“Forty-one years I’ve lived in Los Angeles and this is by far the most catastrophic experience I’ve had here,” said Steve Boyajian, owner of five Tire Pros locations in southern California.
Recent fires in the Los Angeles area have caused mass destruction, with experts saying that 10,000 structures have been destroyed by blazes at multiple locations.
Three tire dealers in the area talked to MTD about how this disaster is impacting their businesses - and their personal lives.
The devastation
Boyajian, who also owns a Tire Pros location in Arizona, told MTD that none of his California stores were in the direct line of the fires.
“But we have still been impacted,” he said.
“Los Angeles is such a geographically vast area that even though we have over 40 employees in the area, only two employees – one of my sales advisors and myself – were on the edge of being evacuated.”
Boyajian’s Simi Valley location had to shut down for two days because it did not have power.
“The electric company shuts off electricity in some infrastructures to stop the spread of fires,” he explained.
“A lot of the infrastructure is old and very dry, so when the high winds topple over a transformer and it falls on the ground, it goes up in flames. So they shut our electricity off to try and stop that from happening.”
Steve Goldberg, owner of Woodland Hills, Calif.-based Hank’s Tire, had to evacuate his home in Ventura County.
“I haven’t had power at my house since Tuesday afternoon because I live in an area with lots of greenery and brush, so when the winds picked up, the city decided to turn our power off,” he told MTD.
Hank’s Tire lost power on Jan. 8 and had to shut down completely. The single-location dealership opened back up the following day.
“We got blasted (on Thursday),” said Goldberg. “It was crazy the amount of people coming into the shop.”
Hank’s Tire is near an area where many residents are evacuating. Goldberg said he can see the smoke from his dealership.
“Thursday, my wife called me and said our area where our house is has been evacuated and I needed to come home. Well, I couldn’t come home. We were slammed and I was already short-staffed, so I stayed for as long as I could, then told my guys I had to go. And I went home, packed a bag and left with my family.”
A tire dealer who didn’t have to evacuate but had families and employees who were impacted is Jim Sorum, vice president of Los Angeles-based Fairmount Tire & Rubber Inc.
“This has probably impacted business, but that’s the least of our worries right now,” said Sorum. “The hardest part of all of this is you don’t want to see (people experience losses) and that’s what’s going on around us constantly.”
Sorum noted that Pacific Palisades, the site of the largest fire, is a unique area with a lot of history. He said that some families have lived there for seven generations.
Then in moments, “it’s all gone. Money is one thing, but I can’t imagine losing my home and memories. I can’t imagine the devastation.”
Sorum said he continues to check on employees at his three retail stores and five wholesale locations. He also is checking on customers.
“Sometimes it takes that extra moment of calling every customer - making sure they’re OK, too, and their businesses are OK.”
Lasting impact
What’s next? “Everyone is thinking about the ripple effects as we rebuild,” Boyajian told MTD.
“And what about our industry? What if you had a tire dealership down a street of houses that aren’t there anymore? Until they exist again, how will that tire dealership survive?”
Goldberg told MTD the amount of time that rebuilding will involve has crossed his mind.
“Even if people did want to rebuild their homes, it would take a couple of years to do, so this problem will linger,” he said.
“A lot of shopping malls and schools have burned down and I know tire dealerships that cater to those areas. What are they going to do? There won’t be any business.”
Boyajian said the disaster has brought up a bit of post-traumatic stress for him as he grew up in Lebanon and experienced the war that took place when he lived there.
Boyajian told MTD that when things started to get bad with the Los Angeles fires, one of his daughters said she had money ready to go and bags packed with everyone's passports in them.
“I watched my daughter step into this leadership role and it took me back to my childhood in Lebanon, when the bombings would start and (everybody in) my apartment complex would have to hide in bomb shelters,” he explained.
“I remember seeing the anxiety on my parents’ faces and all the kids would get together and talk about what we could do to alleviate that stress from our parents. Having my daughter have everything together really reminded me of that time.
“In such an urban setting, I have never experienced such traumatic fires or natural disasters," said Boyajian, in reference to the Los Angeles fires.
All three dealers told MTD they are staying positive and feel grateful for their employees and families’ safety.
“We are looking on the bright side,” said Goldberg, who was making his way back home when speaking with MTD. “My house and the shop are OK, so it could’ve been a lot worse.”
Sorum is also staying positive.
“If there's any bright side, you’re seeing an outpouring of people trying to help - from all walks of life,” he said.
Boyajian said he is bringing commercial-grade power generators to his locations so that next time a natural disaster occurs, his dealership can just “flip a switch and still be able to serve customers.
“To any (person) reading this, I certainly want your thoughts and prayers for all the people affected, but I hope they take a moment to appreciate their health, their happiness and their safety because sometimes we take for granted the simplest things,” said Sorum.
Automotive Aftermarket Charitable Foundation
The Automotive Aftermarket Charitable Foundation (AACF) is offering aid to tire industry professionals impacted by the Los Angeles fires.
Misty Walker, operational manager for AACF, highlights the foundations' natural disaster application that provides automotive aftermarket members with funds to help them when a natural disaster strikes.
Walker says the application is a streamlined process and is easy to complete even if the applicant has been displaced.
To be considered, applicants must have been employed for three continuous years in the automotive aftermarket industry or one year with one single employer and have no other means of support.
“Once someone fills out that natural disaster application, it gets sent to our committee for review and we get answers and a check back to the applicant within a day,” says Walker.
The quick response time comes from understanding that these impacted people can’t wait, according to John Kairys, executive director of AACF.
“Someone once said AACF is like the freeway to the onramp of recovery,” says Kairys.
Kairys and Walker encourage any tire dealer or industry professional to complete the natural disaster application form as people are rarely turned away from receiving support.
Walker says most natural disaster support reaches around $3,000 for the recipient but is always dependent on the situation.
For those not directly impacted by the fires, Kairys says there are ways to still support by donating to AACF, holding sponsorship events for AACF and becoming an industry awareness partner that spreads the word of what AACF is doing.
“Our biggest challenge is how big the industry is and making sure we reach everyone,” says Kairys.
You can access AACF’s natural disaster application here and the natural disaster donation link here, as well.
“Share this with your employees, share it on social media – we just want to get the word out there that we can help,” says Kairys.
Below are links to organizations where you can help those impacted by the fires:
