February 17, 2025 • 36 mins
The John Kobylt Show Hour 2 (02/17) - Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco comes on the show to talk about why he has chosen to officially run to become the next Governor of California. The LA Fire Department could have had more firetrucks patrolling Pacific Palisades.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Can't find AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobel Podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
We're on every day one until four and then after
four o'clock.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
What'd you miss? Huh?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Miss stuff? You're gonna listen to John Cobelt show on demand,
the podcast. It's the same as the radio show. And
I know it's ghoulish. I can't get enough of looking
at this upside down plane. I just it's terrible. You
you know, they say. I heard one expert saying, well,
(00:30):
you know, it's a strong wind, and not only a
strong wind, but there's a lot of ice and snow
on the runway, and and well, wouldn't that be a
day that you didn't land planes that particular airport if
the wind was blowing strong and the ice and the snow,
maybe maybe take off a few hours and just feel bad.
Apparently one child got really badly hurt. Everybody was up.
(00:54):
I wonder if the kid maybe was in the in
the parent's lap, because everybody should have been it in,
you'd think, but because it was on landing. We'll continue
monitoring that story.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
All right.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
It is the season for candidates to start announcing they're
going to run for governor to replace the dreadful failure
Gavin Newsom, and one has stepped forward on the Republican side.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and he announced today he's
running for governor in front of fifteen hundred supporters. He
is again the Riverside County sheriff. We've had him on
(01:29):
the show many times and he's a guy that California
needs to because you know what, we're upside down. We're
like that Delta plane. We're upside down and a lot
of people are hurting. Let's get Chad on now.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Chad John, how are you? Yees, sir, Hi John, how
are you?
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I'm good? How are you doing? I'm doing great.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
It's a good day.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
You have been thinking about doing this for a long time.
Go through the process of what made you decide, yeah,
I'm going to run this year.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah, it definitely was a long time, maybe a little
bit over a year, maybe a little bit more than that.
And it really comes down to just what I see
as the failures in Sacramento, and it starts with public safety.
But as you're in Sacramento, as we're up there dealing
with issues about public safety, we overhear all of the
other craziness that goes on there, and then when I
(02:28):
come back home and I have to deal with theft
and businesses, then I have to learn from the businesses
about all the regulation and all the things that are
hurting them and the taxes. And then it just compounds
my friends that are builders and my friends that are
losing their kids to other states because it's impossible to
be able to afford a home here or to live here,
(02:49):
and so there were so many things going into it
that in the end, it really came down to me
watching these people posture of who's going to run and
talk about you know, I'm going to do this, and
I'm going to do that, and I'm going to be
the one and I want that top spot. And I
realized it's all the same people. It's the same people
that put us here, and that whole definition of insanity
(03:10):
when you do the same thing over and over and
over again and expect a different result. I hope California
is wisening up enough to know that we are not
going we are going to get the same result if
we keep electing the same people. And I had to
do this to up end this apple cart because we
have to fix California. We have to save California, because
all of my friends are leaving, my kids want to leave,
(03:32):
and the California dream has become a nightmare. And it's
just going to take a leader to be in Sacramento
to right in all of these these wrongs that are
plaguing us. And we've got to start doing things for
our residents rather than for special interests.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
You've been elected twice as sheriff in Riverside County. It's
obviously friendly territory. People are more in line with the
way you think and the actions you take. How are
you going to get through to the people in let's say,
La County, Bay Area northern California. I mean, you may
not win San Francisco, but to get more votes, to
(04:09):
get more people who to make them, I can't imagine
they don't realize what's going on. It's this is not
a theoretical debate we're having here. This is real life
and it is dreadful on a day to day basis
in a.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Lot of places.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
How are you going to convince them to do something
that maybe they've never done in their adult lives, And
that's vote for somebody other than a Democrat.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Yeah, you definitely have hit it right on the head,
and we know it's an uphill battle. But I'm going
to accept the challenge and I'm going to do everything
I can to convince them. We're going to do all
that we can just to get my message and me
in front of people, in front of the media and
in front of I mean, we'll have eight billion debates.
I don't care because those that is what will show
(04:55):
the public what we truly are up against. And I
think that what if I have detractors, which I know
I do. They're detractors because I'm honest. They don't like
me because I tell the truth. They don't like me
because I expose and I force them to have to
admit the truth. And I think people are tired of
(05:17):
being lied to. I think they are desperately looking for
a leader who will be honest with them, who will
tell them how things are and how we're going to
get to a solution. And they're just looking for someone
that is not the normal politician, that is not the
billionaire that's going to come in and fix everything. The
same thing that we've heard for decades, and it truly
(05:39):
is about bringing the truth to people. Is you said it,
This is reality. This is all you have to do
is walk out your front door and look in your
own yard and see that we are going in the
wrong direction. And I truly believe over the last couple
of years we've seen the tide turn. I think the
pendulum is going back to the other way. And Prop
(06:01):
thirty six, the overwhelming, resounding victory of Prop thirty six
showed that California is failing in Republican and Democrat minds
and they do want something different.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Why do you think people have voted for the likes
of Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, here In La Karen Bass
and Eric Carcetti. Why do they keep voting for these
people over and over and while the quality of life
has collapsed on a day to day basis. Again, this
is not a theoretical political argument. This is in front
(06:37):
of everybody's eyes. What's going on between the crime and
the homelessness? Just for starters, Why is it so difficult
for people to admit that their voting patterns are responsible
for a lot of this?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yeah, I don't know why it is so hard to
admit a wrong or admit that you did something wrong.
But I will tell you that I don't believe politic
and I don't believe elections have been real or honest
for decades. They're psychological warfare operations where you put somebody
(07:13):
up in front of cameras who have an appeal or
a likability, and you get them to lie and promise
and say things that just simply aren't true. But the
general goodness of the public we want to believe, we
want to trust, and that trust is just routinely taken
advantage of. And so I think that there's a lot
(07:34):
of dishonesty that goes into politics. We know that, I mean,
every campaign, no one's being honest. I think the appeal
for me is I have a background thirty two years
of nothing but integrity and honesty, and I think that's
going to resonate well with people. They don't have to
worry about whether or not I'm telling them the truth.
(07:56):
They can count on it.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
What are the biggest issues you're going to be focusing on,
Assuming that not a lot of disaster happens.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Well, I know, and God forbid, something does. We don't
want that. There's we have enough that we have to
deal with. But overall, I think the the number one
concern of everyone has to do and revolves around public safety.
Whether it's drugs, human trafficking, crime, homelessness, all of those
things rolled into one. With public safety, that has to
be our priority. And obviously that's going to be my niche,
(08:27):
and that's going to be an easy solution for me.
I don't have to bring somebody in or I don't
have to learn something to be able to have a
solution for that, so that that's going to be our inroad.
