Wildfires and winds test Southern California naturists
Stories of resilience, loss, and solidarity from a close-knit community in crisis
The ongoing wildfires in Southern California, driven by fierce Santa Ana winds with gusts reaching up to 100 mph, have caused widespread destruction. These formidable winds have carried embers across miles, igniting new blazes, and have overturned vehicles, downed trees, and toppled power lines, exacerbating the chaos. Spanning multiple counties, the fires have consumed more than 35,000 acres, with Altadena and Pacific Palisades among the hardest-hit areas. Over 180,000 residents have been forced to evacuate, and power outages have left nearly one million people in the dark.
The devastation has been staggering. Insured losses are projected to exceed $20 billion, potentially making this the costliest wildfire disaster in California’s history. Emergency crews, including more than 8,000 firefighters, have worked tirelessly to contain the blazes, though the relentless winds have significantly hampered their efforts. Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to ash, with families displaced and unsure of what they’ll return to when the flames subside.
Among those affected by the chaos are members of Southern California’s naturist community, a tight-knit group that has faced its own unique challenges in the wake of the fires. From disrupted lives and damaged properties to moments of resilience and solidarity, their stories shed light on the broader human impact of the disaster and the strength of a community.
Power outages and cancellations
The various area fires led to widespread power outages, affecting numerous communities all across the sprawling Los Angeles area. Neighborhoods from Encino to Altadena, from Highland Park to Whittier experienced power and utility disruptions, with over 200,000 customers losing electricity.
Gary Mussell, former president of AANR-West and an organizer of the Friends of Bates Beach (FoBB) who lives in Moorpark, near Thousand Oaks, was among the thousands affected. He endured a three-day power outage, leading to spoiled food and a challenging living situation. “They cut our power Wednesday morning, and it just came back a few minutes ago,” he told Planet Nude. “It’s kind of weird camping out in your own house with no power and the wind blowing outside. The good news is I HAVE a house. We were all one bad gust of wind from being homeless ourselves.”
The fires also disrupted Gary’s personal plans. “I was supposed to have knee surgery this morning, but it was canceled last night due to the fires,” he said. Despite the challenges, Gary expressed optimism: “We’ll figure it out and rebuild better than ever.”
Leaders facing uncertainty
Linda Weber, president of the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR), and her husband, Stan, avoided evacuation but faced the stress of potentially losing their home. “We had left on Sunday for Utah to say goodbye to a friend, but we rushed home when we realized the roads to our neighborhood were starting to close,” Linda told Planet Nude. “We had power at our house, and our neighborhood is safe for the moment, but it’s been touch-and-go.”
Linda also expressed concern for others in the naturist community. “I was so worried about Rolf and Cynthia,” she said. “So many people to worry about that live in those areas.”
Rolf and Cynthia Holbach, leaders of the Southern California Naturist Association (SCNA), received an evacuation order at 3:00am Wednesday the 8th and fled their Altadena home with their dogs as the Eaton fire ravaged their community. Cynthia, who also serves as president of the Naturist Society Foundation (TNSF), reflected on the chaos of their departure: “We started packing, but we didn’t really pack everything that we needed to. We didn’t expect to be out for two to three weeks, so unfortunately, there’s a lot of stuff that we just don’t have with us.”
Their home, known to naturists in the area as Arroyo Del Sol, a popular nude-friendly bed-and-breakfast, had been hosting the production—and housing the cast and crew—of a naturist feature film by filmmaker Tim Chizmar when evacuation became unavoidable. The film crew also fled in the middle of the night, temporarily postponing their planned shoot in the process.
The Holbachs’ property sustained damage from the extreme winds that accompanied the fires, even though the flames themselves didn’t reach their home. “One of our hundred-foot eucalyptus trees fell, missed the house, thank God, and missed the pool. It was like an ancient eucalyptus tree and it pulled up the fence on the side that it was against.” The winds also destroyed fencing around their jacuzzi and caused debris to scatter across their yard.
The Holbachs’ gardeners and neighbors, who stayed behind, played a critical role in saving nearby properties. “The house behind them caught on fire. Between them and a helicopter that dropped water on it, they got the fire out of that house, and that’s the closest it got to us... They sort of saved our little neighborhood.” Cynthia said. “It’s just going to be devastating being in a community that lost 7,000 buildings. I mean, we have businesses, a lot of businesses that are no longer there.”
Though their home is still standing, it is currently inaccessible due to poor air quality, a lack of power, and unsafe water. Rolf and Cynthia fear it could be weeks before they can return home. Still, the Holbachs count themselves as extremely lucky. “At least we didn’t lose our place. ... I don’t know how people are going to feel about coming into our community right now.” They acknowledge their extraordinary luck.
