'Hot embers were raining down': US swimmer Gary Hall Jr. says he lost 10 Olympic medals in Palisades wildfire | CNN

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Former US Olympian Gary Hall Jr. won 10 Olympic medals and six world championship medals in his swimming career. He believes he's lost them all in the Palisades wildfire, he told CNN's Erin Burnett.

"I thought I had more time," Hall said. "I saw the fire charging down the hill and knew that I had to get out of there. I opened up the back of my SUV, I loaded a painting, one other object.

"By the time I was going back in from that run, hot embers were raining down from the sky. I knew at that point that I just didn't have much time. I could see the embers hitting the roofs of the houses around me and made that decision: it's time to go.

"The medals were in a closet in my bedroom, 70 feet away, and I didn't have time to go get them. From the time that I saw the first plume of smoke at the top of the hill … I had about three minutes between then and when it came charging towards me.

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Anyone up for some prospectin'?

Good thing the gold medals are mostly silver...

Greg Louganis is prolly up for some prospecting.

Yeah, what a concidence; I lost all my precious metals AND guns in the Pallisades fires while camping out there.

I mean the ones that weren't lost when my boat sunk.

I was good friends with the son of Thane Baker in high school. He kept his Olympic medals in a lock box at the bank. He was nice enough to bring them home one time and let me see them. I was surprised how small they were (1956).

Wow - I see from his wiki he's still alive - I'd have never guessed it.

If I had 10 Olympic metals they would not be in a bedroom closet. They would be displayed prominently in my home to where they would be the first thing you would see when you entered.

That painting better be worth millions. I would have left the painting and grabbed the metals. This is God's way of saying you are stupid.