But then we still have the same problems that we've
always dealt with. We have a failed school system, we
have failed water policy, we have failed agricultural policy that
(08:49):
is simply just failing Californians. And so bringing those things
to the limelight, bringing them to the forefront of people's thoughts,
I think we really are going to gain a lot
of momentum because in the end, I am not going
to allow this campaign to be handled the same way
every campaign is handled, where we talk about issues that
(09:12):
Democrats want to talk about, because we're going to talk
about what's failing our state and some of their emotional
issues are not causing our state to fail. It's the economy,
it's the taxes, it's the regulation that they have done
over decades, and when we make them talk about that,
they're people are going to see that. Oh my gosh,
it has been the same people over and over, and
(09:34):
we absolutely do need someone from the outside to come
in and fix it for us.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
That's what's been frustrating about, Oh, I don't know, the
last twenty years worth of Republican campaigns in this state
is that none of the candidates ever engaged and talked
about the issues that mattered to people. They're always on
defense against whatever the Democrats brought up. And the Democrats
bring up these weird, distracting social issues that would get
(09:59):
people all bent out of shape. And that's not what
day to day life is about, right.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
That is, you are one hundred percent. You just hit
the nail on the head. The narrative is going to
paint me as as something that that elicits an emotional response.
They they're already saying I'm a racist, They're already saying
I'm homophobic. They're already saying all of those things that
are just that that elicit that. Oh my gosh, I
would never want to be that person and when they
(10:26):
do that to you, it intimidates you and it makes
you want to try and defend yourself. But what they
don't really realize with me and my personality is I'm saying,
bring it on because the truth, the truth is the truth,
and the truth will always win. So I'm not going
to defend any of that. You prove it. I'm not
a racist. I'm the furthest thing from it. I love women,
(10:46):
I love the power of a woman. I'm not misogynistic.
I'm not any of those.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I mean they say that about every every candidate that
runs against them.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
I mean, that's that's that's that's spoiler.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Point fall into yes, and you fall into the offending
yourself instead of pointing it to them and just saying
show me where.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah, now, you're right on. You got to run on
your issues. Can you hang on another segment?
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (11:09):
All right?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Good Chad Bianco. He's running as a Republican for governor
of California, the sheriff of Riverside County. We'll talk more
with Chad.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Next.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Continue with Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bionco and today he
announced he's running for governor as a Republican Riverside County
sheriff and he wants to be governor. And we could
use a guy like him, obviously, But how do you
convince everybody else who've brought us a parade of clowns
now for about twenty years. Let's get Chad back on
(11:46):
the air. Well, let me run a few issues by
you and tell me what your thoughts are. Right now,
the homeless thing here in la is just choking. And
last year Gavin Newsom admitted I couldn't even believe he
this that they had spent twenty four billion dollars since
he became governor and he didn't have any idea where
(12:08):
most of it went or if it had any effect. Yeah,
your reaction to that A twenty four billion?
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Yeah, it's a it's a hoestine. It's a complete waste
of our money. Where it's a it's an industrial complex.
We have turned homelessness into an industrial complex that is
just laundering our taxpayer money. There is there can be
zero desire to solve homeless If people are making millions
of dollars off of the homeless, this is not. This
(12:38):
is not a hard thing to solve. We need to
We need to stop calling it homeless. We need to
call it drug and doce psychosis, and we need to
address the drug abuse, and we need to address the
mental illness that it causes. And then we can get
them back into the homes that they already had, that
they were kicked out of because of their psychosis and
their drug abuse and their alcohol abuse. And when we
(12:58):
stop funneling these millions and millions of dollars into peoples,
into nonprofits and into organizations that will continue to profit
off of it, we will fix this. And it's we
have made it worse by giving more and more and
more money to it. It's it truly is common sense
and reason.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
How about this, this mandate that we can't drive we
can't buy gas powered cars as a twenty thirty five Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
That's that is it. And again that is a that
is an agenda item, that a special interest that someone is,
someone is benefiting from the reality of our cars is
that they are not the polluters that they want us
to believe. The fossil fuels, the cleanness, the scrubbers, the
things that they have to keep those emissions from our
(13:50):
air are nothing like they used to be, and so
it's it's it's a fallacy, it's it's misinformation. It's pushing
us into doing something that we are not ready to do.
Number One, we don't even have the we don't have
enough electricity in California to operate our air conditioning. But
somehow we're supposed to operate everyone's vehicle. And again, eventually
(14:14):
in twenty thirty, forty fifty years, maybe we are all electric.
But it's going to be when innovation and when and
when when people that can create these things and make
them better and make them efficient and make them fit in,
then electricity will take over. But nothing has ever worked
when the government forces you to do it. So when
(14:36):
we allow the free market and we allow free innovation
and enterprise to come up with a better product that
makes you not want to have fossil fuels or gas
powered diesel powered cars, then we'll transition.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Over to electric.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
But it's we don't do it because the government forces
you to.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
What more needs to be done with crime?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
We've got Prop thirty six, Now we've got better das
in La San Francisco and Oakland.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
What's next that you think has to be done.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Yeah, there's number one. The governor has to fund it.
He's going to do everything he can to make Prop
thirty six fail because if it succeeds, then he's going
to his legacy will be a decade of pushing Prop
forty seven that was a failure. So he's not going
to fund it. He's not going to give us the
resources to make it work. But in the end we
will keep pushing forward. We have to make more reforms
(15:27):
to where people are going to prison. We have to
make more reforms to hold people accountable, because if there
is no consequence, there is absolutely no reason for you
to stop bad behavior. If you are a parent, you
absolutely know that just from raising kids, and it's no
different when you're talking about criminals. If they keep getting
away with it over and over and over again, they
(15:48):
are just going to keep doing the same thing over
and over and over again. So when we actually fixed crime,
we didn't fix it, but we had a great handle
on it back when we had three strikes laws, when
and when there was a consequence for doing bad behavior
over and over and over again. And unfortunately for us,
over the last twenty years, the Democrat Party, the progressive
(16:10):
agenda has eroded all of those great things that we
were doing, and now we're back to where it's impossible
to go to jail for committing a crime.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
How would you work with the progressive legislature we've got.
You'd have to do so a lot of vetoing to
get the message across.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Well, we will, And this is what I will tell you, John,
and this is what I think is going to be
my appeal for California. I'm not going to work with progressives.
