Paulina Porizkova Recounts Terrifying Experience With Fire Loss: 'Not Just Stuff'

After pleading with followers on social media to help foster 17 displaced cats amid the devastating Palisades Fire in California, Paulina Porizkova returned to Instagram to give her fans an update on the felines—and to share her take on dealing with the grief of fire loss, based on personal experience.

As the 59-year-old former supermodel explained in a brief video, all of the cats had been placed in foster homes.

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"I'd like to thank all of you so much," she said. "Thank you for following, thank you for caring, thank you for trying. Thank you for doing your very best."

In her caption, Porizkova recalled another terrifying experience with fire that she had as a teen model in New York City.

"I was 18 years old the night I went to sleep in my cozy bedroom of my ground floor apartment of a townhouse in Manhattan," she wrote.

"I woke up to the sound of fire sirens outside my window," the star continued. "Naked, I padded over to the window to see where the problem was. Still half asleep, but also sorry for whatever neighbor- perhaps I could invite them in and save the from the freezing February night? When I peeked from behind the curtain, I realized the firetrucks were outside MY window. The firemen were about to rush up the stairs of the townhouse I lived in."

As Porizokva explained, that's when "panic set in."

"I tried to switch on the lights - but the electricity was out. My puppy and my cat, who had been sleeping in the bedroom with me, now freaked and went running through the dark apartment. I managed to pull on a winter overcoat, grab the cat and dog, and run out into the street — where I stood, frozen both with the cold air and indecision —while calculating what cleaning up I’d be stuck with. It wasn’t until the firefighters broke my windows to get the water in, that I understood cleaning up would not be my problem."

Porizkova remembered how it felt to stand in the middle of the cold, dark street knowing that everything she owned had been lost.

"It was 3 am. I held my dog and my cat, and wore everything I now owned," she recalled. "A pair of shoes and a winter coat. Not even a single pair of underwear."

She went on to describe the particular devastation that fire causes.

"I’ve witnessed all sorts of calamities in my life, but nothing that equals the methodical precision with which a fire eats — down to the bacteria — physical forms of memories," she wrote. "It’s not just your favorite sweater you wore when you met your love, the garter you wore on your wedding, the pair of socks you wore in labor, the necklace your grandmother gave you, your cookbooks with annotations written in your and your mother’s hand and stained with butter and oil, it’s not just the couch you saved up money for, and where you ate popcorn and held hands and made out, the bed where you made love and made your babies and took comfort in when you had fevers and cried with your head under your sheets — it’s also the photos, books, family recipes, letters — it’s all the tangible evidence of YOU; tokens of where you have been and who you are.It’s NOT just 'stuff.'"

"You are allowed to grieve," Porizkova told her followers. "You’ve just lost physical and therefore traceable map of YOU."

Commenters appreciated the celeb's wise and honest words.

"Well put. Normalize grief. It is inevitable in life, but that never makes it any easier," one pointed out.

"Fire is devastating. You expressed it well. 💔," agreed a second.

"Such truth in all you said. It's trauma. The [loss] of personal sentimental things is devestating. I know the things of have from both of my late Parents if I lost, yes would be grateful I was alive, but pieces of my heart would be gone. Thank you for using your platform to reach out, help out and do all you can. You have one of the most kindest compassionate hearts. 🙏🤗♥️🙏♥️," someone else wrote.

Related: Paulina Porizkova Cries in "Vulnerable" New Video Following Deep Loss