January 8, 2026 • 31 mins
It's been a year since a series of wildfires engulfed parts of Southern California, leveling entire parts of Pacific Palisades and Altadena, and leaving a path of destruction and unanswered questions in their wake.
Now, a year later, residents in both burn areas are working to rebuild their homes and their lives, navigating bureaucratic issues and other challenges.
The KFI News Team revisits the events of last January and the work that has, and hasn't been done since.
LA Wildfires: One Year Later brings you stories from people affected by the fires, the challenges they continue to face, and the path forward.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is La Fires. One year later on Michael Monks
from KFI News, the investigation into last January's wildfires now
includes federal lawmakers from outside California. Kfi's Jason Campedonia has
that story.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
California and Florida are similar when it comes to natural disasters.
Florida has hurricanes and California burns almost every year, just
like clockwork. Former Florida governor and now Republican Florida Senator
Rick Scott has launched a federal investigation into what went
wrong and what went right during and after the wildfires
a year ago that left the cities of the Pacific
Palisades and Altadena nothing but piles of rubble.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
I just heard about, you.
Speaker 5 (00:49):
Know, the victims, and had gone through lots of disasters,
dealt with disasters when I was governor Florida.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
We had four hurricanes.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
And with some flighting things like that, And what you
kept hearing is that no one would give these victims
any information. I all went wrong, shooting, maybe held accountable.
What could they do better? How to make sure this
doesn't happen again. So I figured with my background, I
would be able to help.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
And then reality TV show star and Meltdown King from
the MTV show The Hills, Spencer Pratt entered the chat, not.
Speaker 6 (01:25):
Her friend Roe liar, and I'm going to walk away
from these lives because she's gonna sit here.
Speaker 7 (01:29):
And keep hying you.
Speaker 8 (01:30):
You're the biggest poser in this town.
Speaker 7 (01:32):
You know what you're going to burn for.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
I know.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Spencer had a home in the Palisades, and the one
time source for trash TV drama became the sole crusader
for people in his hometown. He was the first to
testify in the federal hearing brought by Senator Scott on
the wildfires.
Speaker 6 (01:49):
As you know, my family and I lost our home,
our home and everything we own in the Palisades fire.
It's been ten months and our government leaders, instead of
helping us rebuild, have only served to make the rebuilding
process so painful and slow that many just quit and
are force out of their hometown through attrition. So vultures
(02:12):
like Gavin Newsom and Scott Wiener have a blank slate
to remake the Palisades in the vision of their wealthy
donors and foreign investors.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
The reality show King was able to get Senator Scott's
attention and gave him a tour of the burn areas.
He laid out all of his documents for the Senator
and told him the truth as to why he had
not been able to rebuild.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
So I met Spencer Pratt and so just you know,
my goal is to find out, Okay, so what went wrong?
Speaker 4 (02:40):
How can we fix it? And I can tell you.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
There's always something you can do better, So we're what
I'm trying to.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Do is just do those things. What went wrong? Shouldn't
baby held accountable? What do we do to make sure
this doesn't happen?
Speaker 3 (02:52):
To get Senator Scott says he's trying to talk to
everyone involved with the wildfires, both the response and the cleanup.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
We've done letters asking for my information from Mayor Bass,
the Los Angeles City Council, the Los Angeles Department Water
and Power, the LA Fire Department, to California Parks and Recreations.
At the federal level, we sent a lot of money
on wildfire suppression over the years.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Since I've been asking for information.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
From the USDA, the Department Homeland Security, Department Interior, Attorney General,
Department Transportation, Treasury, Sectary, just trying to get better information.
The victims deserve this. We lost twelve seniors. It's like
there's nobody rebuilding hardly, so why can't they get permits?
Speaker 4 (03:36):
I mean, this doesn't make sense.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Senator Scott says, while he's trying to talk with everybody
involved with the wildfires, he believes not everybody is being
as forthcoming as they should be as they work to
help the victims of the fires. Are you finding the
agencies that you're contacting here in southern California, the Mayor's office, LAFD,
Are you finding them helpful?
Speaker 4 (03:58):
It's not the easiest thing in the world.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
And Cabinism said he's going to cooperate with us. But
so it's it's not like we're getting nothing, but we're
not getting everything. We do know that we've gotten text
messages from firefighters responded to the Latchman fire warned that
the fire was still smoldering, and I you know, I'm
(04:20):
not a fire fighter, and I'm not an expert, but
I've been you know, we have every so often it
gets try. We have some fires in the Everglades in Florida,
and you know, they don't leave until it's out. It
doesn't make any sense to me that why the reservoirs
are empty.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
And nobody's really explained that well.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
And uh so, so you know, we're getting information, but
it's not you know, we don't.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Have everything we've been asked for yet.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
So so, but we're gonna get there. We're gonna you know,
we're not We're gonna stay after it. The victims deserve,
you know, they deserve to.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Know what happened.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
California has two senators, Senators Shift from the Burbank area
and Senator Padilla from the Law Angeles area. Scott says
communication between the three of them is limited, and communication
with Governor Gavin Newsom is non existent. Why do you like,
we have two senators here, Senator Shift and Senator Padilla.
Why does it take a senator from three thousand miles
(05:16):
away to come in here and demand answers like? Have
have you talked with Shift? Have you talked with Padilla?
Have you talked with Newsom?
Speaker 4 (05:25):
For that matter, I've not talked to new some them and.
Speaker 5 (05:30):
I'm you know, I've not talked to Shift or to
Padia about you know, what their interest is. But you know,
every senator pire gets to focus on what they think
is the most important, and I think it's not. This
is not going to be just helpful to the victims
at Pacific Palisage, but this is going to be helpful
any anybody that's dealing with the disaster.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Is how do we how to do this?
Speaker 5 (05:52):
So my goal with this at the end is that
we are able to tell people, Okay, so.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
This is how do you prevent this from happening?
Speaker 3 (05:59):
I asked Scott if he could have one wish granted
when it comes to his investigation, what it might be
if you could ask for one thing. Looking at twenty
twenty six and the future of this investigation, what is
the biggest thing that you think will hold the key
to the information for you to reach those three goals
that you had mentioned earlier.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
I think complete cooperation from everybody we've asked information from,
just to answer everything we ask. Let the chips fall
with him, A knowing that you know, worry that somebody's.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Going to look bad.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
You know, if you're if you're a human being, there's
always things you can do better.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
The former Florida governor says, in order for victims to
get what they need. There needs to be a streamlined
process of how things are done, not a hodgepodge of
agencies trying to get credit for doing small parts of
the rebuilding process that don't amount to much progress. Quickly,
I spoke to an assemblyman who is a local assemblyman
for the Altadena fire right next to the city of Pasadena,
(06:59):
and he was saying that the lack of rebuilding is
because there's too many there's too many cooks in the kitchen,
and everybody wants credit for whatever they're doing for the
rebuilding process. Do you have any suggestions on how we
can streamline rebuilding efforts here in southern California.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
I'm a business guy by background, and you know what
you've got to do is you've got to streamline the
whole process in every state. You've got to really we've
got to put a lot more effort into how do
you drive down the cost of insurance. You know, part
of it's going to be where you don't have a
gazillion permits you have to get. And then number two,
every state's going to haster really focused on how they
(07:41):
get their property insurance rates down, including.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Florida to his credit. Governor Gavin Newsom says that he's
doing the best he can through a website. The new website,
run by the state offers homeowners who had their place
destroyed by the Eaton and Palisades via links to contractors
and designers that have been reviewed by Quote Trusted Community Partners.
