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The California mountain town where HGTV star Heather Rae El Moussa grew up, and where her parents still live, is directly in the line of an out-of-control fire that Cal Fire determined on September 8, 2024, was threatening to reach over 35,000 structures and had caused injuries to three of the more than 600 firefighters attempting to stop the blaze.
On the night of September 7, as the fire grew closer to El Moussa’s hometown, Running Springs, she asked fans to “please pray” for her parents, Dan and Teresa Young, in her Instagram Stories.
“Please pray for my little hometown of Running Springs in the mountains,” the “Flipping El Moussas” star wrote. “There’s a fire 0% contained and heading towards them. my home since I was eight years old. 😢 my heart is so sad for our town.”
Heather Rae El Moussa Says Her Parents Have Been Evacuated Twice Due to Line Fire
KCAL reported on September 8 that the fire had “exploded” overnight and that officials said smoke had created thunderstorm-like clouds. There had been over 1,100 reports of lightning strikes in the area, complicating attempts to put out the fire.
A state of emergency was declared in San Bernadino County, according to Los Angeles station NBC4, as the 17,000 acre Line Fire moved rapidly through Southern California in sweltering heat. Thousands of residents have been forced to evacuate, including El Moussa’s parents.
In her Instagram Stories on September 7, El Moussa indicated that her parents were “evacuated and safe.”
But on the morning of September 8, she uploaded another update in her Stories, writing, “The fire is 0% contained. My parents were evacuated a second time from where they were staying. It’s a mess up in my little town and the fire is spreading like crazy. 😢😢”
She added, “Praying for everyone’s safety & all the animals.”
Heather & Tarek El Moussa Have Frequently Visited Her Parents’ Mountain Home
Heather El Moussa and her husband, longtime HGTV star Tarek El Moussa, are close with her parents and have often taken their kids to visit them in Running Springs. The El Moussas share one-year-old Tristan, and they have 50/50 custody of 13-year-old Taylor and nine-year-old Brayden, whom Tarek shares with ex-wife and fellow HGTV star Christina Hall.
In 2020, Tarek shared a lengthy Instagram post about visiting Running Springs, writing, “Being in the mountains is so different then the city. Time moves a little bit slower…it’s refreshing!”
Heather also shared a post from a hike in the mountains with Taylor and Brayden in 2020, celebrating the fact that her parents could be “bonus grandparents” to them.
The Youngs faced another challenge in Running Springs in February 2023, when heavy snow left them stranded at their home. In an Instagram post, Heather lamented that they couldn’t visit her while their other daughter, her sister Piper, was in town from Minnesota.
“I can’t talk to much about it because I don’t want my mom to see this and cry,” she wrote. “My parents were supposed to be with us but the weather in CA has been insane so they’re fully snowed in at our Running Springs house and can’t even leave the house if they tried because of how unsafe the roads are but hopefully the weather gets a little better 🤞🏻 and they can be here with us 🤍”
Hours after her update about her parents’ evacuation, Heather posted a video in her Instagram Stories from a family visit to Disneyland two days prior.
“Even though my stress is super high rn I woke up with anxiety, being a mama and showing up is #1,” she wrote.
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