He spent 25 years building his vinyl record collection. Then the fires reduced it to ashes

Scott Dudelson has been a devoted patron of Record Surplus since childhood, building a vinyl record collection of about 8,000 records over 25 years. Tragically, amid devastating wildfires that engulfed his Malibu community, Dudelson witnessed smoke billowing over the mountains, anticipating a catastrophe. Despite previous fire incidents that had already cost him 1,000 records, he faced the possibility of losing his collection entirely as the fires ravaged homes, including Dudelson's own, which were among nearly 3,000 properties destroyed by the blaze.

I walked outside and I smelled the fire. 10 minutes later, I just saw the smoke rising over my hills, right over my community. And I knew at that point, that this was really, really bad.

Before the fire was even reported, I just saw the smoke rising over my hills. I knew this was really, really bad.

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