Spencer Pratt’s father desperately tried to battle a fast-moving fire with a garden hose before firefighters arrived at a Pacific Palisades home Friday — a haunting scene that unfolded more than a year after the devastating wildfire that destroyed both his own home and his son’s.
William Pratt, a longtime Pacific Palisades dentist, spotted flames engulfing a large home under construction on Northfield Street shortly before 4 p.m. while driving to his nearby property, NBCLA reported.
He stopped, called 911 and attempted to keep the blaze from spreading until Los Angeles Fire Department crews reached the scene.
“I’m sad I had to spend two to three minutes looking for the hose bib to the house and another two to three minutes getting the hose untangled and hooked up,” he wrote in a text message to NBC Los Angeles. “Each second was like a lifetime.”
The Los Angeles Fire Department confirmed William Pratt was the person who called 911 to report the fire. Firefighters arrived about six minutes after the emergency call and launched an aggressive attack on the flames, bringing the fire under control roughly 20 minutes later. Around 34 firefighters responded.
Pratt said the incident brought back painful memories of the catastrophic Palisades Fire that destroyed his family home in January 2025.
“It gave me a little PTSD,” he said.
“I did my best to put it out,” he added. “It just grew way too fast.”
Fire officials said a nearby resident was also spraying water in an effort to keep the flames from spreading to neighboring homes. Authorities said they could not confirm whether William Pratt was among those using a hose before crews arrived.
No injuries were reported, and investigators are still working to determine what sparked the fire.
The frightening episode comes after William Pratt lost the Pacific Palisades home where he had lived for four decades during last year’s historic wildfire.
At the time, his son, former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, revealed that his father had returned to the burning property armed with only a garden hose in an attempt to save it. William Pratt later suffered smoke inhalation and was hospitalized.
Sign up for the California Morning Report newsletter
California’s top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.
Thanks for signing up!
Following the disaster, William Pratt, Spencer Pratt and Spencer’s mother, Janet Pratt, filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, alleging mismanagement and inadequate water pressure contributed to the destruction caused by the fire.
Spencer Pratt, who rose to fame on MTV’s The Hills alongside his wife Heidi Montag, also lost his own home in the Palisades Fire.
He later launched an unsuccessful Republican campaign for Los Angeles mayor, making the city’s wildfire response a central issue and repeatedly criticizing Mayor Karen Bass and other local officials over their handling of the deadly disaster.
The home damaged in Friday’s fire sits just west of Palisades High School. According to Los Angeles County damage inspection records, the property sustained only minor damage during the 2025 Palisades Fire, although a detached garage on the site was destroyed.
The property’s owner, Natasha Mandich, thanked firefighters and everyone who helped stop the blaze.
The Palisades Fire was among California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfires, scorching roughly 23,400 acres, killing 12 people and destroying more than 6,800 homes, businesses and other structures.
