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Dick Van Dyke is reflecting on his lucky escape from the Malibu, Calif., wildfires.
The screen legend, who turns 99 on Friday, Dec. 13., told a local news outlet that his neighbors “saved” him.
“It was coming from the hill, you could see it,” the Mary Poppins star said in an interview that aired on the Today show, Thursday, Dec. 12. “And oh my God, and we got out of here. I was trying to crawl to the car, I had exhausted myself, I couldn’t get up.”
Van Dyke then shared that it was his neighbors who rescued him. “Three neighbors came and carried me out and came back and put out a little fire in the guest house and saved me.”
The legendary actor was captured on footage taken from his own Ring Doorbell camera evacuating his property alongside his wife Arlene Silver and their pets.
On Tuesday, Dec. 10., the star had reassured fans that he had escaped the blaze in a post shared to Facebook.
Paul Morigi/Getty
“Arlene and I have safely evacuated,” he wrote, adding that one of their pets had gone missing during the event.
“Bobo escaped as we were leaving,” he wrote. “We’re praying he’ll be okay and that our community in Serra Retreat will survive these terrible fires.”
Later that day, he shared a video of Bobo with the caption: “Hoping Bobo is okay.” But Bobo’s story has a happy ending as the father-of-four revealed in a subsequent Facebook post on Thursday, Dec. 12 that the orange cat had been found.
“We found Bobo as soon as we arrived back home this morning. There was so much interest in his disappearance that Animal Control was called in to assist. But, thankfully he was easy to find and not harmed,” he wrote alongside a love heart emoji.
Van Dyke is one of tens of thousands of people who had to be evacuated from the Malibu area after the Franklin Fire which began on Monday, Dec. 9.
Other famous faces who have also had to leave their homes include legendary singer Cher, 78.
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“Cher was required to evacuate her home and did so in the very early hours of Tuesday morning,” a rep for the pop star told PEOPLE after The New York Times reported the news on Dec. 10. “She thankfully is safe.”
On Tuesday, Dec. 10, actress Mira Sorvino also revealed that she evacuated in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
“All my Malibu friends and neighbors I pray that you are safe. We evacuated in the middle of the night, kids and pets all accounted for! Scary times!!” the Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion star, 57, wrote.