THE SOUTHLAND FIRESTORM: A SPECIAL REPORT : EYEWITNESS : EDDIE BEDROSIAN: High school senior : ‘I’m Glad I Kept My Cool. . . . Partly I Think It Was Because I Had My Grandma to Look After’

Eddie Bedrosian, 17, has lived on a cul-de-sac in Las Flores Mesa since he was 3 days old. Sierks Way has seen its share of floods, landslides and fires, with Bedrosian as a witness. But never has the wrath of Malibu’s steep brittle hillsides been so fierce. As fire raged through the canyon--ultimately consuming his home--Bedrosian worked to save lives and property. With the help of his neighbor, Bedrosian carried his 93-year-old grandmother--a survivor of the Armenian holocaust--to safety while his mother worked to save the house. (His father and sister were not home.) Bedrosian, a senior at Colin McEwen High School, says he lost everything except his guitar and pool cue. His mother, Pat, notes that Bedrosian’s college applications, due within weeks, also burned. *

The smoke was really thick. Looking out over the ocean, it was black from the shadow of it, and pretty soon we could see the other side of the canyon burning.

I saw firetrucks driving down Pacific Coast Highway, and on their bullhorns they said, “Evacuate the area! The fire will come down this canyon!” My mom said, “Oh, they don’t mean it’ll come on our side of the hill.” That’s when I realized that she was in denial and I really got serious about trying to get everything out and everyone out as soon as possible.

My grandma was hard to calm down. We tried to relax her by keeping her in the family room so she could see outside.

I’m glad that I kept my cool through the entire thing. Partly I think it was because I had my grandma to look after.

We were starting to smell a lot of smoke and we could feel heat. The hillside right across Las Flores Canyon was on fire, and the flames were moving down the canyon. Pretty soon I heard from (a neighbor, Mark) Winicoff that there was no way to drive a car out from here. He and I decided that we had to carry my grandma down the hill.

We came down behind the house on a path I sometimes use. But by the time we started to get down the hill, the whole hillside across from us was on fire. We realized that by the time we got down, the fire would be right on us. So we decided to bring her back up and take her down another way.

My grandma was protesting, but I just tried to ignore her because we had a job to do and that was to get her out of there, broken bones or no broken bones. We started to run with her. It was at the point when we had to act, and I had to leave my mom. It wasn’t my choice. I wanted to stay together. . . . I had to just trust my mom to take care of herself. We ran down the hillside with my grandma while Winicoff’s gardener was making a path through the brush with a machete, until it started to get really steep. My grandma said she couldn’t go anymore. We carried her pretty much the rest of the way. She’s a heavy woman. I’ve never strained that hard in my life.

I knew there were still people up here when I left, and I kept looking back and didn’t see anyone coming behind us. I told the firefighters that I wanted to go back up and get my mom out, and they said no. They said that they even tried to send firefighters up there and the flames drove them back.

I thought that my mom was in the process of dying. I thought my mom was dead. It wasn’t until about four hours later that I finally reached her at the Malibu Community Center.

In the past couple of years, we haven’t really been doing things together as a family. One person would go to his room or watch TV. Now that we have to rely on each other for support and we really need each other, I think this is going to strengthen us as a family and bring us closer together.

It’s changed me already. The day after the whole thing happened, I felt like a completely different person. I don’t know if I was just in shock . . . but I definitely feel changed. It’s sort of like a stomach--like my stomach.

When I was younger I could shovel down a big plateful. Because I always ate so much, my stomach was stretched out. If you spend a few years eating a meal a day, your stomach will start to shrink.

Before this fire, my responsibility was a pretty small stomach. This experience is sort of like one gigantic meal I just had. I think it’s going to have me stretched out for a while. Hopefully forever.

Note: While they rebuild, the family will be living with Bedrosian’s grandmother, whose apartment on Pacific Coast Highway was spared.