Site also features fifteen builders and vendors for folks who
want a faster approach of getting a home on their
(08:05):
lot with prefab options. Newsom says that rebuilding will take time.
Homeowners can go to Laises dot org slash resources for
more information. Meantime, Senator Scott says he'll be in close
contact with KFI and give information as it comes in
in hopes that more people become more transparent. Jason Campedonia,
(08:26):
KFI News up next.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Rebuilding homes in the burned out areas has been difficult,
even for people whose homes are still standing.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iheartredial app.
This is la Fires one year leater. I'm Michael Monks
from KFI News. The rebuilding process has been a challenge,
despite regular updates from government officials about cutting red tape.
Survivors have said it's not moving quickly enough. Kfis Brigida
tia Agostino reports the difficulties include needed repairs for homes
(09:11):
that didn't burn down.
Speaker 8 (09:12):
If your house burned, as bad as that is, your
choice is it's fairly binary. But if your house is
standing and you have smoke damage, it's a flow chart
that looks like spaghetti. There's no clear path.
Speaker 9 (09:26):
After the Palisades and Eaten fires, homeowners like Mark Gorlic
were told they were the lucky ones because their houses
didn't burn down. Many of the homes in the Palisades
Highlands where he lives are still standing, and for the
families inside them, that's turned out to be a different
kind of problem.
Speaker 8 (09:42):
Where we live, seventy five percent of the structures are standing,
but that doesn't mean they're not affected. The condition of
our house is contaminated to such a place that it's
not safe to live in.
Speaker 9 (09:56):
Contractors and homeowners say these standing homes are often contaminated
by toxic smoke, ash and chemicals released when entire canyons burned.
Speaker 10 (10:05):
They're insurance companies are delaying settlement, denying coverage and significantly
under estimating the proper scope of repair to make the
environment a healthy, clean environment to live in.
Speaker 9 (10:25):
Again, the homes are in limbo.
Speaker 10 (10:27):
These houses have sat untouched since January. They are still
covered in soot and dust.
Speaker 9 (10:36):
In cases like these, homeowners are often directed to bring
in industrial hygienists. Some are hired independently and others are
chosen by insurance companies.
Speaker 10 (10:45):
They come in and they take samples of the dust
and ash, and they'll probe into areas like wall cavities,
and they'll inspect under the floor and in the attic,
and they tape lift samples and so forth, and take
the dust samples to a lab.
Speaker 9 (11:07):
Those tests often reveal carcinogens.
Speaker 10 (11:09):
These houses are almost all contaminated with lead and asbestos,
so that it's a hazardous environment certainly to live in.
Speaker 9 (11:20):
But insurers repeatedly push for surface level remediation.
Speaker 10 (11:24):
What they want to do is send a cleaning company
out and wet wipe surfaces, and in some cases they
even have proposed shampooing carpets and running machinery that sort
of masks of odor, any sort of porous surface insulation
(11:47):
in the walls, any sort of a fabric and so
you can't really clean those surfaces. You have to remove
them and dispose of them.
Speaker 9 (11:55):
That process can cost six figures and still fail.
Speaker 10 (11:59):
You might spend one hundred and twenty one hundred and
thirty thousand dollars to clean the house and sixty percent
of them are still contaminated.
Speaker 9 (12:06):
That's because the only proven fix is to strip contaminated
homes back down to the studs.
Speaker 10 (12:12):
The framing of the walls has to be dry ice
blasted and then hepa vacuumed. Then you apply like a
shellac over the wood framing, and then you have it
tested again, and if it tests clean, then you've just
rebuild the house.
Speaker 9 (12:29):
But homeowners say insurers often pressure them to accept cleaning
as the final solution, even when independent testing suggests deeper contamination,
and for those who push back, the consequences can be financial.
Speaker 10 (12:42):
The insurance companies have kind of been bullying people. They're
starting to say to some of them, hey, pretty soon
we're going to stop paying your additional living expenses if
you don't make some progress towards getting back in your house.
Speaker 9 (12:55):
There are also real health risks if contamination isn't properly addressed.
Speaker 10 (13:00):
You know, some things cause cancer and are known to
be carcinogens, and others like blood can cause learning disabilities
and children and when they're exposed to it and it
poisoned your blood, and they can just cause all kinds
of problems.
Speaker 9 (13:14):
Mark Gorlic is one of many homeowners caught in the uncertainty.
Speaker 8 (13:18):
I can go visit my house and I can water
the plants and get the mail, but we can't live
there until it's been properly remediated.
Speaker 9 (13:28):
Gorlick's insurer is California fair Plan, the state's insurer of
last resort. He says he was forced onto fair Plan
after other insurers declined to renew coverage just months before
the fire. How contamination is tested and how results are
interpreted has become a central dispute. That's because independent industrial
hygienists typically take targeted samples to identify contamination hotspots. Fair
(13:52):
Plan relies on a composite testing method that blends samples together,
and approach critics say can mask higher levels of contaminae.
Speaker 8 (14:00):
This is the composite method of testing for metals and toxins.
Because of the protocol, it's virtually guaranteed to show a
lower level of toxicity than is truly there, because it
allows Fair Plan to then say, well, it just needs
to be cleaned, when that might not be true.
Speaker 9 (14:23):
Cleaning, he says, isn't even covered under his policy.
Speaker 8 (14:27):
I don't want you to clean my house. What I
want you to do is return it to its pre
lost condition.
Speaker 9 (14:33):
He says, Fair Plan sent him a small check based
on an estimate that didn't reflect the true damage.
Speaker 8 (14:38):
If you go on our attic, it looks like a
coal miner's lung. It's about two and a half times
the cost to properly fix the attic, just the attic,
forget about the rest of the house than what they
send us a check for.
Speaker 9 (14:52):
Across his neighborhood, homeowners are taking wildly different approaches.
Speaker 8 (14:56):
There was dumpsters full of sheet rock, and then there
was furniture, and then there's one with concrete. Some people
may be getting it funded by the insurance, and other
people like us, are just landlocked. We don't know what
to do.
Speaker 9 (15:09):
The problem goes beyond individual claims. Court rulings in Los
Angeles have found portions of California Fair Plans policy language
illegal when it comes to smoke damage. Rulings that said
the insurer short changed wildfire victims.
Speaker 8 (15:23):
Our insurance commissioner is not holding the California Fair Plan
to the responsibility of living up to acting in good
faith and doing the right thing. And until that happens,
California Fair Plan is getting a pass by Ricardo Lara
until Gavin Newsom watched down the hall and says, this
(15:43):
is your last day. You're going to go find another job.
And I got to put somebody in here that's going
to have the accountability and the responsibility fall on Fair
Plan so that these people can get help. Until that happens,
we're going to all be in to infinite loop of doom.
Speaker 9 (16:02):
A year after the fires, Gorlic still doesn't know when
or if he'll be able to safely move back home.
Speaker 8 (16:08):
We're forgotten.
