January 13, 2025 • 36 mins
CA State Assemblyman Carl DeMaio comes on the show to talk about an investigation into the gross negligence shown by California politicians with regard to the fires in the LA area. Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong admits the LA Times made a mistake by endorsing Karen Bass to be mayor over Rick Caruso. How did the Palisades Fire start?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Can't.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I am six forty.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobelt podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
Run from one until four after four o'clock John Cobelt
Show on demand on the iHeart app, and if you
missed the first two hours, really listen to it later
on sometime today tonight. And because you will not believe
what's going on in the city of Los Angeles right now.
(00:26):
I don't know what to make of this. My wife,
as I told you, we run all these crime apps
and neighborhood apps because it is completely lawless in parts
of West LA. The police are not around. There are
looters everywhere, we've seen them, there's photos and videos online,
there's no police presence. And now she just sent me
(00:51):
this from one of the crime apps. Large crowd forming
at traffic control point. The National Guard Unit are reporting
a large crowd forming at a traffic control point and
are requesting additional police assistants. The National Guards are requesting
it or the people are requesting it.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
I want to be surprised that people are going to
start taking to the streets and demand somebody do something, and.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Then they should. I don't know what else should everybody do.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
The fire management left people in the Palisades hanging until
everything burned down.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I can tell you first hand.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
The police are not showing up, and there's looters running
all over the place.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
You know what they're doing a good job of doing.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
They're doing a good job of blocking people who want
to see what's left of their homes. Do you see
yesterday they were letting people up to get medication or
close or just look at what's left of their homes.
They're not doing that anymore because too many people wanted
to see what happened to their home. Well, yeah, in
the Palisades, when you have five thousand people all burned
(02:01):
out at the same time, it might draw a crowd.
But you know they had a certain protocol. Five cars
at a time. Wow, that's a thousand trips there and back.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Five cars at a time for five thousand ten for
five thousand homes, which is probably fifteen thousand people. Well,
now none of you can see your house.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Too bad. We don't have enough police, we don't have
enough fire firemen. Oh but you know what we have.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
We have a really large and extensive Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion department. Would you like a tour. It's a Carl
Demayo on Republican California Assemblymen from the San Diego area.
You know, Gavin Newsom has an executive order saying we're
(02:50):
gonna cut all the red tape, ease all the regulations
so that people could build as rapidly as possible. Everything's
going to get streamlined.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Carl.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Hey, well, I'm here to say, don't believe what you
are hearing from Gavin Newsom in the media, because when
you take a look at the fine print in his
executive order, it is absolutely a political stunt. There's no
relief at all that is provided by the executive order.
He is simply restating existing law which is fatally flawed.
(03:24):
No permit relief, no timeline to rebuild will be aided
by the executive order. He's just doing this to pretend
like he gives a damn and then he's doing something
to provide relief. The reality is it's a political stunt.
We need real action, real red tape reduction, and the
(03:45):
only way you're going to get that is by forcing
politicians to change the crazy laws that they've imposed.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
So when people try to rebuild in the Palisades, they're
going to run into the same bureaucratic roadblocks that they
always do.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Yes, not a single thing in the governor's executive order
changes the fundamental problems of the red tape and the
insane costly building mandates that a lot of these fire
victims are going to be saddled with the cost.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
So this is a complete lie. It's fake. He's a liar.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
I can't even I can't even sugarcoat it. Gavin Newsom
is a bald faced liar. And this guy thinks that
no one is going to figure this out. You know what,
the fire victims are going to figure it out when
they're sitting there. Uh, year after year delayed in their
rebuild process.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I do I do think after the I do think
after the fake Joe Biden call, a lot of people
have woken up to what he is, which he is,
bold face liar.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
You're right, yeah, but but but the media yesterday ran
his his executive order ploy cook line and stinker uh
and gave him all sorts of credit for actually cutting
red tape when nothing nothing changed. It's just as bad
as it's ever been.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
What what should it say? What kind of language would
make you convinced that he was serious.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
You know what would convince me that he's serious if
he said, you know what, we're going to scrap all
of the new building regulations, the climate change Green New
Deal added requirements for construction, all of the permit reviews
and Coastal Commission audits and sequel project. We're going to
scrap that for any prevention for my wildland fire. So
(05:30):
all that means that if a project is related to
wildland fire, you can do it. You can do defensible space,
you can clear brush, you can do whatever sort of
fire breaks. But also for the rebuild process, apply those
same standards so that if someone wants to rebuild, that
they're able to get things done. Finally, the Executive Order
should do what Pete Wilson did in the LA earthquakes.