I will work with Democrats all day long. I will
not work with progressives because the progressive agenda, the progressive ideology,
is the exact problem that led us down this path
that we're on, that brought us to the conditions we
(16:50):
have today. Progressive progressivism, which is another name for socialism,
is not and never will be the answer in the
United States of America. We are the great country in
the world because of our freedoms, because of our lack
of government, and socialism slash progressivism is a disease. So
I will not work with progressives. I will work day
(17:12):
in and day out with Republicans and Democrats to fix
the issues that we have that may that in the
best interests of Californians, not in a political ideology or
a special interest.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Chad, I want you on the show as much as
you want to come on.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Thank you, John. I appreciate it. Hey, real quick, just
Bianco forgovernor dot com. We've got a bunch of things
on there that just highlights of how easy we believe
it's going to be to fix California. And I appreciate
everything you're doing.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
All right, Chad Bionco, Riverside County Sheriff that today he's
running for governor on the Republican side.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
And we'll talk again soon. Thanks for coming on. We
come back.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
LA Fire Department could have had ten engines patrolling the
Palisades Hills on January seventh. That's according to former assistant
chiefs with the Los Angeles Fire Department. It's what we've
been telling you from day one. It's not complicated that
that is next.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
You're listening to John Cobbel's on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
We are on from one until four after four John
Cobelt Show on demand on the iHeart app. Moistline is
eight seven seven mois Steady six eight seven seven Mois
Steady six or the talkback feature, and we'll play that
back on Friday. Uh, there's a phrase that's going to
be banned. We have to ban phrases from time to
time when they're overused, and they are and they're used
(18:36):
to mislead people, to misinform disinformed.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
What we all do that here?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
We don't and I'm not the idea that it wouldn't
have made a difference. That is the response you gets
from so many morons when you start talking about the
response to the fire in the pala stage, It wouldn'
admit a difference. And they say that about the reservoir
being empty, about the fire hydrants being broken, about the
(19:03):
firefighters not being deployed for the second shift, about the
ten fire engines that were not deployed that morning of
January seventh, about Karen Bass not being in America. The
defense from everybody in government, well, that wouldn't have made
a difference.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
They're lying, they're lying.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
And there are some people who used to work for
the Los Angeles Fire Department who are now telling the
truth and by name, so.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
You go take it up with them.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
We have a story in the LA Times from over
the weekend.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Paul Pringle and a lean check Midian.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And I'm gonna tell you because you know, we've trashed
the Times quite a bit. It's been a disaster for
quite a number of years now. But on the fire
they've been right on and they've been digging out the
truth and just relentless the publishing the truth, and this
is stuff. And you know they're telling the truth because
(20:07):
the people they're indicting with their stories are refusing to
answer any questions, are refusing to respond to the Times requests.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
And that goes right up to Karen.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Bass, fire Chief Kristin Crowley, and that dits Genice Keinonyez,
who runs the DWP. None of them will talk. A
Bass doesn't want to talk about being in Africa. Kenonias
doesn't want to talk about the empty reservoir, and the
(20:38):
fire chief Kristin Crowley doesn't want to talk about why
she didn't send ten fire engines and a thousand firefighters,
the ten engines for the Palisades, the thousand firefighters for
all the foothill regions in Los Angeles. Everybody goes quiet, Well,
you know, let's just look, you know, let's get the
fire out and fires out, all right. The fire's out.
(21:02):
The danger's over. It's rained like hell, nothing is rekindling.
You ought to talk. You ought to talk now publicly
at length from hostile media. Okay, getting back to this story, though,
The biggest myth is that the ten fire engines that
(21:24):
Kristen Crowley should have deployed would have not made a difference.
Just to take you back in time, when the first
call came in at ten to twenty nine in the
morning on on January seventh, from a resident of Piedra
Marada Drive, they could see some flames flickering over a ridge,
(21:48):
and it was about eleven minutes later, eleven minutes later
that the Alley Fire Departments. Engined twenty three radioed into dispatch.
We're on Palisage Drive. We went past Piedro Morada. We're
still heading up to where the fire is showing. It
would be eighteen minutes after that nine to one one
call before Engine twenty three or anybody reached the scene
(22:09):
on January seventh, eighteen minutes, and, as The Times writes,
travel times were especially critical because LAFD officials had decided
not to pre deploy any engines and firefighters in the Palisades,
as they had done in the past. See that's the
thing in the past. This was standard operating procedure. Despite
(22:31):
being warned that some of the most dangerous winds in
recent years were headed for the region. In alerts, the
National Weather Service had highlighted the Palisades, the San Fernando Valley,
and Hollywood areas of greatest concern. There are people who
have been going, wow, you no, ohy Alley's a big city.
You can't protect the hull, stating the whole city never
(22:52):
gets hit by wildfires. There are specific geographic areas that
are of highest risk, and the Palisades was.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
One of them.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
So the crews nearest to the fire or at stations
twenty three and sixty nine, three to four miles from
the Piedri Marauda address. By time the engines from those
stations reached the fire, the flames were on the march.
Kristin Crowley, the fire department chief, did not respond to
(23:23):
interview requests for this story more than a month after
the fire. She has not answered questions from the Times
about the precise whereabouts of the engines before the fire,
which engine or engines responded first, and when helicopters began
dropping water on the flames, among other things. Karen Bass's
office has not responded to The Times requests that the
(23:45):
city released records documenting the fire Department's actions in the
early stages of the fire.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
The fire toll. Now, we're going to go to the
three x.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Assistant or deputy fire chiefs who work for LAFD, and
they said the fire the toll might not have been
as bad if extra engines had been prepositioned much closer
to the most fire prone areas. They noted that the
fire department pre deployed significantly fewer engines on January seventh
(24:20):
than they did in the past, including twenty eleven, twenty thirteen,
and twenty nineteen. Now, while you don't know exactly where
a fire was going to break out, the Palisades area
did meet the department's criteria for significant pre deployments because
its stations face longer response times because it's high up
(24:45):
in the hills. They said, if there had been engines
available to patrol along the hills, commanders could have directed
the firefighters to monitor the area where the fire eventually started,
especially one specific area, because six days earlier, early on
New Year's Day, a small fire had been extinguished but
might have left smoldering embers. These are the fireworks that
(25:08):
some teenagers had set off on New Year's Eve and
then in New Year's Warning, there was suddenly a small fire,
and you're supposed to monitor that for days or weeks
afterwards because with strong winds, he could reignite the embers.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
They didn't.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Had they done that, that should have been the place
where the fire likely started. Should have been the number
one spot that the fire department monitored because of the
possibility that the embers would be disturbed and reignite. Former
(25:48):
Assistant Chief la Fire Department Patrick Butler, he now runs
the Rodondo Beach Fire Department. He said chaparral can burn
underground without visible flames for weeks after the original fire
has been knocked down. He said he had to deal
with flare ups of unseen embers for about a week
after the twenty nineteen Getty fire he was an LAFD commander.
(26:11):
Rekindles are a very common phenomenon, said Butler. He left
LAFT four years ago. He worked thirty years after a
large fire most of the surrounding vegetation had already burned,
but after a smaller fire like the January first one,
A rekindle can easily grow in the right conditions, like
(26:32):
high winds. So Kristin Crowley, if she was competent and
she is not, should have sent a crew specifically to
that spot number one place. Something would have happened. Remember,
the winds were going to blow at an extremely high
rate eventually. Butler and other former officials says fires are
(26:53):
always more challenging to fight in strong wins, but pre
deploying engines could enable crews to keep it skinny, which
is a firefighter term for preventing it from spreading sideways.