Speaker 9 (16:09):
Brigitta Agostino, KFI News up next.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
LA's signature industry, already hammered by COVID and multiple strikes,
was dealt another blow when the wildfires erupted last year.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
This is La Fires. One year later. I'm Michael Monks
from KFI News. Last year's fires destroyed homes large and small,
belonging to the wealthy and lower income, the famous and
the unknown. In Hollywood, well known celebrities lost their houses,
and so did people whose names you might not know,
(16:59):
but whose work you do. After the COVID pandemic of
twenty twenty, the Writers and Actors strikes of twenty twenty three,
the Hollywood industry was already reeling oky. If I just
had the Brooker reports. The wildfires of January twenty twenty
five have only made things worse for LA's signature industry.
Speaker 11 (17:17):
Sure Fire Hollywood has made a career out of disaster movies, firestorms, earthquakes,
cities reduced to rubble, all neatly wrapped up in two hours,
scored with music and ending with survival. But one year
ago the disaster was in fiction.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
It was real life.
Speaker 12 (17:32):
Right before noon, I started getting alerts for like sensor
failure or tampers and sensor failure, and I was like, Okay,
this is not good.
Speaker 11 (17:42):
Christopher Futerorich is a film and TV composer and musician
who lives in Alta, Dina. He's worked on music for
films like Kyote Ugly and was in the process of
scoring a Netflix show. When the fires started.
Speaker 12 (17:53):
The neighborhood was just decimated. It was just like houses
still on fire. How's it gone small during ruins? Just
you know, trees down, power lines down. I've never been
in a war zone, but maybe it was a war zone.
It was just it was mind boggling just to process.
Speaker 11 (18:11):
Chris and his partner and he had to make a
quick escape when the fires moved in and destroyed their home,
including his studio and all his instruments.
Speaker 12 (18:18):
Me and my writing partner, Rosie, we have a little
synthpop band that we put music out on, and then
we also had scored a couple of seasons of a
Netflix show, and so it was just like all that creativity,
all the instruments that I had collected over the past
thirty forty years, just all that stuff was just gone.
Speaker 11 (18:37):
And another layer of complication to an already difficult situation.
Chris had been diagnosed with cancer just a few weeks
before the fires.
Speaker 12 (18:45):
There was like little bursts of creativity here and there,
but I just was not in the headspace to even
like just deal with that.
Speaker 11 (18:51):
The only thing bringing him comfort was one of his
favorite songs, whichital Linemen by Glenn Campbell.
Speaker 7 (18:57):
I am a love for the count.
Speaker 12 (19:00):
Obviously, the lyrics have absolutely nothing to do with the
firing like that, but whenever that comes on, that always
makes me very happy, he says.
Speaker 11 (19:07):
For months after the fires, his work stopped, and so
did in music. Feudorich wasn't alone. Thousands of industry workers
who lived in the Palisades and Altadena had no place
to live. The work stopped, while many people trying to
put their lives back together.
Speaker 13 (19:21):
Hundreds of people that work in the industry lost their homes,
and that provided just another gut punch to an industry
that was already reeling.
Speaker 11 (19:31):
Meg James is an entertainment reporter for the La Times
and covered the fires. She says, although no studio lawns
or sound stages were affected, the people who make the
movies in television were hit the hardest.
Speaker 14 (19:41):
And I think practically, you know, because there were so
many people in the Palisades that lost their homes. There
were a tremendous amount of people in Altadena, so you know,
musicians actor in so many ways.
Speaker 13 (19:55):
It was not like an economic loss to the industry, say,
but it was psychologically just really devastating.
Speaker 11 (20:05):
Even before the fires, Film and TV production in LA
was near a record low. Squeezed by studio cutbacks and
competition from other states, jobs were disappearing. Some workers were
already leaving. Then the Palisades burned and hours later Alta Dina.
The fires caused an estimated seventy six to one hundred
and thirty one billion dollars in damage, hitting an industry
(20:26):
that still supports hundreds of thousands of jobs. Many now
struggling to rebuild or move on.
Speaker 13 (20:32):
As we approached the one year anniversary of these just
horrific fires, I think the long term costs and the
changes to the industry are not yet calculated.
Speaker 15 (20:46):
The fire's effect on production extended well beyond the areas
that immediately burned.
Speaker 11 (20:51):
Philip Sakolowski with Film LA says historic filming locations, places
that had appeared on screens for decades were also destroyed.
Speaker 15 (20:58):
They were five hundred and four five unique locations filmed
in those territories and the five years prior, so we
know that some significant locations were lost.
Speaker 11 (21:07):
Sakolowski says. With a new film and TV tax credit underway,
he's hopeful that twenty twenty six will get off to
a better start for people who need work.
Speaker 15 (21:15):
There are new projects coming online every day, and we
would hope to see in twenty twenty six a lot
more film work return so that we can fully put
this chapter behind.
Speaker 11 (21:22):
Us, A chapter that reminds us of how deeply intertwined
Hollywood is with its neighborhoods, and many people, like Chris Puterich,
are choosing to rebuild if they can't.
Speaker 12 (21:31):
I am hopeful for the future. I'm excited for the actual.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Rebuild, he says.
Speaker 11 (21:36):
He and Annie are staying because this is where their
stories are rooted. This is where his cancer went into
remission and he started to work again.
Speaker 12 (21:43):
Remission from non Hodgkin's lymphoma and no evidence of disease
for the Squamas cell carcinoma.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
That is amazing happening.
Speaker 7 (21:52):
I'm so glad to hear that.
Speaker 12 (21:54):
Yeah, I'm very happy with the outcome as well.
Speaker 11 (21:57):
You can rebuild a business, you can rewrite a script,
but rebuilding a community takes time, and in the city
that tells the world stories, this one isn't over yet.
Speaker 7 (22:08):
It's still love.
Speaker 11 (22:12):
Heatherbrooker KFI News.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
As the community is destroyed by the wildfires, pave a
path forward, some residents have thrown up their hands. They've
sold their now vacant lots and moved on. A new
report from the real estate company Redfinn has found roughly
forty percent of all those lots that have sold have
gone to investors looking to profit off property in the Palisades,
Altadena and Malibu. The report found in the Palisades, investors
(22:36):
purchased forty eight of the one hundred and nineteen lots
sold in just the third quarter of last year. In
Altadena it was twenty seven out of sixty one lots
going to investors, and in Malibu nineteen out of forty three.
Some residents of those communities have urged their neighbors not
to sell, to stay and to rebuild together, expressing worry
that investors could sit on the vacant lots indefinitely. Redfinn
(22:59):
says there's now a pile up of land for sale,
more than three hundred lots available in the Palisades compared
to just seven before the fires, and two hundred and
twenty five in Alta Dina compared to two a year earlier.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
This is La Fires. One year later. I'm Michael Monks
from KFI News. When the wildfires broke out in southern
California last January, thousands of people were left without anything.
People from all walks of life saw their lives turned
upside down, and folks from all over the place stood
up to help as best they could. One of the
(23:45):
organizations people turned to was the Dream Center, which helped
in the very earliest stages of this tragedy to help
get people some sort of comfort. Kfi's Amy King revisits
the center a year later.
Speaker 16 (23:57):
As we land on one year since the devastating fires,
Yeah that tore through Altadena on the Palisades. We wanted
to come back to Dream Center because Dream Center was
so instrumental in helping so many people who lost everything
in literally the blink of an eye. So Pastor Matthew,
(24:18):
thank you for taking some time.
Speaker 17 (24:19):
To talk to us today.
Speaker 7 (24:21):
Thank you.
