When his Pacific Palisades community began to be devoured by the inferno of the Palisades Fire in January 2025, Jim Cragg thought to himself that the wildfire’s destructiveness was worse than anything he had ever seen in 30 years in the military.
“This is nothing the average American is ready for,” Craggs, commander with the American Legion, told NBC Los Angeles last year. “This is where my kid plays. This is where I taught her to play basketball. The memories are gutted. Literally, the ground is smoking. Things are not there anymore. Things are replaced by ash and smoke.”
While more than 6,800 structures were destroyed in the fire, Cragg’s home and those of nearby neighbors were spared thanks to his decisive action: he put his cheap sprinklers to use.
Cragg said as the flames approached his home, he put his $15 sprinklers on top of his roof, angling them around to get the best arc.
“If I hadn’t had an hour or two of water just puddling, nothing would have stopped (the fire),” Cragg recalled.
He also said he took his hoses and started spraying for hours.
“The fire came from behind us, came down this hillside up here, but I was able to get enough water on the yard here and the yard behind us,” he said. “And that kept the fire from leaping from here to this house to that house.”
In all, Cragg’s unrelenting work saved over a dozen homes.
When the wildfire scorched his neighborhood, he drove around to see the devastation himself. But amidst ash and smoke, Cragg said he had a moment of inspiration as he arrived at the American Legion building.
“We pulled up, and it was dark. And the power came on and the lights came on, I looked up – there was our flag, singed and toasted brown. But it was still a red, white and blue flag,” the commander of the American Legion described.
After the January fire, Cragg founded the Palisades Long Term Recovery Group, working with over 10,000 families to help restore their community.
Cragg said he’s now guiding people toward recovery, showing people a plan, stability and inspiration to move forward.
“We have more of a psychological need than a financial need right now,” he said. “We are working with thousands of people who are overwhelmed, people who can’t engage, people who can’t fathom this. Personally, I can’t fathom it.”
For Christmas, Cragg’s daughter, Charley, wrote a letter to Santa, “Will you bring my town back to me?”
“My daughter’s Christmas list ended with, ‘This has been the hardest year of my life,’” Cragg said.
Charley’s wish did not come true this year, but Cragg said he’s hoping to make her wish come true by rallying his community to speed up the restoration process.
“As a military person, you never leave one of yours behind,” Cragg said. “(There are) 10,460 families. I need to get to every one of those families. I need to connect to them. And I need to set them up to help them in any way we can and let them know there is help out there for them. That’s what keeps me up at night.”
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