Yesterday, three-time Olympian Gary Hall Jr. bought a toothbrush. It’s the only physical possession he has, currently. That, a pair of socks smudged with soot, a pair of jeans stained by ash, and some insulin. But no medals. At about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, Hall Jr. was on the phone with his daughter in his home on Lachman Lane in Pacific Palisades when he saw a dark cloud waft over a nearby hill. He hung up. Smoke, acrid, tinged his nostrils as he walked into the kitchen. And then the fire sprouted, houses on Lachman exploding into flames before his very eyes, and Hall Jr. realized this — as he put it — was a “run-for-your-life” moment. Ten Olympic medals were tucked in a closet in his Palisades home, tribulations and rewards from a meteoric rise in swimming decades ago. They carried stories of fame, the man who had strut onto Olympic pool decks draped in an American star-spangled robe like a pro boxer. They carried stories of a comeback, a man diagnosed with Type I diabetes in 1999 going on to win three subsequent gold medals. They carried stories of generations of family, Hall Jr.’s father Gary Sr. a three-time Olympian himself and grandfather Charles Keating selected for the 1976 Olympics. Hall Jr. wanted to grab them, of course. The thought flashed across his mind, as the rampaging Palisades Fire advanced. But there was no time, he resolved. So he grabbed his dog Puddle, and his diabetes medication, and got into his car and roared away as the burning embers of his home began to fall. “I mean, you have to understand that, like, the impending danger needs to be significant,” Hall Jr. told the Southern California News Group Thursday, “to forego something that you’ve worked your life for.” His 10 Olympic medals, as a GoFundMe started by sister Amy Botha described, are “most likely lost,” claimed by a Palisades Fire that had threatened over 13,000 buildings and still stood at 0% containment as of Wednesday afternoon. “It’s hard to abandon,” Hall Jr. reflected. “Very difficult to do that. I did not have a choice. It was that close.” “I think, now, in this last day or so since I’ve been cleared — did I have another 30 seconds?” he continued. “Could I have grabbed two more things? And the answer is no.” The medals, though, Hall Jr. said, didn’t define him. He could let go of most things, besides Puddle and his insulin, his home burned down. But what hurt most, emotion choking in his voice over the phone on Wednesday morning, was the thought of his neighbors. For five years, Hall Jr. has been running his own business out of his home and a heated pool in Pacific Palisades, called “Sea Monkeys Swimming,” that offers swim lessons to kids of any age. Originally conceptualized to help prevent accidental drownings, Hall Jr.’s business had assembled a number of clients and friends in the Palisades. He’s beloved enough, in fact, that Palisades Highlands resident Chris Balog texted Hall Jr. Wednesday night to check in, because his kids were asking about him: Is Teacher Gary okay? How’s his house? How’s his pool? “They’re in the same camp as I am,” Hall Jr. said Wednesday, of Palisades friends and their kids he’d come to know. “They’ve lost everything. And that’s harder for me, than thinking about my own loss.” His business, now, will have to regroup along with many others in Palisades, a community left in peril and in shock by a devastating wildfire. After evacuating Tuesday, Hall Jr. waited for his girlfriend to meet him in the Pacific Palisades village, he said. She was stuck in gridlock, on West Sunset Blvd, a scene Hall Jr. said he’d never forget. As fires approached, and traffic didn’t move, people simply exited their cars and started “running for their lives,” Hall Jr. said. Related Articles Olympics | More than 750 members of inmate crews are helping battle burning wildfires in LA County Olympics | Santa Anita cites fires, smoke in postponing Friday’s races Olympics | Catastrophic weather drives insured losses to highest since 2017 Olympics | More people are living in riskiest wildfire zones Olympics | Mt. Wilson threatened by spread of Eaton fire “I’ve seen apocalypse movies, Independence Day or whatever, where it’s just utter destruction,” Hall Jr. said. “And I’ve been through natural disasters, I’ve been through countless hurricanes down in Florida, and earthquakes, and seen tornados up close.” “But, nothing — nothing compares to what this just did.” Sister Botha’s GoFundMe had already raised nearly $40,000 for Hall Jr., as of Wednesday afternoon. He’ll need to buy a laptop, and find a pool, and start teaching swim lessons again. He’ll start over. But he’ll have to do it somewhere else. “There’s no rebuilding,” Hall Jr. said. “Pacific Palisades is gone. All that remains is ash.”