Multiple fires throughout the Los Angeles area have been burning the past few days, causing damage and forcing thousands of evacuations. There have been reports of homes burning down, and it sounds like a former NBA player unfortunately lost his home.
Jason Collins, a former NBA player from Los Angeles, tweeted on Wednesday night that his former teammate, Andrei Kirilenko, lost his home in one of the fires Wednesday.
I have left my home because my area is under voluntary evacuation, but my thoughts are with my former teammate Andrei Kirilenko & his wife Masha whose house was lost in today's fire. #SkirballFire
— Jason Collins (@jasoncollins98) December 7, 2017
Collins hashtagged his tweet “SkirballFire.” The Skirball fire broke out very early Wednesday morning and led to evacuations in the affluent area of Bel Air. The Skirball fire is in a hilly area that separates West LA from the San Fernando Valley. That fire is so-named because a museum called the Skirball Center is located in that area.
In addition to the Skirball Fire, there were two larger fires around the Los Angeles area burning much of the day on Tuesday. The Thomas Fire in Ventura County burned down multiple homes and knocked out the power for many cities in the area. That fire is not too far from where the Rams’ practice facility is located in Thousand Oaks. Another fire, the Creek Fire, is located in the north/northeast region of the San Fernando Valley.
Kirilenko, 36, is the commissioner of the Russian Basketball Federation. Nicknamed “AK47,” Kirilenko played 13 seasons in the NBA, 10 of which were with the Utah Jazz. He and Collins were teammates on the 2013-14 Brooklyn Nets. Kirilenko and his wife became American citizens in 2011.