Speaker 16 (24:22):
Let's look back at a year ago, and immediately the
fires started on the night of the seventh. They raged
on the eighth, and then people who just lost everything
started to show up and say, I don't know what
to do, so talk to me about what people were
(24:42):
feeling at the time because you were here and you
experienced meeting with those people firsthand when they were coming
in literally shell shocked with nothing but the clothes on
their back.
Speaker 7 (24:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 18 (24:53):
You know, I've been here for thirty one years dealing
with all kinds of things here in LA but that
thing that hit it was one of the most unbelievable
experiences of my life because we were thrown into action.
Speaker 7 (25:03):
You know, we just went to the parking lot.
Speaker 18 (25:05):
We said, what do we have. We have food, we
have resource, we have clothes, we have that. Let's just
throw it out there and make it available and see
what happens. Well, a little did I realize everything seemed
to happen. You know, nineteen thousand cars came through that line.
People were showing up and looking for someone to hug.
They were like literally running through the elevators in the
halls here, just like looking for someone to hug and
(25:27):
tell their story to.
Speaker 7 (25:29):
And little did I realize that the whole staging.
Speaker 18 (25:31):
Ground of nineteen thousand cars would turn into the beginning
of finding out what people needed, finding out what they
were going through, finding out Suddenly you became a counselor
you became someone who's trying to process, you know, their
lives and rebuild their lives. You've been to hear stories
that they were offering about what they lost in the
buyers and it was so traumatic and it was so
(25:54):
rewarding to be able to say, maybe I'm in a
better position in my life right now where I could
do something for you, and they just have to figure.
Speaker 7 (26:01):
It out on the move.
Speaker 18 (26:02):
I mean, there was no sense of great order that
we had because there's no order to this whole catastrophe.
So we just started and use what we had and
trying into this unbelievable miracle of serving people. But it
is a problem that still goes on today. That's just
so heartbreaking to sea.
Speaker 16 (26:19):
Yeah, and when you said you hit and went into
action like you really did, it was amazing because we
were down here and watching the lines of cars coming through,
and there were two separate lines.
Speaker 17 (26:34):
There was one car, yeah, or one car.
Speaker 16 (26:36):
Line of people dropping off and they were coming with
truckloads of donations all like clothes and furniture and household items, toothbrushes, diapers,
like everything. They just showed up and thousands of people
showed up. And then on the other side, you had
the thousands of people who showed up in the receiving
line and would go through and your people would would
(27:00):
greet them and say what do you need?
Speaker 7 (27:02):
Yeah, yeah, Yeah.
Speaker 18 (27:05):
The incredible thing about that was it was like it
it was kind of a glorious chaos. It really it
really taught us the links of how much we're willing
to serve. And when you know, Dave called me from
iHeart and he said, we want to partner with you
guys and bring our whole team and bring awareness.
Speaker 7 (27:20):
And it just gave us.
Speaker 18 (27:22):
Confidence to believe that, Look, there's other people as crazy
as we are, you know, they're willing to like have
that spirit of a responder.
Speaker 17 (27:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 18 (27:28):
Well, and so people are showing up and and cars
we've never seen before.
Speaker 15 (27:32):
You know.
Speaker 7 (27:32):
Typically in LA we work with a.
Speaker 18 (27:33):
Lot of people who are really you know, less than
paycheck to paycheck. But suddenly people became paycheck to paycheck,
you know, or and the only asset they had was
in their home. And just we said, you know what,
we're going to let the call to action is going
to come from the cries of the people. And that's
what happened. We just made the call whatever people needed
(27:54):
at the time, and that's what That was a beautiful thing.
Speaker 16 (27:58):
And as we also talked about a little bit, a
lot of the people who need the help now are
not normally people who would need or ask for help.
Speaker 17 (28:05):
I mean a lot of these people are homeowners.
Speaker 7 (28:07):
It's very different from us.
Speaker 18 (28:08):
You could simply we deal with people who just really
like day to day in survival mode and now they
are but at the same time, their mindset's like.
Speaker 7 (28:16):
How can I get this back to you? How can
I help somebody else? So it was a whole different dynamic.
Speaker 18 (28:21):
It was so much of like people's heart and soul
was into something, but like, hey, if you do something
for me, I got do. It's almost like an exchange
mentality when there is no exchange from us. It's freely
you receive and freely you give. And we didn't see
anything as I have to. We saw everything as one
great get to and it was a great joy and
it does.
Speaker 17 (28:41):
Your heart good, I tell you. I mean I wasn't
here every day.
Speaker 16 (28:43):
I was out here a couple of times and just
to see it, I mean I get back my car
and start crying.
Speaker 17 (28:50):
But just because it was so beautiful. You see people
come forward to help.
Speaker 18 (28:54):
That was our commitment, and everything we do is longevity.
Wehad programs are one year. A homeless family house is
one year. So when we take on something, we kind
of are usually the last ones to leave.
Speaker 17 (29:05):
Yeah, And as you mentioned, you've got the you serve
lunch to people every.
Speaker 7 (29:09):
Day, you have twelve hundred meals, twelve.
Speaker 17 (29:11):
Hundred meals, you have the rehab, you have the housing,
and that's still all going on.
Speaker 7 (29:15):
Yep.
Speaker 17 (29:16):
And then this is on top of it.
Speaker 18 (29:17):
Yeah, and even emergency housing people still coming in from
the fires, were giving them places to stay on the
campus and making it work. So I think the cool
thing about the Dream Center is is very you know,
we have a basic structure, but.
Speaker 7 (29:29):
We're always willing to pivot and move.
Speaker 18 (29:32):
And that's kind of the hallmark of who we are
is that, you know, man's need is God's call.
Speaker 7 (29:37):
For the day they have a need, that's our call.
Speaker 17 (29:40):
Okay, And Pastor Matthew, what do you hope for moving forward?
Speaker 18 (29:43):
I just hope that people, you know, and moving forward
to this new year, would have the confidence to believe
that there's light at the end of the tunnel. I
think a lot of people have lost their confidence, you know,
and lost their their faith and their hope and and
maybe they can get into a place of dreaming again
because with like this hits you, it just takes away
your ability to want to believe for something more because
(30:04):
so much has been taken for you. But that my
hope is that like through kindness and love and through
people that are there for them, it would just spark
a little bit of like, you know what, people got
my back and I feel like I can make it.
Speaker 17 (30:14):
It's a year later and people still need help.
Speaker 16 (30:16):
I mean there was ten thousand homes lost, ten pounds.
Speaker 7 (30:21):
Yeah, but we're still responding.
Speaker 18 (30:23):
We're still just like, hey, i'll take that call, I'll
do this, I'll do that, And everyone's willing to drop
everything and drop the hat.
Speaker 7 (30:28):
Hey you can't do it, I'll do it.
Speaker 18 (30:30):
And I think that's the heartbeat that's got to drive
things like this because the need is going to be
with us for a long time.
Speaker 17 (30:36):
Pastor Matthew, thank you so much. Dream Center La. They
are doing God's work.
Speaker 16 (30:41):
I mean, like literally, if you want to help out donations,
you can find out more information.
Speaker 7 (30:47):
At dreamcenter dot org.
Speaker 17 (30:48):
Thank you again, Pastor matt thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
And as this recovery and these investigations continue. After last
January's fires, KFI News will always bring you the very latest,
asking the hard questions and finding the air. We thank
you for joining us for La Fires one year later
with the KFI News team. I'm Michael Monks and this
is kf I AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Kf I AM six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is La Fires. One year later on Michael Monks
from KFI News, the investigation into last January's wildfires now
includes federal lawmakers from outside California. Kfi's Jason Campedonia has
that story.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
California and Florida are similar when it comes to natural disasters.
