Jamie Lee Curtis calls for blood donations, emergency preparedness kits on Tonight Show

The devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires continues on Thursday as residents share the extent of the damage to their communities. Appearing on The Tonight Show in New York on Wednesday night, Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis shared an emotional update. “As you know, where I live is on fire right now. The entire city of Pacific Palisades is burning. I flew here last night, I was on the plane, started getting texts and it’s fucking gnarly, you guys. It’s just a catastrophe in Southern California,” she said. The fire affected “Everything: the market I shop in, the schools my kids go to. … Many, many, many, many friends now have lost their homes. So it’s a really awful situation.”

Curtis used the moment to encourage the audience toward emergency preparedness, no matter where they live. She suggested supporting the American Red Cross (an organization for which she is an ambassador, adding, “Do anything you can, anything in your community to help people. Whether you need it or not now, you will need it. Give blood, donate, whatever you can do, animal shelters. And remember, since I’m on the middle of a very big television show, for anyone living anywhere, have an emergency kit in your house… with prescription glasses, medicine, dog food, baby formula, all the things you need if you have to flee.”

Curtis’ latest film The Last Showgirl canceled its L.A. premiere scheduled for Thursday amid the wildfires; the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man similarly had to cancel its premiere. Production schedules and awards season events have been shut down and rescheduled. The Writers Guild of America postponed the announcement of nominations for the WGA Awards, and the of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has extended the deadline for its Oscar nomination voting period by two days. 

On Wednesday, it was reported that the current crisis became the most destructive fire in L.A. County history having destroyed over 1,000 structures. That number has since doubled, with the Los Angeles Times now reporting that more than 2,000 homes, businesses and other buildings have been damaged or destroyed. Some of the recognizable names who have lost their homes include Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore, Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, Paris Hilton, Cary Elwes, Anna Faris, and many more Southern California residents.