François Orot rescued two paintings from his burning house in Los Angeles, among them a great work by Alekos Fasianos, and he explains to “Kathimerini” how he decided to take this daring action and how the family of the great Greek painter approached him.

Even though Mr. had already vacated their house. Oro, a lawyer in California, decided to return to his neighborhood, Pacific Palisades, to see if he could do anything to help, or even try to save his father’s home.

“That day the Pacific Palisades area was evacuated and my neighbor was left behind,” he tells “K” from Los Angeles, while taking stock of what has happened these days. “I decided to go again, since we had already evacuated the house, the whole family, to see the house up close and help. But without knowing the extent the fire had taken. I did not imagine that the flames would have actually reached the fabric of the city. I thought it would have been more regionally limited, in the suburbs. But this fire was very different, they call it a hurricane fire, which was traveling at 50-100 miles per hour,” he describes.

“When I arrived he had some fires in the back yard which I put out. When I returned to the front entrance the scene had completely changed. Everything was burning, it was suffocating, and I realized I had to leave immediately. I entered the house, grabbed my bag and two paintings that were hanging near the entrance. I knew my mom really loves this painting so I got it. I got on the bike when Robert Kovacik, the NBC reporter, came up to me and asked if he could help me, and he offered to take the paintings and keep them until I could get them back. As I was leaving the area I saw entire blocks collapsing, I saw the firefighters putting up a real fight. There were two vehicles per block. But there was not much they could do. And I am grateful for what they could and did because the situation was very dangerous” he says anxiously.

Emotional value

As he explains to “K”, his choice to save this painting was no accident. Fasianos’ work has sentimental value for the family. “My grandfather Albert Oro was a dental surgeon in Paris and knew Aleco Fasiano personally. He was his doctor, but they saw each other often, they had a friendly relationship. Saint-Germain, where the two men frequented, was then a small neighborhood. My grandfather was very fond of his work and had his silkscreens. That’s why my whole family loves his works. My mother bought this screen print herself, The Cyclist, from a gallery in Paris, and it is her favorite. She liked the carefree image the painting portrayed for it and chose it. The ironic thing is that at that moment when the video recorded me, I was also a person on a bicycle trying to save myself, in a very different and tragic situation” he tells “K”.

“My family is devastated, we lost everything. This is our ancestral home, which, in addition to our property, contained all our memories of our European origin, our history.”

From the moment the video went viral, which he did not expect, a wave of support from the world embraced him. “First of all from Los Angeles, and now from Greece. Some noticed that the painting was by Alekos Fasianos and wrote me messages about how they could help us. Victoria Fasianou, the painter’s daughter and manager of his work, also contacted me and asked me if I was okay. She was willing to send with her mother, another work of her father’s, as we lost our entire collection in the fire. But beyond this very kind gesture, so many Greeks contacted us. And I understand why. We often see in the news the fires in Greece, in the forests but also in the cities. You had as many victims as here in California. We have the same dry climate, with strong winds coming from the sea, and we share the same concerns. The planet is warming and the limit has been exceeded.”

Francois serum

Mr. Serum, which has been launched on the platform GoFundMe fundraising campaign to ask for the world’s support, he stresses that he and his family are just a drop in the ocean of devastation that has taken place.

“I have friends whose houses burned to the ground in Altadena, Malibu. I walk around West Los Angeles and I see people literally living on the street, with nowhere to go. It has affected us all dramatically. And we are talking about one of the largest cities in the USA. It will take many years to return to a normal situation, and we are not only talking about our homes, but also about schools, businesses, grocery stores, doctors’ offices. We are talking about entire neighborhoods burned. We also count victims, and our sorrow is enormous. The devastation is unspeakable.”