(05:53):
He should say every project has to get done by
a date certain or there's going to be a financial penalty.
Need for the government agency that has the oversight. You've
got to force these politicians and the government bureaucrats to
have skin in the game, or it's the poor fire
victims that are going to be left shouldering the burden.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Does every everyone else in Sacramento, all the representatives, their staff,
do they instantly know what you're saying, that this is
fam No.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I walked into a meeting today and they said, well,
at least the governor did this. And I said, excuse me,
Nothing in this executive order changes the thing. And I
had the staff come in and the Professional Committee staff.
I said, can you show me anything in this executive
order that makes any change other than what's already in
existing law. And they said nothing, there's no there's no change.
(06:47):
And so if we want real relief, we've got to
force the legislature to get brass taxed, to put pen
to paper. None of them, you know what they would
you benefit from? They would benefit from having construction companies,
construction guys come up to the capital and lecture them,
educate them on the insanity of California building codes. They
(07:08):
would have a lot more benefit in getting some land
use attorneys up there who have to sue the Coastal Commission,
you know, and are charging an arm and a leg
for legal fees for their clients, to have them come
up and say, you know what, these are the things
that we have to deal with day and day out
for rebuilds. And you know what, every single one of
(07:30):
those delays and costly requirements. They should be set aside
for these fire victims. We need to make them whole.
The other thing that we did today is we demanded
that Newsom call a special session to focus just on
fire recovery and fire mitigation. Just moments ago, my office
learned that the governor isn't calling a new special session.
(07:52):
He's going to amend the existing session he says, to
deal with wild land fire and fire rebuilt efforts. We'll see,
because this guy again says one thing publicly and then
of course doesn't do it. I'm also asking President Trump.
I just sent a letter out to the President's transition
team as new appointees that should be in office as
(08:13):
early as next week, asking for a federal investigation of
failures by state and local officials on the Los Angeles fires.
I don't trust Newsom, I don't trust LA Mayor Karen bass.
I don't trust any of these people to investigate themselves,
nor should any citizen of Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
No, they were have all the fire assets, all the
resources were prepositioned ready to go.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Don't worry, and I trust them to be honest about
who failed. You know, who's responsible. The only guy that's
going to be able to do that, and he's got
a lot of motivation for doing it because he he
it's not like he likes these guys. The only person
who can do that Donald Trump. Can you imagine the
irony of politicians saying that we need to protect Californias
(09:05):
from Trump, only to find out that the only way
we're going to get to the bottom of some of
these questions is to get Donald Trump to order federal
agencies come in and put their boot up the rear
end of these agencies locally and get the answers. And
you know what, I believe that not only is it
a failure of negligence, I believe that some of this
may rise to criminal misconduct given the egregious nature of
(09:31):
their failings.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Well, I got one more minute. Do you believe that.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
That that that one hundred and seventeen million gallon reservoir
was empty, bone dry, empty, not a drop of water
in it because they were supposed to fix the cover
in a month last February, and eleven months later it's
not fixed and one hundred and seventeen million gallons was
missing for the fire department.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Do you even believe that that's possible.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Oh no, of course, with the incompetence of state law
politicians out here, I believe if I'm not surprised. But
here's the thing. Someone needs to be fired over this,
and I actually think it should be starting with the mayor.
