Steve Kerr

Kerr details emotional visit to childhood home burnt in Palisades Fire

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Steve Kerr's childhood home was one of countless structures to be destroyed in the Palisades Fire, and the Warriors coach visited Southern California on Sunday to see the heartbreaking scene in person.

"I flew down Sunday," Kerr told 95.7 The Game's "Willard and Dibs" on Tuesday. "We had a day off, and I flew down for the day. My brothers came into town and we went up to my mom's house, and [it was the] first time that any of us had seen the neighborhood and the remains of the house. It was a difficult day, but I'm so glad we were able to do it and be together with my mom. And really tough to see our hometown just completely wiped out like that."

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles County had consumed nearly 24,000 acres and is 63 percent contained after destroying 6,380 structures and killing 11 people since it started on Jan. 7. The house in Pacific Palisades where Kerr's mother, Ann Kerr, still lived before the fire was "tragically burned," she said in a text message to the San Francisco Chronicle's Ron Kroichick on Jan. 8.

Kerr's family bought the home the year he turned 4 years old in 1969, per Kroichick, who visited Ann there in October to write a feature on her life and work.

In the photos from the feature, a small Dub Nation flag is seen among Ann's collection of fine porcelain dishes displayed in a hutch. In another, Ann sits on a rope swing in the yard amongst the greenery, a picket fence behind her in front of the home where Kerr spent much of his childhood.

That's all gone now, and Kerr finds solace in knowing his family is not alone in their loss.

"It's not closure, it's a different feeling of more shock when you see up close that type of devastation, especially a place that has been home for the family for 50 years, so really difficult," Kerr continued. "We have so many friends who are in the exact same situation, who lost their homes, and then even downtown Pacific Palisades, just to see some of the supermarkets are just burned out, and half my high school burned down.

"Visiting with other people, there is a sense of community loss, and I think in some ways that is actually bonding. I mean, my mom had so many friends who are in the same boat, and so they are commiserating but also really supporting one another, and there's some comfort in that as well."

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