Then other rigs can attack the head of the flames
from a safe distance with help from helicopters. Other pre
(27:17):
deployed engines could guard homes in the immediate path of
the fire. There weren't any engines beleeve deployed to pre
deployed zero. The ones eventually that were deployed got there
too late. Rick Crawford another former LAFD battalion chief who
left the department last year. He spent thirty years there.
(27:39):
He's now crisis management coordinator for the US Capitol. He
said the fire department's command failure to provide more engines
put firefighters at a strategic disadvantage from the first play.
The firefighters an outstanding job given the hand they were dealt,
They just didn't have time to employ their normal tactics.
Here's a third fire official, Perry Vermilion. He was a
(28:02):
captain for thirty three years with La County Fire Department.
Vermilion said, if you don't hit hard in the beginning,
it's over, and he fought a lot of fires in
the Mallible area near the Palisades. He said the LAFT
should have staged engines at several points in the Palisades
and kept them moving and on the lookout. You drive around,
you drive up the hills and learn the area. You're
(28:23):
on patrol. You send a couple of strike teams up
here or there, hang out in the park. You move
them all to different places so they're close to the brush.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
So there you have it. Those of you say, oh,
it wouldn't have made a difference.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Yes, take it from these guys combine ninety years for
La City and County fire departments. Of course it would
make a difference. You had somebody near that original fire,
which they should have most likely placed for it to blow.
Was that spot and then maybe nothing would have happened.
More coming up on this. It's a great article in
(28:58):
the La Times.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI A six.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
We're gonna talk with Katie Grimes from the California Globe
dot Com. I mentioned this earlier with Chad Bianco. This
this gas powered car band that Newsom got passed twenty
thirty five, the sale of all gas powered cars? Is
the Trump administration gonna kill this? Remotely from Washington, d C.
(29:27):
We're gonna talk with Katie Grimes. Maybe maybe that whole
deal is dead already, or it's the walking dead. We'll
talk about it. Gas powered car ban. God, this is like,
this is like a record number of insanely stupid ideas
that any state has ever had to endure. All Right,
(29:48):
I'm telling you the La Times Day has done a
great job and they're clearing up all the nonsense that
some people believe in that nothing could have stopped the fires. Well,
maybe nothing could have stopped the fires, but early on
you could have prevented this incredible march by sending up
(30:11):
what the Time says they had ten engines that should
have been patrolling the palisades hills. And that's according to
three former assistant and deputy fire chiefs whose names are
mentioned here. Former Assistant Chief Patrick Butler. We also had.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Let me get you the name of the other guys.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Rick Crawford, a former LAFD battalion chief, and then Perry Vermillion,
who was a captain with Los Angeles County.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
All three of them said that.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
If you had a lot of these ten fire engines
driving around, they would have been nearby to put it
out quickly. They should have been up in the hills
were deployed. Oh and don't forget the thousand, one thousand
firefighters that should have been kept for a second shift,
because the Palisades was considered one of the highest fire
(31:14):
risks by the National Weather Service along with Hollywood in
the San Fernando Valley, So that's where you put all
the extra firefighters. I think they had forty extra engines
and about thousand firefighters, even though you had a lot
of fire engines in the shop, because we don't have
(31:34):
mechanics that were enough, and the Palisades is one of
the first places to go, and that's where they've done
this before.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
They did it in twenty eleven, they did it in
twenty thirteen. They did it.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
In twenty nineteen, they had they had a response. In
twenty twenty one, there was a fire there and I've
got friends who were there in twenty twenty one and said, yeah,
they showed.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Up real fast.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
This was a really deadly disastrous job done by Kristin Crowley,
the fire chief, because she didn't have any supervision. If
Karen Bass stays in Los Angeles on this and I
can't believe they didn't do this anyway, because it was
two days before Bass took off for Africa, but on
(32:17):
January second and third, because Bass left on the fourth,
don't you have a meeting and say okay? National Weather
Service is saying, here comes the sant Ana wins, which
come every year, fire danger, which happens every year. They're saying,
go to the Palisades. They're saying, go to Hollywood. They're saying,
go to San Fernando Valley. Okay, So how many extra
(32:41):
engines do you have not to mention.
Speaker 5 (32:42):
This is an extreme extreme wind event given that we
had such low humidity and we haven't had rain in
a really long time before the fires, so it was
a huge recipe for disaster. I was reporting on it
for days before the fires started.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
No, because because you had the wind, you also had
the long period without rain, which went back I think
to at least last April.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Yeah, it was six months or something like.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Yeah, and then you had I saw humidity readings down
at three percent exactly, So all the indicators were there.
The Weather Service did the calculations and said extreme fire danger.
I don't know what else you want them to say,
And I don't know what else Karen Bass was reading
those two days, are Kristin Crowley. When you see extreme
(33:32):
fire danger and you're the fire chief, what's your next step?
They're telling you where the most likely places for the fire?
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Who. No, people didn't know where it was going to
do this they did. They knew.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
You don't know exactly where it's going to hit, but
you know where the biggest risks are. It's a game
of math, It's a game of playing the percentages, biggest risks. Palisades, Hollywood, say,
Fernando Valley boom happened in the Palisades, and they had nobody.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
And they just didn't do what they had done in
the past.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
The three other assistant or deputy chiefs who've worked there
for thirty years. Each of them said, well, this is
what we did, this is standard, this is what and
now for thirty six days, Kristin Crowley says nothing. Karen
Bass says nothing. And I'm not even talking about the
reservoir and geniez Kinoniez and the DWP. She says nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing.
(34:37):
The fire chief who made the deputy chief who made
the decision. It was Richard Fields and his only comment
was that the engines they pre deployed were sufficient. Well, no,
they weren't. Then listen to this doozy. Jason Hing, chief
Deputy of Emergency Operations, acknowledged that the pre deployed engines
(34:59):
were not enough, but says more would not have made
a difference.
Speaker 5 (35:03):
How can you say the more would not make a difference, Well,
because that doesn't even make sense.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
They try to confuse the issue because they know most
people don't know fire preparation, fire science, fire prepar you
know fire logistics.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know
that the more, of course it would make a difference.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
You know.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Once the fire had spread all over the Palisades and
the winds were blowing one hundred miles an hour. Yeah,
you couldn't do anything about it. But the point was,
that's why you pre deploy. That's why they're sitting up
in the hills first thing in the morning. Because I
was in the Palisades from about eight thirty to nine thirty,
and the eight thirty the breeze was gentle. Nine to thirty,
(35:44):
it was noticeably stronger. In fact, my wife even took
video an hour before the fire took off. She took video,
and you saw the increase in the winds. They should
have been there already. Well, we're gonna keep on top
of this. I don't care how uncomfortable life gets for
(36:06):
Karen Bass, Kristen Crowley and Janiez. I'm telling you every
day we're gonna give you whatever new stuff we find.