Florida has hurricanes and California burns almost every year, just
like clockwork. Former Florida governor and now Republican Florida Senator
Rick Scott has launched a federal investigation into what went
wrong and what went right during and after the wildfires
a year ago that left the cities of the Pacific
Palisades and Altadena nothing but piles of rubble.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
I just heard about, you.
Speaker 5 (00:49):
Know, the victims, and had gone through lots of disasters,
dealt with disasters when I was governor Florida.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
We had four hurricanes.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
And with some flighting things like that, And what you
kept hearing is that no one would give these victims
any information. I all went wrong, shooting, maybe held accountable.
What could they do better? How to make sure this
doesn't happen again. So I figured with my background, I
would be able to help.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
And then reality TV show star and Meltdown King from
the MTV show The Hills, Spencer Pratt entered the chat, not.
Speaker 6 (01:25):
Her friend Roe liar, and I'm going to walk away
from these lives because she's gonna sit here.
Speaker 7 (01:29):
And keep hying you.
Speaker 8 (01:30):
You're the biggest poser in this town.
Speaker 7 (01:32):
You know what you're going to burn for.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
I know.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Spencer had a home in the Palisades, and the one
time source for trash TV drama became the sole crusader
for people in his hometown. He was the first to
testify in the federal hearing brought by Senator Scott on
the wildfires.
Speaker 6 (01:49):
As you know, my family and I lost our home,
our home and everything we own in the Palisades fire.
It's been ten months and our government leaders, instead of
helping us rebuild, have only served to make the rebuilding
process so painful and slow that many just quit and
are force out of their hometown through attrition. So vultures
(02:12):
like Gavin Newsom and Scott Wiener have a blank slate
to remake the Palisades in the vision of their wealthy
donors and foreign investors.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
The reality show King was able to get Senator Scott's
attention and gave him a tour of the burn areas.
He laid out all of his documents for the Senator
and told him the truth as to why he had
not been able to rebuild.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
So I met Spencer Pratt and so just you know,
my goal is to find out, Okay, so what went wrong?
Speaker 4 (02:40):
How can we fix it? And I can tell you.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
There's always something you can do better, So we're what
I'm trying to.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Do is just do those things. What went wrong? Shouldn't
baby held accountable? What do we do to make sure
this doesn't happen?
Speaker 3 (02:52):
To get Senator Scott says he's trying to talk to
everyone involved with the wildfires, both the response and the cleanup.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
We've done letters asking for my information from Mayor Bass,
the Los Angeles City Council, the Los Angeles Department Water
and Power, the LA Fire Department, to California Parks and Recreations.
At the federal level, we sent a lot of money
on wildfire suppression over the years.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Since I've been asking for information.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
From the USDA, the Department Homeland Security, Department Interior, Attorney General,
Department Transportation, Treasury, Sectary, just trying to get better information.
The victims deserve this. We lost twelve seniors. It's like
there's nobody rebuilding hardly, so why can't they get permits?
Speaker 4 (03:36):
I mean, this doesn't make sense.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Senator Scott says, while he's trying to talk with everybody
involved with the wildfires, he believes not everybody is being
as forthcoming as they should be as they work to
help the victims of the fires. Are you finding the
agencies that you're contacting here in southern California, the Mayor's office, LAFD,
Are you finding them helpful?
Speaker 4 (03:58):
It's not the easiest thing in the world.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
And Cabinism said he's going to cooperate with us. But
so it's it's not like we're getting nothing, but we're
not getting everything. We do know that we've gotten text
messages from firefighters responded to the Latchman fire warned that
the fire was still smoldering, and I you know, I'm
(04:20):
not a fire fighter, and I'm not an expert, but
I've been you know, we have every so often it
gets try. We have some fires in the Everglades in Florida,
and you know, they don't leave until it's out. It
doesn't make any sense to me that why the reservoirs
are empty.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
And nobody's really explained that well.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
And uh so, so you know, we're getting information, but
it's not you know, we don't.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Have everything we've been asked for yet.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
So so, but we're gonna get there. We're gonna you know,
we're not We're gonna stay after it. The victims deserve,
you know, they deserve to.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Know what happened.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
California has two senators, Senators Shift from the Burbank area
and Senator Padilla from the Law Angeles area. Scott says
communication between the three of them is limited, and communication
with Governor Gavin Newsom is non existent. Why do you like,
we have two senators here, Senator Shift and Senator Padilla.
Why does it take a senator from three thousand miles
(05:16):
away to come in here and demand answers like? Have
have you talked with Shift? Have you talked with Padilla?
Have you talked with Newsom?
Speaker 4 (05:25):
For that matter, I've not talked to new some them and.
Speaker 5 (05:30):
I'm you know, I've not talked to Shift or to
Padia about you know, what their interest is. But you know,
every senator pire gets to focus on what they think
is the most important, and I think it's not. This
is not going to be just helpful to the victims
at Pacific Palisage, but this is going to be helpful
any anybody that's dealing with the disaster.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Is how do we how to do this?
Speaker 5 (05:52):
So my goal with this at the end is that
we are able to tell people, Okay, so.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
This is how do you prevent this from happening?
Speaker 3 (05:59):
I asked Scott if he could have one wish granted
when it comes to his investigation, what it might be
if you could ask for one thing. Looking at twenty
twenty six and the future of this investigation, what is
the biggest thing that you think will hold the key
to the information for you to reach those three goals
that you had mentioned earlier.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
I think complete cooperation from everybody we've asked information from,
just to answer everything we ask. Let the chips fall
with him, A knowing that you know, worry that somebody's.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Going to look bad.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
You know, if you're if you're a human being, there's
always things you can do better.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
The former Florida governor says, in order for victims to
get what they need. There needs to be a streamlined
process of how things are done, not a hodgepodge of
agencies trying to get credit for doing small parts of
the rebuilding process that don't amount to much progress. Quickly,
I spoke to an assemblyman who is a local assemblyman
for the Altadena fire right next to the city of Pasadena,
(06:59):
and he was saying that the lack of rebuilding is
because there's too many there's too many cooks in the kitchen,
and everybody wants credit for whatever they're doing for the
rebuilding process. Do you have any suggestions on how we
can streamline rebuilding efforts here in southern California.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
I'm a business guy by background, and you know what
you've got to do is you've got to streamline the
whole process in every state. You've got to really we've
got to put a lot more effort into how do
you drive down the cost of insurance. You know, part
of it's going to be where you don't have a
gazillion permits you have to get. And then number two,
every state's going to haster really focused on how they
(07:41):
get their property insurance rates down, including.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Florida to his credit. Governor Gavin Newsom says that he's
doing the best he can through a website. The new website,
run by the state offers homeowners who had their place
destroyed by the Eaton and Palisades via links to contractors
and designers that have been reviewed by Quote Trusted Community Partners.
Site also features fifteen builders and vendors for folks who
want a faster approach of getting a home on their
(08:05):
lot with prefab options. Newsom says that rebuilding will take time.
Homeowners can go to Laises dot org slash resources for
more information. Meantime, Senator Scott says he'll be in close
contact with KFI and give information as it comes in
in hopes that more people become more transparent. Jason Campedonia,
(08:26):
KFI News up next.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Rebuilding homes in the burned out areas has been difficult,
even for people whose homes are still standing.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iheartredial app.
