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After fleeing the raging wildfire that has decimated their Altadena neighborhood in Los Angeles, Mandy Moore and her family are sheltering with the singer/actress’ friend Hilary Duff. Moore’s brother-in-law, Dawes drummer Griffin Goldsmith — brother of her husband, Dawes singer Taylor Goldsmith — revealed the kind gesture in an emotional Instagram post detailing the toll the deadly fires have had on his family.
“All of this so overwhelming. But what is as equally overwhelming is the amount of love and generosity we are on the receiving end of. Our dear friends @matthewkoma and @hilaryduff thought it wise to set up a gofundme for us to help with everything moving forward. Not to mention they are currently housing my brother’s family,” Goldsmith wrote of the How I Met Your Father star and her musician husband, Matthew Koma.

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“They’ve taken care of my entire family from the moment this began,” he added. “I will never be able to thank them adequately. This is the kindest act any human could do for another. They are the most beautiful, selfless people we’ve ever known.”

Griffin Goldsmith’s post also noted that he convinced his whole family and closest friends to move to the Altadena neighborhood years ago — including the siblings’ parents, who lived around the corner from him — only to have their homes leveled in the conflagrations that have taken 16 lives in that area as the massive Eaton Fire continues to burn after scorching more than 14,000 acres so far.

“It’s Impossible to express how much we’re feeling right now. We’ve lost everything. 8 years of memories made in our house. 20 years of gear. My wife @quintessentiallykit was applying the finishing touches to the nursery for our baby boy who’s due in a few weeks,” Griffin wrote. “She had, throughout the years, poured her heart and soul into making the property a literal piece of paradise. Anyone who had the chance the visit can attest. We often would say to each other ‘I want to live together in this house for the rest of our lives.’”

He said the brothers’ parents lost their home, while Taylor and Mandy were forced to flee from their house just down the street. In addition, he said his wife’s childhood best friend, Chelsey, and her family, former Dawes bassist Wylie Gelber and his wife and their first crew member and old friend, Jake, all lost their homes as well. “The thing we mourn the most is the loss of the community,” he said.

See Goldsmith’s post here.

Goldsmith noted that they are, of course, not the only people who are dealing with these kinds of unimaginable losses. In addition to at least two dozen deaths reported so far, more than 12,000 homes and structures destroyed or damaged and nearly 100,000 Angelenos under evacuation orders, officials warned on Tuesday (Jan. 14) that the powerful Santa Ana winds that are driving the spread of the fires are expected to pick up again, with critical red flag warnings in place across much of southwestern California.

Dawes played an emotional version of their 2011 tribute to their city, “Time Spent in Los Angeles,” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday night (Jan. 13), with images of the devastation playing on screens behind them.

Luckily for Moore and Goldsmith, their home was not a complete loss, but the This Is Us star hit back at haters who tried to shame her last week for posting a GoFundMe for her in-laws, who, as Griffin mentioned, are expecting their first child in a few weeks.

“People questioning whether we’re helping out our own family or attributing some arbitrary amount of money Google says someone has is NOT helpful or empathetic,” Moore wrote. “Of course we are. Our buddy Matt started this GoFundMe and I’m sharing because people have asked how they can help them. We just lost most of our life in a fire too. Kindly F OFF. No one is forcing you to do anything.”

The fires, which are the most destructive blazes in the city’s history, continue to burn, with the Palisades Fires just 17% contained to date, while the Eaton Fire is 35% contained and the Hurst Fire is 97% contained; three other smaller fires are reportedly now 100% contained. Click here for resources from organizations providing assistance to music industry workers.