Actor James Woods Breaks Down in Tears Talking About LA Neighbor Almost Burned Alive

Actor James Woods was overcome with emotion as he shared stunning details about his escape from the Pacific Palisades fire with his 94-year-old neighbor.

Woods appeared on CNN Wednesday to discuss his harrowing escape from the catastrophic fires that have engulfed many neighborhoods around Los Angeles. Since the fire sparked around midday Tuesday, there has been no shortage of horrific images and video to emerge showing the devastation of many parts of the city.

Woods lived in Pacific Palisades, where the first fire appeared to have emanated. He revealed to CNN anchor Pamela Brown that he received an evacuation notice a mere 17 minutes after first learning of the fire nearby.

He then spoke of a 94 year-old neighbor who suffers from dementia, and who he feared had been forgotten. According to Woods, he called his neighbor’s son to confirm that he was still in the hospital, but then learned that he was already back home, and likely left alone as the fire threatened to — and eventually did — take out all the homes in the area.

Woods continued:

So I finally got through to 911 and said, you know, welfare check, you’ve got to go check on this guy. Well, there was a miscommunication. And I called my neighbor who hadn’t evacuated yet. He was fighting on his roof, fighting a fire. He’d been on my roof and hose when I moved out. I said, Go in and check on me. He went. He said, The door’s open. There’s nobody here. He went in the hallway, said, No, nobody here. I said, Look, just go behind the pantry. There’s a little room. We can see him during the day. He likes to sit there because there’s a garden. He went in and found him. He’d been left alone. Okay. And it turned out the fire department made the new caregiver leave. And, you know, she just does what she was told they said were coming back for him. Well, they hadn’t come back from them hoping that they would have. But, you know, there was so much chaos. It was like an inferno. Every house was on fire around us. And, you know, he got him out and the house burned down. About an hour later, he would have been in there alone.

Woods continued to talk about the community of Pacific Palisades and the disaster that they are still enduring, with Santa Ana winds still reaching gusts of 100 mph.

Watch above via CNN.