This is la Fires one year leater. I'm Michael Monks
from KFI News. The rebuilding process has been a challenge,
despite regular updates from government officials about cutting red tape.
Survivors have said it's not moving quickly enough. Kfis Brigida
tia Agostino reports the difficulties include needed repairs for homes
(09:11):
that didn't burn down.
Speaker 8 (09:12):
If your house burned, as bad as that is, your
choice is it's fairly binary. But if your house is
standing and you have smoke damage, it's a flow chart
that looks like spaghetti. There's no clear path.
Speaker 9 (09:26):
After the Palisades and Eaten fires, homeowners like Mark Gorlic
were told they were the lucky ones because their houses
didn't burn down. Many of the homes in the Palisades
Highlands where he lives are still standing, and for the
families inside them, that's turned out to be a different
kind of problem.
Speaker 8 (09:42):
Where we live, seventy five percent of the structures are standing,
but that doesn't mean they're not affected. The condition of
our house is contaminated to such a place that it's
not safe to live in.
Speaker 9 (09:56):
Contractors and homeowners say these standing homes are often contaminated
by toxic smoke, ash and chemicals released when entire canyons burned.
Speaker 10 (10:05):
They're insurance companies are delaying settlement, denying coverage and significantly
under estimating the proper scope of repair to make the
environment a healthy, clean environment to live in.
Speaker 9 (10:25):
Again, the homes are in limbo.
Speaker 10 (10:27):
These houses have sat untouched since January. They are still
covered in soot and dust.
Speaker 9 (10:36):
In cases like these, homeowners are often directed to bring
in industrial hygienists. Some are hired independently and others are
chosen by insurance companies.
Speaker 10 (10:45):
They come in and they take samples of the dust
and ash, and they'll probe into areas like wall cavities,
and they'll inspect under the floor and in the attic,
and they tape lift samples and so forth, and take
the dust samples to a lab.
Speaker 9 (11:07):
Those tests often reveal carcinogens.
Speaker 10 (11:09):
These houses are almost all contaminated with lead and asbestos,
so that it's a hazardous environment certainly to live in.
Speaker 9 (11:20):
But insurers repeatedly push for surface level remediation.
Speaker 10 (11:24):
What they want to do is send a cleaning company
out and wet wipe surfaces, and in some cases they
even have proposed shampooing carpets and running machinery that sort
of masks of odor, any sort of porous surface insulation
(11:47):
in the walls, any sort of a fabric and so
you can't really clean those surfaces. You have to remove
them and dispose of them.
Speaker 9 (11:55):
That process can cost six figures and still fail.
Speaker 10 (11:59):
You might spend one hundred and twenty one hundred and
thirty thousand dollars to clean the house and sixty percent
of them are still contaminated.
Speaker 9 (12:06):
That's because the only proven fix is to strip contaminated
homes back down to the studs.
Speaker 10 (12:12):
The framing of the walls has to be dry ice
blasted and then hepa vacuumed. Then you apply like a
shellac over the wood framing, and then you have it
tested again, and if it tests clean, then you've just
rebuild the house.
Speaker 9 (12:29):
But homeowners say insurers often pressure them to accept cleaning
as the final solution, even when independent testing suggests deeper contamination,
and for those who push back, the consequences can be financial.
Speaker 10 (12:42):
The insurance companies have kind of been bullying people. They're
starting to say to some of them, hey, pretty soon
we're going to stop paying your additional living expenses if
you don't make some progress towards getting back in your house.
Speaker 9 (12:55):
There are also real health risks if contamination isn't properly addressed.
Speaker 10 (13:00):
You know, some things cause cancer and are known to
be carcinogens, and others like blood can cause learning disabilities
and children and when they're exposed to it and it
poisoned your blood, and they can just cause all kinds
of problems.
Speaker 9 (13:14):
Mark Gorlic is one of many homeowners caught in the uncertainty.
Speaker 8 (13:18):
I can go visit my house and I can water
the plants and get the mail, but we can't live
there until it's been properly remediated.
Speaker 9 (13:28):
Gorlick's insurer is California fair Plan, the state's insurer of
last resort. He says he was forced onto fair Plan
after other insurers declined to renew coverage just months before
the fire. How contamination is tested and how results are
interpreted has become a central dispute. That's because independent industrial
hygienists typically take targeted samples to identify contamination hotspots. Fair
(13:52):
Plan relies on a composite testing method that blends samples together,
and approach critics say can mask higher levels of contaminae.
Speaker 8 (14:00):
This is the composite method of testing for metals and toxins.
Because of the protocol, it's virtually guaranteed to show a
lower level of toxicity than is truly there, because it
allows Fair Plan to then say, well, it just needs
to be cleaned, when that might not be true.
Speaker 9 (14:23):
Cleaning, he says, isn't even covered under his policy.
Speaker 8 (14:27):
I don't want you to clean my house. What I
want you to do is return it to its pre
lost condition.
Speaker 9 (14:33):
He says, Fair Plan sent him a small check based
on an estimate that didn't reflect the true damage.
Speaker 8 (14:38):
If you go on our attic, it looks like a
coal miner's lung. It's about two and a half times
the cost to properly fix the attic, just the attic,
forget about the rest of the house than what they
send us a check for.
Speaker 9 (14:52):
Across his neighborhood, homeowners are taking wildly different approaches.
Speaker 8 (14:56):
There was dumpsters full of sheet rock, and then there
was furniture, and then there's one with concrete. Some people
may be getting it funded by the insurance, and other
people like us, are just landlocked. We don't know what
to do.
Speaker 9 (15:09):
The problem goes beyond individual claims. Court rulings in Los
Angeles have found portions of California Fair Plans policy language
illegal when it comes to smoke damage. Rulings that said
the insurer short changed wildfire victims.
Speaker 8 (15:23):
Our insurance commissioner is not holding the California Fair Plan
to the responsibility of living up to acting in good
faith and doing the right thing. And until that happens,
California Fair Plan is getting a pass by Ricardo Lara
until Gavin Newsom watched down the hall and says, this
(15:43):
is your last day. You're going to go find another job.
And I got to put somebody in here that's going
to have the accountability and the responsibility fall on Fair
Plan so that these people can get help. Until that happens,
we're going to all be in to infinite loop of doom.
Speaker 9 (16:02):
A year after the fires, Gorlic still doesn't know when
or if he'll be able to safely move back home.
Speaker 8 (16:08):
We're forgotten.
Speaker 9 (16:09):
Brigitta Agostino, KFI News up next.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
LA's signature industry, already hammered by COVID and multiple strikes,
was dealt another blow when the wildfires erupted last year.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
This is La Fires. One year later. I'm Michael Monks
from KFI News. Last year's fires destroyed homes large and small,
belonging to the wealthy and lower income, the famous and
the unknown. In Hollywood, well known celebrities lost their houses,
and so did people whose names you might not know,
(16:59):
but whose work you do. After the COVID pandemic of
twenty twenty, the Writers and Actors strikes of twenty twenty three,
the Hollywood industry was already reeling oky. If I just
had the Brooker reports. The wildfires of January twenty twenty
five have only made things worse for LA's signature industry.