Debra Mark live in the CAFI twenty for our newsroom. Hey,
you've been listening to The John Cobalt Show podcast. You
can always hear the show live on KFI Am six
forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Can't find AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobel Podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
We're on every day one until four and then after
four o'clock.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
What'd you miss? Huh?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Miss stuff? You're gonna listen to John Cobelt show on demand,
the podcast. It's the same as the radio show. And
I know it's ghoulish. I can't get enough of looking
at this upside down plane. I just it's terrible. You
you know, they say. I heard one expert saying, well,
(00:30):
you know, it's a strong wind, and not only a
strong wind, but there's a lot of ice and snow
on the runway, and and well, wouldn't that be a
day that you didn't land planes that particular airport if
the wind was blowing strong and the ice and the snow,
maybe maybe take off a few hours and just feel bad.
Apparently one child got really badly hurt. Everybody was up.
(00:54):
I wonder if the kid maybe was in the in
the parent's lap, because everybody should have been it in,
you'd think, but because it was on landing. We'll continue
monitoring that story.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
All right.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
It is the season for candidates to start announcing they're
going to run for governor to replace the dreadful failure
Gavin Newsom, and one has stepped forward on the Republican side.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and he announced today he's
running for governor in front of fifteen hundred supporters. He
is again the Riverside County sheriff. We've had him on
(01:29):
the show many times and he's a guy that California
needs to because you know what, we're upside down. We're
like that Delta plane. We're upside down and a lot
of people are hurting. Let's get Chad on now.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Chad John, how are you? Yees, sir, Hi John, how
are you?
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I'm good? How are you doing? I'm doing great.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
It's a good day.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
You have been thinking about doing this for a long time.
Go through the process of what made you decide, yeah,
I'm going to run this year.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah, it definitely was a long time, maybe a little
bit over a year, maybe a little bit more than that.
And it really comes down to just what I see
as the failures in Sacramento, and it starts with public safety.
But as you're in Sacramento, as we're up there dealing
with issues about public safety, we overhear all of the
other craziness that goes on there, and then when I
(02:28):
come back home and I have to deal with theft
and businesses, then I have to learn from the businesses
about all the regulation and all the things that are
hurting them and the taxes. And then it just compounds
my friends that are builders and my friends that are
losing their kids to other states because it's impossible to
be able to afford a home here or to live here,
(02:49):
and so there were so many things going into it
that in the end, it really came down to me
watching these people posture of who's going to run and
talk about you know, I'm going to do this, and
I'm going to do that, and I'm going to be
the one and I want that top spot. And I
realized it's all the same people. It's the same people
that put us here, and that whole definition of insanity
(03:10):
when you do the same thing over and over and
over again and expect a different result. I hope California
is wisening up enough to know that we are not
going we are going to get the same result if
we keep electing the same people. And I had to
do this to up end this apple cart because we
have to fix California. We have to save California, because
all of my friends are leaving, my kids want to leave,
(03:32):
and the California dream has become a nightmare. And it's
just going to take a leader to be in Sacramento
to right in all of these these wrongs that are
plaguing us. And we've got to start doing things for
our residents rather than for special interests.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
You've been elected twice as sheriff in Riverside County. It's
obviously friendly territory. People are more in line with the
way you think and the actions you take. How are
you going to get through to the people in let's say,
La County, Bay Area northern California. I mean, you may
not win San Francisco, but to get more votes, to
(04:09):
get more people who to make them, I can't imagine
they don't realize what's going on. It's this is not
a theoretical debate we're having here. This is real life
and it is dreadful on a day to day basis
in a.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Lot of places.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
How are you going to convince them to do something
that maybe they've never done in their adult lives, And
that's vote for somebody other than a Democrat.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Yeah, you definitely have hit it right on the head,
and we know it's an uphill battle. But I'm going
to accept the challenge and I'm going to do everything
I can to convince them. We're going to do all
that we can just to get my message and me
in front of people, in front of the media and
in front of I mean, we'll have eight billion debates.
I don't care because those that is what will show
(04:55):
the public what we truly are up against. And I
think that what if I have detractors, which I know
I do. They're detractors because I'm honest. They don't like
me because I tell the truth. They don't like me
because I expose and I force them to have to
admit the truth. And I think people are tired of
(05:17):
being lied to. I think they are desperately looking for
a leader who will be honest with them, who will
tell them how things are and how we're going to
get to a solution. And they're just looking for someone
that is not the normal politician, that is not the
billionaire that's going to come in and fix everything. The
same thing that we've heard for decades, and it truly
(05:39):
is about bringing the truth to people. Is you said it,
This is reality. This is all you have to do
is walk out your front door and look in your
own yard and see that we are going in the
wrong direction. And I truly believe over the last couple
of years we've seen the tide turn. I think the
pendulum is going back to the other way. And Prop
(06:01):
thirty six, the overwhelming, resounding victory of Prop thirty six
showed that California is failing in Republican and Democrat minds
and they do want something different.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Why do you think people have voted for the likes
of Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, here In La Karen Bass
and Eric Carcetti. Why do they keep voting for these
people over and over and while the quality of life
has collapsed on a day to day basis. Again, this
is not a theoretical political argument. This is in front
(06:37):
of everybody's eyes. What's going on between the crime and
the homelessness? Just for starters, Why is it so difficult
for people to admit that their voting patterns are responsible
for a lot of this?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yeah, I don't know why it is so hard to
admit a wrong or admit that you did something wrong.
But I will tell you that I don't believe politic
and I don't believe elections have been real or honest
for decades. They're psychological warfare operations where you put somebody
(07:13):
up in front of cameras who have an appeal or
a likability, and you get them to lie and promise
and say things that just simply aren't true. But the
general goodness of the public we want to believe, we
want to trust, and that trust is just routinely taken
advantage of. And so I think that there's a lot
(07:34):
of dishonesty that goes into politics. We know that, I mean,
every campaign, no one's being honest. I think the appeal
for me is I have a background thirty two years
of nothing but integrity and honesty, and I think that's
going to resonate well with people. They don't have to
worry about whether or not I'm telling them the truth.
(07:56):
They can count on it.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
What are the biggest issues you're going to be focusing on,
Assuming that not a lot of disaster happens.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Well, I know, and God forbid, something does. We don't
want that. There's we have enough that we have to
deal with. But overall, I think the the number one
concern of everyone has to do and revolves around public safety.
Whether it's drugs, human trafficking, crime, homelessness, all of those
things rolled into one. With public safety, that has to
be our priority. And obviously that's going to be my niche,
(08:27):
and that's going to be an easy solution for me.
I don't have to bring somebody in or I don't
have to learn something to be able to have a
solution for that, so that that's going to be our inroad.