And I think ultimately Governor Gavin Newsom is in over
his head. The guy wants to cover up the real
(10:17):
issues here rather than solve them, and that means he's
unfit to retain office. We need to throw these again,
I almost said a bad word on air. We need
to throw these bumps out of office. They need to
lose their jobs over this, because people have lost their
homes and their lives over their incompetence.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Gotta go, Carl. We'll talk again soon. Karl Demaiyah, the
Republican state representative. Some of themen from the San Diego area,
thank you once again.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
We come back. I'll finally get to the La Times.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
We even have audio this a retraction, a retraction from
the publisher regarding Karen Bass.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
We'll play you that next.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
We're also going to get into the possible cause of
the Palisades fire. We told you all afternoon about the
empty reservoir. But what started the fire. There's a story there.
Don't know if it's real yet, but everybody's reporting on it.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
In just a minute, the origin of the Palisades fire.
Here's one possibility, not definitive. Washington Post had the first
extensive story last night about it, and it has to
do with an earlier fire on New Year's Eve in
the early morning hours of January.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
First. We'll get to that in a minute.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
But I got to play this here because Patrick Soon Cheang,
the owner of the La Times. First time I've ever
heard of anything like this, he went on, I guess
it's a podcast called The Morning Meeting with Mark Halper
and Sean Spicer and Dan Tarantine. This is Patrick Soon
(11:58):
Cheong admitting to a mistake involving Karen Bass.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
First of all, we'll accept comblain right, So at the
early Times we endorse Karen Bass. I think right now
in front, that's a mistake and we admit that. So
I thought it was very early important early on for
me to come out, and I think we were one
of the few to say competence matters but maybe twenty
(12:24):
twenty three million views to show how that was really
due to the heart of most people, whether you right
or left. And it's the interesting thing is that maybe
we should think about how we elect people on the
basis of did they actually run a job, did they
actually make a payroll? Do they understand what it is?
(12:45):
And rather than having professional politicians whose only job is
ready to run for office. There's nothing I'm trying to
be disparaging, but I think we at the stage now
of the nation and the world. There's many things we'll
talk about in healthcare that you really need people to understand, well,
how to fix a man in the street, you know,
(13:06):
how it fects the working type of person. And I
think President Trump in this election has understood that and
he's become truly a publican party. She said, He's become
the democratic body in terms of the addressing the problems
of the man in the street. So competence absolutely matters,
(13:28):
and I'm glad that that's been taken up as almost
a meme now that competence matters.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Competence matters. Isn't that shocking?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
I haven't heard that in about ten years, Huh, since
the walk movement took over. Competence matters. Yeah, so he's
retracting the endorsement of Karen Bass. He's embarrassed by it. Well,
what does this look like? Oh, I should go find
the editorial race. If you can find the old editorial
when Times endorsed Karen Bass, I bet you there's big
(14:03):
laughs in it.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Now he's embarrassed.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
He runs the only major newspaper in the city of
Los Angeles, and I guess there's some people who looked
to endorsements.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
I don't know, but do you think.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Rick Caruso would have left that one hundred and seventeen
million gallon reservoir empty for eleven months?
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Do you think he would have?
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Some people criticizing Caruso because he hired a private firefighting
unit to protect his shopping center in Pacific Palisades. When
I heard that, you know, I thought good, he made
a quick decision, he spent the money, and they executed
(14:49):
their job and protected that shopping center. That's exactly what
he should do. That's what I would have done. The money,
that's what you would have done. And by the way,
whatever money he's got nothing compared to the amount of
(15:10):
money Karen Bass has her hands on well, City of
Los Angeles budget is way more than Rick Caruso's net worth.
So how come Karen Bass did make quick decisions in
her two years to fully fund the LA Fire Department.
(15:31):
There are hundreds and hundreds of firefighters short. They're at
least sixty two fire stations short. I heard Gigi Grascia
today on with Neil Sevagra and marlteis that by some measure.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
LA supposed it.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Well, the recommendations are that a city like LA should
have one point eight firefighters per x amount of population.