Speaker 11 (17:17):
Sure Fire Hollywood has made a career out of disaster movies, firestorms, earthquakes,
cities reduced to rubble, all neatly wrapped up in two hours,
scored with music and ending with survival. But one year
ago the disaster was in fiction.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
It was real life.
Speaker 12 (17:32):
Right before noon, I started getting alerts for like sensor
failure or tampers and sensor failure, and I was like, Okay,
this is not good.
Speaker 11 (17:42):
Christopher Futerorich is a film and TV composer and musician
who lives in Alta, Dina. He's worked on music for
films like Kyote Ugly and was in the process of
scoring a Netflix show. When the fires started.
Speaker 12 (17:53):
The neighborhood was just decimated. It was just like houses
still on fire. How's it gone small during ruins? Just
you know, trees down, power lines down. I've never been
in a war zone, but maybe it was a war zone.
It was just it was mind boggling just to process.
Speaker 11 (18:11):
Chris and his partner and he had to make a
quick escape when the fires moved in and destroyed their home,
including his studio and all his instruments.
Speaker 12 (18:18):
Me and my writing partner, Rosie, we have a little
synthpop band that we put music out on, and then
we also had scored a couple of seasons of a
Netflix show, and so it was just like all that creativity,
all the instruments that I had collected over the past
thirty forty years, just all that stuff was just gone.
Speaker 11 (18:37):
And another layer of complication to an already difficult situation.
Chris had been diagnosed with cancer just a few weeks
before the fires.
Speaker 12 (18:45):
There was like little bursts of creativity here and there,
but I just was not in the headspace to even
like just deal with that.
Speaker 11 (18:51):
The only thing bringing him comfort was one of his
favorite songs, whichital Linemen by Glenn Campbell.
Speaker 7 (18:57):
I am a love for the count.
Speaker 12 (19:00):
Obviously, the lyrics have absolutely nothing to do with the
firing like that, but whenever that comes on, that always
makes me very happy, he says.
Speaker 11 (19:07):
For months after the fires, his work stopped, and so
did in music. Feudorich wasn't alone. Thousands of industry workers
who lived in the Palisades and Altadena had no place
to live. The work stopped, while many people trying to
put their lives back together.
Speaker 13 (19:21):
Hundreds of people that work in the industry lost their homes,
and that provided just another gut punch to an industry
that was already reeling.
Speaker 11 (19:31):
Meg James is an entertainment reporter for the La Times
and covered the fires. She says, although no studio lawns
or sound stages were affected, the people who make the
movies in television were hit the hardest.
Speaker 14 (19:41):
And I think practically, you know, because there were so
many people in the Palisades that lost their homes. There
were a tremendous amount of people in Altadena, so you know,
musicians actor in so many ways.
Speaker 13 (19:55):
It was not like an economic loss to the industry, say,
but it was psychologically just really devastating.
Speaker 11 (20:05):
Even before the fires, Film and TV production in LA
was near a record low. Squeezed by studio cutbacks and
competition from other states, jobs were disappearing. Some workers were
already leaving. Then the Palisades burned and hours later Alta Dina.
The fires caused an estimated seventy six to one hundred
and thirty one billion dollars in damage, hitting an industry
(20:26):
that still supports hundreds of thousands of jobs. Many now
struggling to rebuild or move on.
Speaker 13 (20:32):
As we approached the one year anniversary of these just
horrific fires, I think the long term costs and the
changes to the industry are not yet calculated.
Speaker 15 (20:46):
The fire's effect on production extended well beyond the areas
that immediately burned.
Speaker 11 (20:51):
Philip Sakolowski with Film LA says historic filming locations, places
that had appeared on screens for decades were also destroyed.
Speaker 15 (20:58):
They were five hundred and four five unique locations filmed
in those territories and the five years prior, so we
know that some significant locations were lost.
Speaker 11 (21:07):
Sakolowski says. With a new film and TV tax credit underway,
he's hopeful that twenty twenty six will get off to
a better start for people who need work.
Speaker 15 (21:15):
There are new projects coming online every day, and we
would hope to see in twenty twenty six a lot
more film work return so that we can fully put
this chapter behind.
Speaker 11 (21:22):
Us, A chapter that reminds us of how deeply intertwined
Hollywood is with its neighborhoods, and many people, like Chris Puterich,
are choosing to rebuild if they can't.
Speaker 12 (21:31):
I am hopeful for the future. I'm excited for the actual.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Rebuild, he says.
Speaker 11 (21:36):
He and Annie are staying because this is where their
stories are rooted. This is where his cancer went into
remission and he started to work again.
Speaker 12 (21:43):
Remission from non Hodgkin's lymphoma and no evidence of disease
for the Squamas cell carcinoma.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
That is amazing happening.
Speaker 7 (21:52):
I'm so glad to hear that.
Speaker 12 (21:54):
Yeah, I'm very happy with the outcome as well.
Speaker 11 (21:57):
You can rebuild a business, you can rewrite a script,
but rebuilding a community takes time, and in the city
that tells the world stories, this one isn't over yet.
Speaker 7 (22:08):
It's still love.
Speaker 11 (22:12):
Heatherbrooker KFI News.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
As the community is destroyed by the wildfires, pave a
path forward, some residents have thrown up their hands. They've
sold their now vacant lots and moved on. A new
report from the real estate company Redfinn has found roughly
forty percent of all those lots that have sold have
gone to investors looking to profit off property in the Palisades,
Altadena and Malibu. The report found in the Palisades, investors
(22:36):
purchased forty eight of the one hundred and nineteen lots
sold in just the third quarter of last year. In
Altadena it was twenty seven out of sixty one lots
going to investors, and in Malibu nineteen out of forty three.
Some residents of those communities have urged their neighbors not
to sell, to stay and to rebuild together, expressing worry
that investors could sit on the vacant lots indefinitely. Redfinn
(22:59):
says there's now a pile up of land for sale,
more than three hundred lots available in the Palisades compared
to just seven before the fires, and two hundred and
twenty five in Alta Dina compared to two a year earlier.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
This is La Fires. One year later. I'm Michael Monks
from KFI News. When the wildfires broke out in southern
California last January, thousands of people were left without anything.
People from all walks of life saw their lives turned
upside down, and folks from all over the place stood
up to help as best they could. One of the
(23:45):
organizations people turned to was the Dream Center, which helped
in the very earliest stages of this tragedy to help
get people some sort of comfort. Kfi's Amy King revisits
the center a year later.
Speaker 16 (23:57):
As we land on one year since the devastating fires,
Yeah that tore through Altadena on the Palisades. We wanted
to come back to Dream Center because Dream Center was
so instrumental in helping so many people who lost everything
in literally the blink of an eye. So Pastor Matthew,
(24:18):
thank you for taking some time.
Speaker 17 (24:19):
To talk to us today.
Speaker 7 (24:21):
Thank you.
Speaker 16 (24:22):
Let's look back at a year ago, and immediately the
fires started on the night of the seventh. They raged
on the eighth, and then people who just lost everything
started to show up and say, I don't know what
to do, so talk to me about what people were
(24:42):
feeling at the time because you were here and you
experienced meeting with those people firsthand when they were coming
in literally shell shocked with nothing but the clothes on
their back.
Speaker 7 (24:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 18 (24:53):
You know, I've been here for thirty one years dealing
with all kinds of things here in LA but that
thing that hit it was one of the most unbelievable
experiences of my life because we were thrown into action.
Speaker 7 (25:03):
You know, we just went to the parking lot.