But then we still have the same problems that we've
always dealt with. We have a failed school system, we
have failed water policy, we have failed agricultural policy that
(08:49):
is simply just failing Californians. And so bringing those things
to the limelight, bringing them to the forefront of people's thoughts,
I think we really are going to gain a lot
of momentum because in the end, I am not going
to allow this campaign to be handled the same way
every campaign is handled, where we talk about issues that
(09:12):
Democrats want to talk about, because we're going to talk
about what's failing our state and some of their emotional
issues are not causing our state to fail. It's the economy,
it's the taxes, it's the regulation that they have done
over decades, and when we make them talk about that,
they're people are going to see that. Oh my gosh,
it has been the same people over and over, and
(09:34):
we absolutely do need someone from the outside to come
in and fix it for us.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
That's what's been frustrating about, Oh, I don't know, the
last twenty years worth of Republican campaigns in this state
is that none of the candidates ever engaged and talked
about the issues that mattered to people. They're always on
defense against whatever the Democrats brought up. And the Democrats
bring up these weird, distracting social issues that would get
(09:59):
people all bent out of shape. And that's not what
day to day life is about, right.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
That is, you are one hundred percent. You just hit
the nail on the head. The narrative is going to
paint me as as something that that elicits an emotional response.
They they're already saying I'm a racist, They're already saying
I'm homophobic. They're already saying all of those things that
are just that that elicit that. Oh my gosh, I
would never want to be that person and when they
(10:26):
do that to you, it intimidates you and it makes
you want to try and defend yourself. But what they
don't really realize with me and my personality is I'm saying,
bring it on because the truth, the truth is the truth,
and the truth will always win. So I'm not going
to defend any of that. You prove it. I'm not
a racist. I'm the furthest thing from it. I love women,
(10:46):
I love the power of a woman. I'm not misogynistic.
I'm not any of those.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I mean they say that about every every candidate that
runs against them.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
I mean, that's that's that's that's spoiler.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Point fall into yes, and you fall into the offending
yourself instead of pointing it to them and just saying
show me where.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah, now, you're right on. You got to run on
your issues. Can you hang on another segment?
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (11:09):
All right?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Good Chad Bianco. He's running as a Republican for governor
of California, the sheriff of Riverside County. We'll talk more
with Chad.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Next.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Continue with Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bionco and today he
announced he's running for governor as a Republican Riverside County
sheriff and he wants to be governor. And we could
use a guy like him, obviously, But how do you
convince everybody else who've brought us a parade of clowns
now for about twenty years. Let's get Chad back on
(11:46):
the air. Well, let me run a few issues by
you and tell me what your thoughts are. Right now,
the homeless thing here in la is just choking. And
last year Gavin Newsom admitted I couldn't even believe he
this that they had spent twenty four billion dollars since
he became governor and he didn't have any idea where
(12:08):
most of it went or if it had any effect. Yeah,
your reaction to that A twenty four billion?
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Yeah, it's a it's a hoestine. It's a complete waste
of our money. Where it's a it's an industrial complex.
We have turned homelessness into an industrial complex that is
just laundering our taxpayer money. There is there can be
zero desire to solve homeless If people are making millions
of dollars off of the homeless, this is not. This
(12:38):
is not a hard thing to solve. We need to
We need to stop calling it homeless. We need to
call it drug and doce psychosis, and we need to
address the drug abuse, and we need to address the
mental illness that it causes. And then we can get
them back into the homes that they already had, that
they were kicked out of because of their psychosis and
their drug abuse and their alcohol abuse. And when we
(12:58):
stop funneling these millions and millions of dollars into peoples,
into nonprofits and into organizations that will continue to profit
off of it, we will fix this. And it's we
have made it worse by giving more and more and
more money to it. It's it truly is common sense
and reason.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
How about this, this mandate that we can't drive we
can't buy gas powered cars as a twenty thirty five Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
That's that is it. And again that is a that
is an agenda item, that a special interest that someone is,
someone is benefiting from the reality of our cars is
that they are not the polluters that they want us
to believe. The fossil fuels, the cleanness, the scrubbers, the
things that they have to keep those emissions from our
(13:50):
air are nothing like they used to be, and so
it's it's it's a fallacy, it's it's misinformation. It's pushing
us into doing something that we are not ready to do.
Number One, we don't even have the we don't have
enough electricity in California to operate our air conditioning. But
somehow we're supposed to operate everyone's vehicle. And again, eventually
(14:14):
in twenty thirty, forty fifty years, maybe we are all electric.
But it's going to be when innovation and when and
when when people that can create these things and make
them better and make them efficient and make them fit in,
then electricity will take over. But nothing has ever worked
when the government forces you to do it. So when
(14:36):
we allow the free market and we allow free innovation
and enterprise to come up with a better product that
makes you not want to have fossil fuels or gas
powered diesel powered cars, then we'll transition.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Over to electric.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
But it's we don't do it because the government forces
you to.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
What more needs to be done with crime?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
We've got Prop thirty six, Now we've got better das
in La San Francisco and Oakland.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
What's next that you think has to be done.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Yeah, there's number one. The governor has to fund it.
He's going to do everything he can to make Prop
thirty six fail because if it succeeds, then he's going
to his legacy will be a decade of pushing Prop
forty seven that was a failure. So he's not going
to fund it. He's not going to give us the
resources to make it work. But in the end we
will keep pushing forward. We have to make more reforms
(15:27):
to where people are going to prison. We have to
make more reforms to hold people accountable, because if there
is no consequence, there is absolutely no reason for you
to stop bad behavior. If you are a parent, you
absolutely know that just from raising kids, and it's no
different when you're talking about criminals. If they keep getting
away with it over and over and over again, they
(15:48):
are just going to keep doing the same thing over
and over and over again. So when we actually fixed crime,
we didn't fix it, but we had a great handle
on it back when we had three strikes laws, when
and when there was a consequence for doing bad behavior
over and over and over again. And unfortunately for us,
over the last twenty years, the Democrat Party, the progressive
(16:10):
agenda has eroded all of those great things that we
were doing, and now we're back to where it's impossible
to go to jail for committing a crime.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
How would you work with the progressive legislature we've got.
You'd have to do so a lot of vetoing to
get the message across.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Well, we will, And this is what I will tell you, John,
and this is what I think is going to be
my appeal for California. I'm not going to work with progressives.