We have zero point nine. We have half the firefighting
staff that we're supposed to have.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Half.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
I think that would have you think under a CARUSA
that would happen. I'm sure we have our quota of diversity,
equity and inclusion bureaucrats though. Oh here it is the
LA Times endorsement Karen Bass for Los Angeles mayor just
printed out. I don't know what this says. October thirteenth,
(16:26):
twenty twenty two. For those of you who look at
editorial boards for your political decisions, Los Angeles desperately needs
and will soon get new leadership. Oh right, right, they're
replacing Garcetti. The Times also endorsed Garcetti. No elected office
(16:48):
is more important than mayor. This is the person Angelino's
will look to in a crisis. Yes we did. We
looked at Karen Bass in a crisis, and she was
in Africa. Who can set the tone of the political discourse? Oooh,
you know what the tone of political discourse was. She
wouldn't answer questions for a minute and a half walking
(17:10):
out of the plane. You got that clip again. Yeah,
you want to hear Karen Bass is setting the tone
of political discord discourse.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Listen to this.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
You know this is just like the tape because she
didn't say anything. She provided total silence too. Hold the
tape for now. It's never an easy job, says The Times,
but this is an especially challenging moment for LA's next mayor.
The public feels pessimistic and angry. Oh this was in
twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
There is frustration over homelessness policy eight. Still is fear
about rising crime rates. Oh, we got tons of looters
on the West Side. Everybody that Gascone would not put
in jail, at everybody that Bass and Garcetti let run
them up, running all over the place, and now an
(18:02):
ugly scandal is Rock City Hall and has damaged decades
of hard fork progress and building racial solidarity. Oh, for
God's sakes, with irracial solidarity, fill the fing reservoir.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Stop this.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
This is a time and job that costs for the
skills of Karen Bass, who spent their career working to
bring people together, bridge racial divides and work for the
betterment of communities. They didn't add that she's not going
to fund the fire department properly, she's not going to
hire the firefighters, she's not going to open the fire stations,
and she's not going to fill the Palisades Reservoir. So
there's about fifteen thousand of you in the Palisades. You're
(18:41):
going to lose your homes. Wasn't mentioned in the endorsement.
Then they carry on about that stupid tape that Newi
Martinez and Kevin de Theon was on. Remember when they
carried on about that for days and weeks. That was
the La Times finest journalistic moment in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Where is the store?
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Worry about the underfunded, understaffed fire department in the empty reservoir?
Can't go on? I want to throw up. All right,
we got to take a break. We come back. All right,
we'll get the origin of the Palisades fire. Recording this
(19:21):
Washington Post story. Nobody knows it's if it's definitive, it's
certainly suspicious.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI Am.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Six forty on from one until four.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
What we had a really powerful program today, So if
you missed it, iHeartRadio app posted after four o'clock John
Cobelt Show on demand Moistline eight seven seven moist eighty six.
Shouldn't just be me yelling eight seven seven moist eighty
six or the talkback feature on the iHeart app and
(19:55):
you can tell the world what you think. We'll play
it on Friday twice. Up to one hundred twenty seven
six hundred ninety five signatures change dot org demanding the
immediate resignation of Karen Bass. Let's not go through the
expense and the time of a recall. Lets everybody demand
that she leave now. I think the case is absolute, irrefutable.
(20:19):
She is a disaster as mayor. That one hundred and
seventeen million gallon reservoir that was left empty for the
last eleven months and that DWP Looney tune Genie Keinonyez gone,
and also get rid of that deputy chief as well.
(20:43):
Let's get her name, Christine Larson if you haven't heard
that clip, she's all for a diversity and equity in
the fire department. And as far as women not being
strong enough, Hey, if you're a man and I can't
lift you out of a burning house, well I guess
(21:06):
you were in the wrong place. That really was her response.
You know that's a weird thing. Is there comfortable saying
this out loud to a television camera and have it broadcast?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
All right?
