphis on Tuesday night, James was expected to play, but Vogel acknowledged the team will likely use extra awareness and caution for his minutes.

“We’ll always be attentive when there’s an adverse circumstance like this,” Vogel said, “just to keep an eye on it, and probably overcommunicate with him on how he’s feeling.”

While his home is still standing, James said, it’s not yet in the clear, making it one of the estimated 7,100 homes still under threat of damage by the wildfire, which started early Monday morning.

James said the experience had given him a special appreciation for the first responders fighting the Getty fire.

“Those guys – men and women – are unbelievable, what they’re doing and their bravery throughout this time,” he said. “And anytime you’re dealing with such a situation like that, they’re the reason why things can be a lot less worse than they possibly could be. So, it’s an amazing job what they do and their commitment with what’s going on right now.”

James’ appreciation was not limited to words: The Lakers forward – famous for his love of “Taco Tuesday” – paid for the Mariscos Jalisco taco truck to stop by the emergency responders’ base camp where they were treated to free lunch on Tuesday.

Thank you, @KingJames, for generously sending a taco truck to support our @LAFD firefighters, first responders, and partner agencies working to fight the #GettyFire. pic.twitter.com/rgTSMgWXLU

— Mayor Eric Garcetti (@MayorOfLA) October 29, 2019

Raul Ortega, the 56-year-old owner of Mariscos Jalisco taco truck, was happy to help.

“It’s a big compliment, and it will help our business,” Ortega said in a phone interview. “But I’d be glad to help even if I was not compensated. It’s a good cause to help people who are risking their lives to help others.”

He added that “LeBron is a good guy. He evacuated his house and he looked for ways to pay back.”

Ortega said he spent two hours on the UCLA campus on Tuesday afternoon, making hard-shell tacos and feeding about 200 firefighters.

INJURY UPDATES ON RONDO, KUZMA

After Tuesday’s shootaround, Kyle Kuzma and Rajon Rondo challenged assistant coaches Miles Simon and Mike Penberthy in a 3-point shooting contest that is a typical part of the fabric of Lakers practices. But while the duo seemed to be having a good time on the court after the morning workout, neither was scheduled to see the court Tuesday night against the Grizzlies.

Rondo had an MRI over the weekend that the medical staff used to diagnose a strained right calf. The veteran point guard is considered day-to-day, but he hasn’t played in any contests since the team returned from China.

Kuzma is still “ramping up” his workload from an August foot injury, but Vogel sounded optimistic Tuesday morning that the Lakers haven’t ruled out the possibility of the third-year forward returning to the lineup during the team’s upcoming three-game trip through Dallas, San Antonio and Chicago. Kuzma and Rondo are expected to travel with the team.

“We don’t have a game in mind,” Vogel said of Kuzma. “As soon as possible is my take on it. He did a little bit of shootaround stuff today. He’s gonna continue to ramp up his activity tomorrow, even though we’ll have an off day, and we’ll see where he’s at at that point.”

Staff writers Ryan Carter and Olga Grigoryants contributed to this story.