I will work with Democrats all day long. I will
not work with progressives because the progressive agenda, the progressive ideology,
is the exact problem that led us down this path
that we're on, that brought us to the conditions we
(16:50):
have today. Progressive progressivism, which is another name for socialism,
is not and never will be the answer in the
United States of America. We are the great country in
the world because of our freedoms, because of our lack
of government, and socialism slash progressivism is a disease. So
I will not work with progressives. I will work day
(17:12):
in and day out with Republicans and Democrats to fix
the issues that we have that may that in the
best interests of Californians, not in a political ideology or
a special interest.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Chad, I want you on the show as much as
you want to come on.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Thank you, John. I appreciate it. Hey, real quick, just
Bianco forgovernor dot com. We've got a bunch of things
on there that just highlights of how easy we believe
it's going to be to fix California. And I appreciate
everything you're doing.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
All right, Chad Bionco, Riverside County Sheriff that today he's
running for governor on the Republican side.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
And we'll talk again soon. Thanks for coming on. We
come back.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
LA Fire Department could have had ten engines patrolling the
Palisades Hills on January seventh. That's according to former assistant
chiefs with the Los Angeles Fire Department. It's what we've
been telling you from day one. It's not complicated that
that is next.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
You're listening to John Cobbel's on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
We are on from one until four after four John
Cobelt Show on demand on the iHeart app. Moistline is
eight seven seven mois Steady six eight seven seven Mois
Steady six or the talkback feature, and we'll play that
back on Friday. Uh, there's a phrase that's going to
be banned. We have to ban phrases from time to
time when they're overused, and they are and they're used
(18:36):
to mislead people, to misinform disinformed.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
What we all do that here?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
We don't and I'm not the idea that it wouldn't
have made a difference. That is the response you gets
from so many morons when you start talking about the
response to the fire in the pala stage, It wouldn'
admit a difference. And they say that about the reservoir
being empty, about the fire hydrants being broken, about the
(19:03):
firefighters not being deployed for the second shift, about the
ten fire engines that were not deployed that morning of
January seventh, about Karen Bass not being in America. The
defense from everybody in government, well, that wouldn't have made
a difference.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
They're lying, they're lying.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
And there are some people who used to work for
the Los Angeles Fire Department who are now telling the
truth and by name, so.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
You go take it up with them.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
We have a story in the LA Times from over
the weekend.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Paul Pringle and a lean check Midian.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And I'm gonna tell you because you know, we've trashed
the Times quite a bit. It's been a disaster for
quite a number of years now. But on the fire
they've been right on and they've been digging out the
truth and just relentless the publishing the truth, and this
is stuff. And you know they're telling the truth because
(20:07):
the people they're indicting with their stories are refusing to
answer any questions, are refusing to respond to the Times requests.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
And that goes right up to Karen.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Bass, fire Chief Kristin Crowley, and that dits Genice Keinonyez,
who runs the DWP. None of them will talk. A
Bass doesn't want to talk about being in Africa. Kenonias
doesn't want to talk about the empty reservoir, and the
(20:38):
fire chief Kristin Crowley doesn't want to talk about why
she didn't send ten fire engines and a thousand firefighters,
the ten engines for the Palisades, the thousand firefighters for
all the foothill regions in Los Angeles. Everybody goes quiet, Well,
you know, let's just look, you know, let's get the
fire out and fires out, all right. The fire's out.
(21:02):
The danger's over. It's rained like hell, nothing is rekindling.
You ought to talk. You ought to talk now publicly
at length from hostile media. Okay, getting back to this story, though,
The biggest myth is that the ten fire engines that
(21:24):
Kristen Crowley should have deployed would have not made a difference.
Just to take you back in time, when the first
call came in at ten to twenty nine in the
morning on on January seventh, from a resident of Piedra
Marada Drive, they could see some flames flickering over a ridge,
(21:48):
and it was about eleven minutes later, eleven minutes later
that the Alley Fire Departments. Engined twenty three radioed into dispatch.
We're on Palisage Drive. We went past Piedro Morada. We're
still heading up to where the fire is showing. It
would be eighteen minutes after that nine to one one
call before Engine twenty three or anybody reached the scene
(22:09):
on January seventh, eighteen minutes, and, as The Times writes,
travel times were especially critical because LAFD officials had decided
not to pre deploy any engines and firefighters in the Palisades,
as they had done in the past. See that's the
thing in the past. This was standard operating procedure. Despite
(22:31):
being warned that some of the most dangerous winds in
recent years were headed for the region. In alerts, the
National Weather Service had highlighted the Palisades, the San Fernando Valley,
and Hollywood areas of greatest concern. There are people who
have been going, wow, you no, ohy Alley's a big city.
You can't protect the hull, stating the whole city never
(22:52):
gets hit by wildfires. There are specific geographic areas that
are of highest risk, and the Palisades was.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
One of them.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
So the crews nearest to the fire or at stations
twenty three and sixty nine, three to four miles from
the Piedri Marauda address. By time the engines from those
stations reached the fire, the flames were on the march.
Kristin Crowley, the fire department chief, did not respond to
(23:23):
interview requests for this story more than a month after
the fire. She has not answered questions from the Times
about the precise whereabouts of the engines before the fire,
which engine or engines responded first, and when helicopters began
dropping water on the flames, among other things. Karen Bass's
office has not responded to The Times requests that the
(23:45):
city released records documenting the fire Department's actions in the
early stages of the fire.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
The fire toll. Now, we're going to go to the
three x.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Assistant or deputy fire chiefs who work for LAFD, and
they said the fire the toll might not have been
as bad if extra engines had been prepositioned much closer
to the most fire prone areas. They noted that the
fire department pre deployed significantly fewer engines on January seventh
(24:20):
than they did in the past, including twenty eleven, twenty thirteen,
and twenty nineteen. Now, while you don't know exactly where
a fire was going to break out, the Palisades area
did meet the department's criteria for significant pre deployments because
its stations face longer response times because it's high up
(24:45):
in the hills. They said, if there had been engines
available to patrol along the hills, commanders could have directed
the firefighters to monitor the area where the fire eventually started,
especially one specific area, because six days earlier, early on
New Year's Day, a small fire had been extinguished but
might have left smoldering embers. These are the fireworks that
(25:08):
some teenagers had set off on New Year's Eve and
then in New Year's Warning, there was suddenly a small fire,
and you're supposed to monitor that for days or weeks
afterwards because with strong winds, he could reignite the embers.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
They didn't.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Had they done that, that should have been the place
where the fire likely started. Should have been the number
one spot that the fire department monitored because of the
possibility that the embers would be disturbed and reignite. Former
(25:48):
Assistant Chief la Fire Department Patrick Butler, he now runs
the Rodondo Beach Fire Department. He said chaparral can burn
underground without visible flames for weeks after the original fire
has been knocked down. He said he had to deal
with flare ups of unseen embers for about a week
after the twenty nineteen Getty fire he was an LAFD commander.
(26:11):
Rekindles are a very common phenomenon, said Butler. He left
LAFT four years ago. He worked thirty years after a
large fire most of the surrounding vegetation had already burned,
but after a smaller fire like the January first one,
A rekindle can easily grow in the right conditions, like
(26:32):
high winds. So Kristin Crowley, if she was competent and
she is not, should have sent a crew specifically to
that spot number one place. Something would have happened. Remember,
the winds were going to blow at an extremely high
rate eventually. Butler and other former officials says fires are
(26:53):
always more challenging to fight in strong wins, but pre
deploying engines could enable crews to keep it skinny, which
is a firefighter term for preventing it from spreading sideways.