Speaker 1 (21:18):
The origin of the Palisades fire not definitive, lengthy story
in the Washington Post. It's by four writers here, and
they say that a half hour after the Palisades fire started,
that's when firefighters radios started crackling. The flames were coming
(21:40):
from a familiar place on the mountain ridge. Because this
was on January seventh, a week earlier, on January first,
it was New Year's Eve past midnight, and there was
another fire in the same spot. Post reviewed radio transmissions
(22:04):
and a firefighter La County said the foot of the
fire started real close to where the last fire was
on New Year's Eve. Looks like it's going to make
a good run, said another. So the Post analyzed photos, videos,
satellite images, radio communications, interviewed witnesses, and they have evidence
that the Policy's fire started in the area where the
(22:25):
other fire had been a week earlier.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
They had to use helicopters.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
They batt up that fire for four hours, so they're
looking at the burn scar looking for evidence. The first
fire was probably kids shooting off fireworks up on the ridge,
and then when the winds started blowing last Tuesday, the
(22:53):
fire was reignited, which can occur because fires are never
completely out for a number of weeks. They're still hot,
they're still smoldering, there's still some activity going on. Residents
told the Post and investigators that the firefighters response on
(23:16):
Tuesday of the seventh was much slower than on New
Year's Eve. This is what we talked about earlier in
the show. A you confirmed by radio transmissions. That's going
to be another big investigation. Why was the reservoir left
dry for eleven months? Why was the response so slow
(23:38):
this past summer. According to the Post, California officials coordinated
a social media campaign oh to warn residents that land scorched,
seemingly extinguished fire can spawn deadly new fires for weeks
after the old ones. Well, what are you telling the
public for six months earlier? Nobody stops to read that stuff.
(23:59):
They're not going to remember it, and what does it matter?
After midnight on New Year's Eve, everybody's drunk passed out
in bed. It's the firefighters who ought to be aware
of that. What are we gonna do.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
On New Year's Eve? Who knew that? This is what
I mean?
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I don't understand putting got a social media message six
months before? How's that gonna help? That's what we pay
the government to do. But the department admitted they don't
patrol past fire sites, even for a few days after
(24:38):
the fire goes out. Michael goner is a professor fire
scientist at UC Berkeley. He looked at the post's materials,
and Gaulner says, we know that fires rekindle and transition
from smoldering to flaming. It's certainly possible that something from
that previous fire within a week had rekindled and caused
the ignition. This is out of post identified the burn scar.
(25:03):
They used what they call false color satellite imagery and
attracts changes to vegetation. Healthy plants appear red, scorched ground
appears blue to brown, and the satellite imagery taken Tuesday
at ten forty five, twenty minutes after the fire began,
(25:23):
indicates the origin of the smoke overlapped with the burn
scar from the New Year's Eve fire. Here's some of
the witnesses. Darren Hurwitz lived in the area. He was
hiking around nine am near Skull Rock at the base
of the burn scar, and he faintly smelled smoke, but
it disappeared as he walked down the trail. Another resident,
(25:43):
who was cleaning ash out of his home, told a
Post reporter and an ATF officer that the disaster was
started by idiots on New Year's Eve. It happens every year. Jesus,
maybe we should have somebody patrolling on New Year's Eve.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
That it.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Cost money.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
People go up at night and party when they're not
supposed to. His family heard fireworks popping off and a
fire had started on New Year's Eve night about twelve
twenty am. He said, you got to know better. It's dry,
there's no precipitation. I don't know if you've ever been camping,
But when you go camping and put a fire out,
that doesn't mean it's not hot below. Then the Santannas
came on Monday, and that's when it started. That's what
(26:29):
reignited the fire. After midnight January first, firefighters responded to
the fire and covered three to four acres of heavy brush,
slow rate of spread, winds were light, but even with
almost ideal conditions, it took about four hours to contain
the blaze until quarter to five in the morning. Another
(26:52):
professor at Syracuse had published a paper in twenty eighteen
indicating a fire could smolder up for ten days before
being reignited. So again, shouldn't we have the fire department
going out to look, especially at the Santa Ana windsor
blowing in a place where there was a previous fire,
and they know that it could reignite within ten days?
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Isn't that on the two do list? Now listen to this.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
When I come back, I'll tell you about the comparison
between the firefighters showing up for the New Year's Eve
fire and firefighters showing up for the second fire on
January seventh, night and day completely different. Why because on
New Year's Eve, there was no extreme fire danger warning,
(27:39):
but there was on January seventh. They were very quick
to respond on January first, but very slow on January seventh.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Why is that?