Speaker 18 (25:05):
We said, what do we have. We have food, we
have resource, we have clothes, we have that. Let's just
throw it out there and make it available and see
what happens. Well, a little did I realize everything seemed
to happen. You know, nineteen thousand cars came through that line.
People were showing up and looking for someone to hug.
They were like literally running through the elevators in the
halls here, just like looking for someone to hug and
(25:27):
tell their story to.
Speaker 7 (25:29):
And little did I realize that the whole staging.
Speaker 18 (25:31):
Ground of nineteen thousand cars would turn into the beginning
of finding out what people needed, finding out what they
were going through, finding out Suddenly you became a counselor
you became someone who's trying to process, you know, their
lives and rebuild their lives. You've been to hear stories
that they were offering about what they lost in the
buyers and it was so traumatic and it was so
(25:54):
rewarding to be able to say, maybe I'm in a
better position in my life right now where I could
do something for you, and they just have to figure.
Speaker 7 (26:01):
It out on the move.
Speaker 18 (26:02):
I mean, there was no sense of great order that
we had because there's no order to this whole catastrophe.
So we just started and use what we had and
trying into this unbelievable miracle of serving people. But it
is a problem that still goes on today. That's just
so heartbreaking to sea.
Speaker 16 (26:19):
Yeah, and when you said you hit and went into
action like you really did, it was amazing because we
were down here and watching the lines of cars coming through,
and there were two separate lines.
Speaker 17 (26:34):
There was one car, yeah, or one car.
Speaker 16 (26:36):
Line of people dropping off and they were coming with
truckloads of donations all like clothes and furniture and household items, toothbrushes, diapers,
like everything. They just showed up and thousands of people
showed up. And then on the other side, you had
the thousands of people who showed up in the receiving
line and would go through and your people would would
(27:00):
greet them and say what do you need?
Speaker 7 (27:02):
Yeah, yeah, Yeah.
Speaker 18 (27:05):
The incredible thing about that was it was like it
it was kind of a glorious chaos. It really it
really taught us the links of how much we're willing
to serve. And when you know, Dave called me from
iHeart and he said, we want to partner with you
guys and bring our whole team and bring awareness.
Speaker 7 (27:20):
And it just gave us.
Speaker 18 (27:22):
Confidence to believe that, Look, there's other people as crazy
as we are, you know, they're willing to like have
that spirit of a responder.
Speaker 17 (27:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 18 (27:28):
Well, and so people are showing up and and cars
we've never seen before.
Speaker 15 (27:32):
You know.
Speaker 7 (27:32):
Typically in LA we work with a.
Speaker 18 (27:33):
Lot of people who are really you know, less than
paycheck to paycheck. But suddenly people became paycheck to paycheck,
you know, or and the only asset they had was
in their home. And just we said, you know what,
we're going to let the call to action is going
to come from the cries of the people. And that's
what happened. We just made the call whatever people needed
(27:54):
at the time, and that's what That was a beautiful thing.
Speaker 16 (27:58):
And as we also talked about a little bit, a
lot of the people who need the help now are
not normally people who would need or ask for help.
Speaker 17 (28:05):
I mean a lot of these people are homeowners.
Speaker 7 (28:07):
It's very different from us.
Speaker 18 (28:08):
You could simply we deal with people who just really
like day to day in survival mode and now they
are but at the same time, their mindset's like.
Speaker 7 (28:16):
How can I get this back to you? How can
I help somebody else? So it was a whole different dynamic.
Speaker 18 (28:21):
It was so much of like people's heart and soul
was into something, but like, hey, if you do something
for me, I got do. It's almost like an exchange
mentality when there is no exchange from us. It's freely
you receive and freely you give. And we didn't see
anything as I have to. We saw everything as one
great get to and it was a great joy and
it does.
Speaker 17 (28:41):
Your heart good, I tell you. I mean I wasn't
here every day.
Speaker 16 (28:43):
I was out here a couple of times and just
to see it, I mean I get back my car
and start crying.
Speaker 17 (28:50):
But just because it was so beautiful. You see people
come forward to help.
Speaker 18 (28:54):
That was our commitment, and everything we do is longevity.
Wehad programs are one year. A homeless family house is
one year. So when we take on something, we kind
of are usually the last ones to leave.
Speaker 17 (29:05):
Yeah, And as you mentioned, you've got the you serve
lunch to people every.
Speaker 7 (29:09):
Day, you have twelve hundred meals, twelve.
Speaker 17 (29:11):
Hundred meals, you have the rehab, you have the housing,
and that's still all going on.
Speaker 7 (29:15):
Yep.
Speaker 17 (29:16):
And then this is on top of it.
Speaker 18 (29:17):
Yeah, and even emergency housing people still coming in from
the fires, were giving them places to stay on the
campus and making it work. So I think the cool
thing about the Dream Center is is very you know,
we have a basic structure, but.
Speaker 7 (29:29):
We're always willing to pivot and move.
Speaker 18 (29:32):
And that's kind of the hallmark of who we are
is that, you know, man's need is God's call.
Speaker 7 (29:37):
For the day they have a need, that's our call.
Speaker 17 (29:40):
Okay, And Pastor Matthew, what do you hope for moving forward?
Speaker 18 (29:43):
I just hope that people, you know, and moving forward
to this new year, would have the confidence to believe
that there's light at the end of the tunnel. I
think a lot of people have lost their confidence, you know,
and lost their their faith and their hope and and
maybe they can get into a place of dreaming again
because with like this hits you, it just takes away
your ability to want to believe for something more because
(30:04):
so much has been taken for you. But that my
hope is that like through kindness and love and through
people that are there for them, it would just spark
a little bit of like, you know what, people got
my back and I feel like I can make it.
Speaker 17 (30:14):
It's a year later and people still need help.
Speaker 16 (30:16):
I mean there was ten thousand homes lost, ten pounds.
Speaker 7 (30:21):
Yeah, but we're still responding.
Speaker 18 (30:23):
We're still just like, hey, i'll take that call, I'll
do this, I'll do that, And everyone's willing to drop
everything and drop the hat.
Speaker 7 (30:28):
Hey you can't do it, I'll do it.
Speaker 18 (30:30):
And I think that's the heartbeat that's got to drive
things like this because the need is going to be
with us for a long time.
Speaker 17 (30:36):
Pastor Matthew, thank you so much. Dream Center La. They
are doing God's work.
Speaker 16 (30:41):
I mean, like literally, if you want to help out donations,
you can find out more information.
Speaker 7 (30:47):
At dreamcenter dot org.
Speaker 17 (30:48):
Thank you again, Pastor matt thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
And as this recovery and these investigations continue. After last
January's fires, KFI News will always bring you the very latest,
asking the hard questions and finding the air. We thank
you for joining us for La Fires one year later
with the KFI News team. I'm Michael Monks and this
is kf I AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Kf I AM six forty on demand
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Betrayal Season 5
Saskia Inwood woke up one morning, knowing her life would never be the same. The night before, she learned the unimaginable – that the husband she knew in the light of day was a different person after dark. This season unpacks Saskia’s discovery of her husband’s secret life and her fight to bring him to justice. Along the way, we expose a crime that is just coming to light. This is also a story about the myth of the “perfect victim:” who gets believed, who gets doubted, and why. We follow Saskia as she works to reclaim her body, her voice, and her life. If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team, email us at betrayalpod@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com