Messages of support from friends and fellow naturists have poured in, offering a reminder of the resilience of their community. “Oh, my God. That’s all we’re doing is getting messages from all of our friends between the newest friends and our family and people we’ve known over the years. We’ve probably gotten 100-plus messages from people.”
Naturist film disrupted
The fires have also significantly impacted Tim Chizmar’s naturist film project, Naked & Unashamed... As God Intended. The film, based on the true story of Pastor Jim Moore’s journey to discovering naturism, had been filming on location at Arroyo Del Sol and a studio in Sylmar, California. The project’s small cast and crew featured several out-of-town participants, including well-known naturism advocates like Chris from the popular YouTube channel Mudwalkers, who had flown in from Louisiana, Sarah Woodson from Arkansas, and naturist author and AANR-SW president Dan Hawkins from Texas. They had all come together, some in Los Angeles for the first time—and they’d just begun filming when the fires began rapidly spreading.
Chris described the escalating tension as the fires approached Arroyo Del Sol. “From the front porch of the bed and breakfast, you could look up on the nearest hilltop and see this wall of flames coming down at an angle,” he recalled. The flames grew closer, prompting the crew to pack their essentials and seek safety. “We left for a hotel [near the studio in Sylmar], only to find two more fires there that were closer and more dangerous,” Chris explained. “The hotel even lost power while we were there.” They quickly checked out and left.
Forced to adapt quickly, the team returned to Arroyo Del Sol briefly before receiving the official evacuation order in the middle of the night. Chris detailed the scramble to leave: “We could all grab our, just our essentials. I grabbed my phone, my microphones for YouTube, a couple changes of clothes, my little backpack with like my Bible and notebook.”
The crew eventually relocated to a friend’s house south in the Chino Hills, where they turned an office space into an improvised set. “It was amazing watching Tim and the director, Mark, immediately start brainstorming how to use the space.”
Despite the challenges, the team’s commitment to completing the film never wavered. The project took on a deeper meaning as the real-life Pastor Moore, who was on set during the evacuation, offered a profound perspective: “He’s been saying this whole time. All these solutions are divine intervention. I’m inclined to agree with that.” Chris said.
The crew found support and encouragement from Shangri-La Ranch, about a four-hour drive away in Arizona, which welcomed them with open arms to continue production. “Cyndi Tendick and Patty [the owners of Shangri-La] have been absolutely wonderful to this production,” Dan Hawkins told Planet Nude. Luckily, with some crafty filmmaking and no shortage of persistence, the crew is still on target to finish the film’s photography on schedule.
Chris reflected on the experience, acknowledging the emotional toll. “Honestly, I was numb for a lot of it. ... And then this kind of gave way to like anxiety. ... I was really nervous about everything ... wanted to make sure we had places to stay that weren’t going to be on fire.” Once the crew reached Arizona, the relief was palpable. “Ever since we kind of got out of Dodge, I’ve felt much more peaceful.”
A harrowing escape
Lee Butler, an active SCNA member and contributor to its newsletter, was actually on set as an extra at the Sylmar studio with Chizmar and company on Tuesday, January 7th, when the Palisades fire, the largest of the various fires concurrently spanning the region, took off. The fire directly threatened Lee’s home in Pacific Palisades. He told Planet Nude, “I was in a scene being shot at a small studio in Sylmar when my wife sent me a message: ‘Be prepared to evacuate.’” Initially, Lee tried to stay calm. “I told her I’d leave the set after the next shot and be home by two. Ten minutes later, she sent another message: ‘There’s fire on the hillside. I’m preparing to leave.’”
Lee left the set immediately and began the drive home. The journey, which would usually take 35 minutes, turned into a harrowing ordeal. “I was driving south on the 405 when I saw a massive plume of smoke off to my side,” Lee recounted. By the time he reached Sunset Boulevard, gridlocked traffic, thick smoke, and encroaching flames had transformed the area into a disaster zone. “I was surrounded by fire on both sides of the road. Emergency crews were everywhere, trying to fight back the flames.”
For nearly three hours, Lee was trapped in his car, unable to move. “My truck still smells like smoke,” he said. “I kept my windows up, my air conditioning on, and a bandana over my face just to breathe.” His wife, Jodie, had already evacuated with their dogs and was equally distraught. “She was terrified she’d never see me again,” Lee admitted. He reassured her, saying, “I’m in the middle of the street, surrounded by emergency workers. I’ll be fine.”
When traffic finally cleared, Lee and Jodie reunited in West Los Angeles, but the uncertainty about their home’s fate loomed large. Initial reports from others suggested their house had been destroyed. Adding to his fears, he checked his video cameras, and the south side camera facing the encroaching blaze was inexplicably off. “I conditioned myself to accept that we’d lost everything,” Lee said. “But then a friend sent me a video from a GoPro cyclist showing a glimpse of our house. I could see part of the roof—at least part of it was still standing.”
