3 Neighbors Had to Carry Dick Van Dyke Out of His Home to Escape the Malibu Fires
The legend explained to TODAY that he was forced to evacuate his Malibu home.
The legendary Dick Van Dyke is celebrates his 99th birthday on December 13, but the iconic star spent the days leading up to his milestone year in dramatic fashion, as he was rescued from the southern California wildfires.
The wildfires that have ravaged the Malibu area broke out on December 9 and have destroyed countless homes and displaced thousands of people. In jaw-dropping footage from Van Dyke's front porch camera shown on the December 12 episode of TODAY, the award-winning actor could be seen being carried away from his home as the Malibu wildfires inched closer to his home. It was a harrowing moment.
Hearing Van Dyke explain the ordeal gave us the chills. "I was trying to crawl to the car — I had exhausted myself, I couldn't get up," he explained. "And three neighbors came and carried me out and put out a little fire in the guest house and saved me."
Fortunately, Van Dyke (along with his wife, Arlene, and their pets) managed to evacuate unscathed.
Thankfully, this story has an even happier ending: Van Dyke celebrated his 99th birthday on December 13, and longtime TODAY star Al Roker took to social media to celebrate the occasion with Van Dyke himself, and his wife.
"Over the years, one of my favorite people to talk with is @official_dick_van_dyke Getting to know him and his wife, Arlene l, has been a joy. As he celebrated his 99th birthday today, we are extremely lucky to still have this legend and his light with us," Roker said in a caption.
Dick Van Dyke married wife Arlene Silver in 2012
Van Dyke wed Arlene in delightful fashion — on Leap Day in 2012! That's right; the couple chose the very unique date of February 29 to get married. The two met in 2006 at the Screen Actors Guild Awards — and Van Dyke said something that even he admitted was "out of character."
"I never approached a strange woman in my life," he said to Entertainment Tonight in 2024. "And she walked by and I jumped and I said, 'Hi, I'm Dick.' I had no idea she was half my age. Beautiful."
The two got closer over the years and never looked back. Despite their 40-plus-year age gap, Arlene says their relationship is powerful regardless of "irrelevant" facts.
"I mean, the facts, our age difference," she explained in the same interview. "But it's so irrelevant. I think when you see us together, it's like you don't think about it."
While Van Dyke is undisputedly young at heart, according to the man himself, Arlene does a great job around the house keeping the energy high!
"My wife is a good singer and dancer so there's a lot of singing and dancing going on around here," he told PEOPLE in 2015. "I got up the other morning, she was in the kitchen doing the dishes and she had her tap shoes on, and she was tap dancing while she was doing the dishes!"
