Local musician loses everything in Palisades fire

The Los Angeles area is under high alert once more as winds threaten to spread dangerous wildfires that have already destroyed thousands of homes. Here at home, there is a personal connection with one Capital Region effort to help those who've lost so much.

Jan 16, 2025 - 04:53
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Local musician loses everything in Palisades fire

GUILDERLAND, N.Y. (NEWS10) --The Los Angeles area is under high alert once more as winds threaten to spread dangerous wildfires that have already destroyed thousands of homes. Here at home, there is a personal connection with one Capital Region effort to help those who've lost so much.

Kathleen Ehlinger, a retired band teacher from the Guilderland School District, who still keeps close ties to those spreading the gift of music is sponsoring a former student who she treats as a daughter. Erinn Selkis lost her instruments and everything she owned in the Palisades fire. 

Erinn was in her usual dance class when the fires broke out. “My building at that time was not in an evacuation zone.” Her world changed as quickly as the wind that propelled the California wildfires as within the hour her landlord texted her, “She said, Get out now! And I looked at the map and my building were now in the evacuation zone, and I panicked, and I raced out, tried to get home. There was billowing smoke where, you know, heading towards Palisades, up PCH [Pacific Coast Highway]. We were all stopped on PCH for a while, which was kind of scary because we were just like stuck there and we weren't sure what was happening. And then eventually they had us turn around.”

The talented musician lost everything when her apartment burned down. Including the musical instruments that helped her make a living. But the former band student from the Guilderland School District is getting a boost from her one-time band teacher here in the Capital Region. “They're saying, we want to help. We want to contribute. That's a gift just in itself. And we're really happy that you said, yes,” said Ehlinger.

At first, Erinn was opposed to receiving help but soon realized she could not recover from the loss on her own after she became homeless. She tells NEWS10’s Reporter, James De La Fuente that her days are now filled trying to coordinate finding donations to replace anything and everything, “It's like, what? Like, I'm just going to take these shoes? I'm just going to take this jacket? But it feels so strange and I have to breathe and be like, okay, this is just the time to receive.”

Erinn found a place to crash at a friend’s home, sharing a room. Now sleeping in a spare twin bed. She tried to go back to work singing. “I didn't have a pick with me. And I, I just, I, like, burst into tears because I look down at my feet and I'm like, these aren't even my shoes. Like what? Like little things like that. And I ended up bursting into tears. I ended up leaving because I was like, I, I tried. I can't do this right now.”

Kathleen said friends here felt they needed to do something to help. “I know people in that band, all the people in this community who really wanted to help you, and they feel good about it,” stated Ehlinger.

To which Selkis responded, “I don't think words can describe the amount of gratitude that I have for that. And it's been hard to receive this. I mean, this is a really big exercise, you're receiving everywhere I go.”

Kathleen and her husband plan to visit Erinn next month.

You can view the GoFundMe here: Help Erinn rebuild after Pacific Palisades Fire.

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