VW van somehow survives deadly Los Angeles fire: A 'beacon of hope'
A bright blue Volkswagen van left parked in a Malibu neighborhood came out apparently unscathed in the deadly Palisades fire, despite being surrounded by total destruction.
Not only did Preston Martin’s van survive, photos of it have circulated widely on TV and social media, giving devastated Los Angeles area residents a "beacon of hope" as they start to pick up the pieces.
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"There is magic in that van," Martin, 24, said Tuesday in an interview with the Associated Press. "It makes no sense why this happened. It should have been toasted, but here we are."
VW van has storied history
Martin, a surfboard-maker, bought the 1977 Volkswagen Type 2 while studying mechanical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He lived in it for a year while finishing his degree. After his mom Tracey got over her objections to his impromptu purchase, she sewed curtains for the windows.
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A blue Volkswagen van sits intact on a street amid homes destroyed by the Palisades Fire in Malibu, California, on January 15, 2025. (Photo by ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty Images)
He sold the van to Megan Krystle Weinraub, a friend and business partner, last year, but neither of them have been able to inspect the van since the fire sparked on Jan. 7.The neighborhood remains closed to the public.
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On Thursday a neighbor sent her a photo. In the background was the bus, still blue and white and not at all damaged. Photos appear to show only soot on the van’s windows.
"I freaked out," she said. "I was in the bathroom, and I screamed."
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She called Martin, who also freaked out. He called his mom, who was ecstatic. "I've never cried for a car before," Tracey Martin texted her son.
‘A beacon of hope’
Weinraub, whose home survived, doesn’t know when she'll be allowed back to her apartment or to Azul, her name for the van. Officials said Thursday morning that it could be at least a week before the 85,000-plus people still under mandatory evacuation orders could return to their homes. At least 25 people have died.
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Martin and Weinraub say despite the uncertainty, they’re thrilled that the van's survival has touched so many people.
"It's so cool that it’s become this, like, beacon of hope," Martin said. "Everything around it was toasted, just destroyed. And then here’s this bright blue shiny van, sitting right there."