Then other rigs can attack the head of the flames
from a safe distance with help from helicopters. Other pre
(27:17):
deployed engines could guard homes in the immediate path of
the fire. There weren't any engines beleeve deployed to pre
deployed zero. The ones eventually that were deployed got there
too late. Rick Crawford another former LAFD battalion chief who
left the department last year. He spent thirty years there.
(27:39):
He's now crisis management coordinator for the US Capitol. He
said the fire department's command failure to provide more engines
put firefighters at a strategic disadvantage from the first play.
The firefighters an outstanding job given the hand they were dealt,
They just didn't have time to employ their normal tactics.
Here's a third fire official, Perry Vermilion. He was a
(28:02):
captain for thirty three years with La County Fire Department.
Vermilion said, if you don't hit hard in the beginning,
it's over, and he fought a lot of fires in
the Mallible area near the Palisades. He said the LAFT
should have staged engines at several points in the Palisades
and kept them moving and on the lookout. You drive around,
you drive up the hills and learn the area. You're
(28:23):
on patrol. You send a couple of strike teams up
here or there, hang out in the park. You move
them all to different places so they're close to the brush.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
So there you have it. Those of you say, oh,
it wouldn't have made a difference.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Yes, take it from these guys combine ninety years for
La City and County fire departments. Of course it would
make a difference. You had somebody near that original fire,
which they should have most likely placed for it to blow.
Was that spot and then maybe nothing would have happened.
More coming up on this. It's a great article in
(28:58):
the La Times.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI A six.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
We're gonna talk with Katie Grimes from the California Globe
dot Com. I mentioned this earlier with Chad Bianco. This
this gas powered car band that Newsom got passed twenty
thirty five, the sale of all gas powered cars? Is
the Trump administration gonna kill this? Remotely from Washington, d C.
(29:27):
We're gonna talk with Katie Grimes. Maybe maybe that whole
deal is dead already, or it's the walking dead. We'll
talk about it. Gas powered car ban. God, this is like,
this is like a record number of insanely stupid ideas
that any state has ever had to endure. All Right,
(29:48):
I'm telling you the La Times Day has done a
great job and they're clearing up all the nonsense that
some people believe in that nothing could have stopped the fires. Well,
maybe nothing could have stopped the fires, but early on
you could have prevented this incredible march by sending up
(30:11):
what the Time says they had ten engines that should
have been patrolling the palisades hills. And that's according to
three former assistant and deputy fire chiefs whose names are
mentioned here. Former Assistant Chief Patrick Butler. We also had.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Let me get you the name of the other guys.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Rick Crawford, a former LAFD battalion chief, and then Perry Vermillion,
who was a captain with Los Angeles County.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
All three of them said that.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
If you had a lot of these ten fire engines
driving around, they would have been nearby to put it
out quickly. They should have been up in the hills
were deployed. Oh and don't forget the thousand, one thousand
firefighters that should have been kept for a second shift,
because the Palisades was considered one of the highest fire
(31:14):
risks by the National Weather Service along with Hollywood in
the San Fernando Valley, So that's where you put all
the extra firefighters. I think they had forty extra engines
and about thousand firefighters, even though you had a lot
of fire engines in the shop, because we don't have
(31:34):
mechanics that were enough, and the Palisades is one of
the first places to go, and that's where they've done
this before.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
They did it in twenty eleven, they did it in
twenty thirteen. They did it.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
In twenty nineteen, they had they had a response. In
twenty twenty one, there was a fire there and I've
got friends who were there in twenty twenty one and said, yeah,
they showed.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Up real fast.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
This was a really deadly disastrous job done by Kristin Crowley,
the fire chief, because she didn't have any supervision. If
Karen Bass stays in Los Angeles on this and I
can't believe they didn't do this anyway, because it was
two days before Bass took off for Africa, but on
(32:17):
January second and third, because Bass left on the fourth,
don't you have a meeting and say okay? National Weather
Service is saying, here comes the sant Ana wins, which
come every year, fire danger, which happens every year. They're saying,
go to the Palisades. They're saying, go to Hollywood. They're saying,
go to San Fernando Valley. Okay, So how many extra
(32:41):
engines do you have not to mention.
Speaker 5 (32:42):
This is an extreme extreme wind event given that we
had such low humidity and we haven't had rain in
a really long time before the fires, so it was
a huge recipe for disaster. I was reporting on it
for days before the fires started.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
No, because because you had the wind, you also had
the long period without rain, which went back I think
to at least last April.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Yeah, it was six months or something like.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Yeah, and then you had I saw humidity readings down
at three percent exactly, So all the indicators were there.
The Weather Service did the calculations and said extreme fire danger.
I don't know what else you want them to say,
And I don't know what else Karen Bass was reading
those two days, are Kristin Crowley. When you see extreme
(33:32):
fire danger and you're the fire chief, what's your next step?
They're telling you where the most likely places for the fire?
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Who. No, people didn't know where it was going to
do this they did. They knew.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
You don't know exactly where it's going to hit, but
you know where the biggest risks are. It's a game
of math, It's a game of playing the percentages, biggest risks. Palisades, Hollywood, say,
Fernando Valley boom happened in the Palisades, and they had nobody.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
And they just didn't do what they had done in
the past.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
The three other assistant or deputy chiefs who've worked there
for thirty years. Each of them said, well, this is
what we did, this is standard, this is what and
now for thirty six days, Kristin Crowley says nothing. Karen
Bass says nothing. And I'm not even talking about the
reservoir and geniez Kinoniez and the DWP. She says nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing.
(34:37):
The fire chief who made the deputy chief who made
the decision. It was Richard Fields and his only comment
was that the engines they pre deployed were sufficient. Well, no,
they weren't. Then listen to this doozy. Jason Hing, chief
Deputy of Emergency Operations, acknowledged that the pre deployed engines
(34:59):
were not enough, but says more would not have made
a difference.
Speaker 5 (35:03):
How can you say the more would not make a difference, Well,
because that doesn't even make sense.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
They try to confuse the issue because they know most
people don't know fire preparation, fire science, fire prepar you
know fire logistics.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know
that the more, of course it would make a difference.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
You know.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Once the fire had spread all over the Palisades and
the winds were blowing one hundred miles an hour. Yeah,
you couldn't do anything about it. But the point was,
that's why you pre deploy. That's why they're sitting up
in the hills first thing in the morning. Because I
was in the Palisades from about eight thirty to nine thirty,
and the eight thirty the breeze was gentle. Nine to thirty,
(35:44):
it was noticeably stronger. In fact, my wife even took
video an hour before the fire took off. She took video,
and you saw the increase in the winds. They should
have been there already. Well, we're gonna keep on top
of this. I don't care how uncomfortable life gets for
(36:06):
Karen Bass, Kristen Crowley and Janiez. I'm telling you every
day we're gonna give you whatever new stuff we find.
Debra Mark live in the CAFI twenty for our newsroom. Hey,
you've been listening to The John Cobalt Show podcast. You
can always hear the show live on KFI Am six
forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The John Kobylt Show News
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John Kobylt
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