When a Southern California wildfire threatened Jeff Bridges and wife Susan's home, they fled, but found themselves in an even more harrowing situation.
The Old Man actor explained on Thursday's episode of SiriusXM's Literally! With Rob Lowe, that while he was asleep in the Montecito home they relocated to, he heard an explosion, which turned out to be a once in a "1,500 year" weather event.
"I was sleeping, and I hear boom! A big explosion, and I look out my window and the sky is all red," Bridges said of the 2018 California mudslide. "And then boom! I think we’re getting bombed or something. I didn’t know what was going on. Then I heard something that sounds like a train. And then boom, it hits our house."
Lowe and Bridges have been neighbors for about 30 years, and they recounted what had happened.
"We had a terrible debris flow/flash flood here. They say it was a once in 1,500 year weather event," Lowe said, "where a cell of rain appeared in exactly the right place, dumped exactly the right amount of rain... 23 people were killed. It was a real thing, and you were in it."
Bridges estimated that 4 feet of mud and rocks rushed into their home. He and his wife went to the highest room in the house, which was the kitchen, and climbed on top of the island. There was no electricity or cell phone service.
They eventually heard helicopters, but because their home was secluded "like a forest," Bridges knew he needed to get rescuers' attention in one clear spot in the backyard. So he asked for a bedsheet to write "SOS."
"Put SOS on the sheet in mud and they saw that and threw down some guys to help us, you know," Bridges said, who told local media about being airlifted to safety. "Sue said, 'I'm taking my dog,' and there was a shot of Sue in this hot pink coat with her little Yorkie going up into the helicopter."
Lowe had a different experience that night.
"That is insane," Lowe said. "My son was here. I was out of town, so I got the phone calls. My son was in the house, though, and we were lucky. We were in an area where it didn't affect us at all, but... you guys were lucky to be alive."
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Bridges said that was their last night at the residence. Per PEOPLE, he sold the renovated property to Oprah Winfrey.
New episodes of SiriusXM's Literally! With Rob Lowe are available every Thursday on the SiriusXM app and wherever podcasts are available.