The next morning, Lee rented an e-bike and navigated roadblocks, smoke, and checkpoints. Eventually, he was taken in a van with others from his neighborhood to reach their homes. He experienced vicarious heartbreak as his neighbors in the vehicle discovered their homes were destroyed. Reaching his own home, what he found was miraculous. “I get out of the [van] again with my video camera. I’m walking around the side of the house... it was toasted, not burnt, but the video camera had been melted,” he said. “The heat from the fire next door toasted the side of the house but didn’t set it on fire.”
Lee paused several times during our conversation, overwhelmed by the emotion of the last few days. “It’s just devastating,” he said. “The whole neighborhood is destroyed—like Hiroshima. It’s hard to imagine how we’ll rebuild.” Despite the losses, Lee feels fortunate. “We still have a home, but so many others—many of them elderly—have lost everything. It’s going to take a massive effort to bring this community back.”
Filmmaking to firefighting
In quintessential Los Angeles fashion, the fires incidentally disrupted not just one but at least two naturist films in progress. JP Riley, a Los Angeles-based filmmaker and lifelong naturist, was in the final stages of post-production on his latest film, Act SuperNaturally—a sequel to the cult favorite Act Naturally—set for release this April. Much of the film was shot at Olive Dell Ranch in Colton, California, which recently transitioned to a “textile” policy, making Riley’s project one of the last naturist films to feature the location. Following a private preview screening at Olive Dell last October, the film is set for another showing this week in collaboration with the non-landed group Naturists in the O.C. (NitOC). Riley, who is also a volunteer firefighter, was preparing the film’s final audio mix for the upcoming screening when the fires broke out, forcing him to shift his focus to firefighting. Carter James-Turnbull, a fellow cast member in the film and also a volunteer firefighter, joined Riley on the firelines as the two worked to protect homes and aid in evacuations.
Both JP and Carter are volunteer firefighters serving their communities in emergencies. During the recent fires, they worked tirelessly on the frontlines, aiding in large animal evacuations and holding firelines near critical sites like the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Altadena. “People leave their horses and dogs to die. And I don’t appreciate that,” Riley told Planet Nude.
Riley’s own home, located near Elysian Park, near downtown Los Angeles, narrowly escaped destruction itself. “We lost a little bit of my house. We lost the back room when the back deck got burnt a little bit. I lost the big picture window in the front.” Along with his bandmates, who also appear in Act SuperNaturally, Riley used a power washer to stave off the flames. “It was a team effort,” he added.
Over the last week of fighting blazes and living on adrenaline, JP admits he’s running at a deficit of sleep, “I’ve had about three hours of sleep for the last four days.” Even as he juggles recovery efforts and firefighting responsibilities, he is determined to hold a screening of Act SuperNaturally later this week. “I was really hoping to have that done. And I was on the way to putting a dent in it. Until last week.”
Common threads of support
Throughout these stories, several themes emerge: the resilience of the naturist community, the challenges of displacement, and the profound gratitude for lives and homes spared. Messages of support have poured in from friends, family, and fellow naturists worldwide, offering solace in the midst of chaos.
As communities like Altadena and Pacific Palisades begin to recover, the naturist community’s response has shown its strength and unity. The fires have disrupted lives and plans, but they’ve also underscored the adaptability and compassion that define this unique group. From organizing relocated events to offering words of encouragement and practical aid, members have stepped up to support one another.
For those displaced, the hope of returning to cherished spaces like Arroyo Del Sol or rebuilding homes lost in the flames remains a source of determination. Though the path forward is daunting, the naturist community’s shared values of openness and solidarity serve as a guiding light. Together, they face the challenges ahead with a renewed commitment to preserving their way of life and their connections to one another. 🪐
Of all the natural disasters, fire is such a complete destruction without salvation. Living in Sunny South Florida with its frequent hurricanes, tornados and flooding, I can empathize and sympathize with the devastation our extended California naturist family and the good people of that state are facing. My husband and I certainly don't have much money, but we've reached out to our California naturist friends and extended family members to learn who has lost their home and we will donate directly to them. I'm pleased to learn of these two naturist films being produced. Another film or series is in its very early stage. They have Interviewed dozens of naturist/nudists living in clothes-free communities in Florida. The show is being underwritten by one of the top three a major streaming networks. (That's real progress.) The goal is to explain naturism and why people chose to live in these communities with its benefits, concerns, etc. These are budding rays of progress that must be nurtured and supported by us who know and live its values.
Thanks for putting this together Evan. It just shows how even in the small So Cal nudist community, so many people are affected by a disaster like this.