Speaker 1 (27:50):
And again I'm focusing this on the management here, not
the firefighters. Firefighters did spectacular job, watching them all all
weekend on my iPad because we're powerless in our house.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
All right, I'll give you part two of this story
coming up.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
You're listening to John Cobbels on demand from KFI AM
sixty Conway.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Coming up after four o'clock.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
We're telling you the story of how the Palalasades fire
may have started. It's not definitive, but the Washington Post
put together a lot of evidence. They analyzed radio transmissions,
talk to witnesses, looked at satellite imagery and they and
(28:38):
videos as well and photos, and they found that there
was another fire in the same spot as the January
seventh fire starting the Palisades on late on New Year's
Eve twelve twenty in the morning January first, took over
four hours to put out, and it was teenagers had
(28:58):
shot off fireworks and it had caused a fire, and
that the fire may have very subtly been smoldering for
a week. Sant Ana Winz started to blow and it reignited,
which happens.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Again. Not definitive.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
And as I said at the end of the segment,
I saw the firefighters in action over the weekend. They
do spectacular They do spectacularly, but there's something about the
management and the direction. And I will tell you what
the Washington Post has found. Let's see what you think
(29:43):
we get this right. Michael Valentine owns two homes in
the neighbor in the neighborhood right by the fire's origin,
and he was home for both blazes. The response for
the New Year's incident was swift and impress he said.
Sirens blared up the street. Firefighters jumped out of their
(30:03):
trucks and made their way through the thick brush, breaking
down his gate, attacking the fire with hoses and hand crews,
and men coming in these tractor vans to do a
perimeter cut to a week later, Michael Valentine and his
wife were on the hill walking their dog and saw
a huge plume of smoke fanned by the wind. She
thinks she was one of the first people to call
(30:25):
nine one to one. He also called because half our
ladies saw more smoke coming from the same place. Line
was busy and he waited, and according to radio traffic,
fire crews were almost at the same time responding to
two other incidents in other parts of the city, and
they both said they would send resources when they could.
(30:48):
Now we're up to ten thirty three, and the firefighter said, yeah,
cameras showing smoke, showing smoke from the second brush fire
and Palisades were going to divert. A few minutes later,
they were fighting a small brush fire in West Hollywood
and a crew said, we're working real hard to spare
as many resources as we can. Valentine says the fire
(31:09):
was ripping about forty five minutes when he saw a helicopter.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Go over, but it didn't have water. For ten more minutes.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
A firefighters called back and forth asking who was responding,
who was on the scene, LA from City Fire forward,
you have ground resources up at the Palisades fire for
LA stand by.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
We're still showing en route. This is an hour later. Now.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
If everything was prepositioned, we had extreme fire warnings from
the National Weather Service, Obviously the Palisades would be a
prime target because of the dry brush in the Hills
at ten forty eight. Now this is an hour after
(31:54):
the fire had started. Currently it's a ten acre brush fire,
heavy fuel on top of a ridge, wal said an
official ten forty eight. It's one hundred percent in alignment
with the wind. It has the potential for a few
hundred plus acres in the next twenty minutes. We have
a potential for structures being threatened in the next twenty minutes.
But radio traffic records show that the fire trucks were
(32:14):
still in route to the fire twenty five minutes after
it ignited. For the longest time, said Michael Valentine. I
didn't see any police, any firefighters, not on the ground
or in the air. I was disappointed because the second
fire was moving so fast and there was no one there.
Remember first fire moving slowly, They were there right away.
(32:37):
Second fire. He's standing outside eleven thirty eleven forty five,
eleven forty five. He saw the first fire trucks drive
up to his neighborhood. Now we're talking about an hour
and a half since nine one one was called. It's
an hour and a half later when Valentine saw the
first trucks, But they took a look at the street
and made a U turn and left because the fire
(32:58):
extended into the hillside and traveling. According to radio traffic,
first responders arrived in the palisade shortly before eleven am,
and we're focused on the foot of the fire and
your palisades drive. By five o'clock, the fire spurred by
wind driven embers. They were traveling up to two miles away.
They had spread across most of the community. It got
(33:19):
out of control, reel real quick, he said. And story
goes on quite a bit from there, but you get
the idea. For some reason, I don't know who's in
charge of dispatching, management direction, very very slow response for
that second fire conways here and.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Phil Schuman is on with us to that. Phil Schuman, Yeah,
guys will give.
Speaker 6 (33:40):
Us, like the news perspective of what's going on here
with these fires. All right, this guy knows, man, he's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Let me flip your I just know if we can
take more, yeah, I know, I know.
Speaker 6 (33:50):
You know a lot of people are like, hey, I
can't take any more you know, video or footage of this,
but you.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Got to take it. You got to take it. Oh yeah, And.
Speaker 6 (33:58):
The reason why, you know, the news guys and gals
are out there is to get more FEMA money, get
more federal money, get more state, city, local and county money.
Speaker 4 (34:07):
Rolling.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
That's how you do it. You show people what a
disaster it is. Yeah, but people only believe something when
they see it.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
That's right.
Speaker 6 (34:13):
Yeah, that's what the world we live in. James Brotherton's
calling in from the National Weather Service. We also have
a public information officer from the Palisades Fire, David Howard,
who who works here Burg.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Talked with him earlier. Unbelievable. It's really sad.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 6 (34:29):
I don't know another state where the the hydrants run
out of water.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
I've never heard of that before.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
There's so many things that are preposterous about this. And
I know some people think, oh, it's too soon. No,
it's not too soon. This is when everyone's paying attention.
This is whenever. You know, in a few weeks, people
are not going to pay attention anymore. It's going to
be an old story. So they now is when you
when you when you get the information, the truth out
as to what happened.
Speaker 4 (34:53):
Right.
Speaker 6 (34:53):
Have you seen the Santa Anita parking lot? I mean, yeah,
it's film it's overwhelmed with you know, people donating stuff.
My wife and daughter, God love them, man, I mean,
much much bigger hearts than I got. They went through
their closet and they took all this stuff they don't wear,
and stuff that doesn't fit anymore, and stuff that they
think will you know, be helpful as other families, and
they put it into five huge bags, mostly Christmas gifts
(35:14):
from dad. You know, if that's not really a hip
to the quip on what's fashionable nowadays?
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Right, and well, nobody's gonna want your your button down shirt.
Speaker 6 (35:23):
That's not true, John, I'm putting them up on for
raise the money on these shirts to give to people.
So they took I'll tell you the story of donating clothes.
It's a nightmare in La. It's really it's it's nobody
wants them. Nobody wants them. You mean, before this, nobody
wants it. No, No, this This past weekend Saturday and Sunday,
(35:44):
they took them to seven different places. They all said no,
all of them because they had enough. They had too
many clothes, Oh, too much clothing. And I thought, I'm
thinking they just don't like your shirts. No, it's not
my clothes, John. If you listen carefully, it's my daughter.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
My wife. All right.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Conway is next, and Phil Showman and we got Michael
Krouscher live in the CAMFI twenty four hour 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.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I am six forty.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobelt podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
Run from one until four after four o'clock John Cobelt
Show on demand on the iHeart app, and if you
missed the first two hours, really listen to it later
on sometime today tonight. And because you will not believe
what's going on in the city of Los Angeles right now.
(00:26):
I don't know what to make of this. My wife,
as I told you, we run all these crime apps
and neighborhood apps because it is completely lawless in parts
of West LA. The police are not around. There are
looters everywhere, we've seen them, there's photos and videos online,
there's no police presence. And now she just sent me
(00:51):
this from one of the crime apps. Large crowd forming
at traffic control point. The National Guard Unit are reporting
a large crowd forming at a traffic control point and
are requesting additional police assistants. The National Guards are requesting
it or the people are requesting it.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
I want to be surprised that people are going to
start taking to the streets and demand somebody do something, and.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Then they should. I don't know what else should everybody do.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
The fire management left people in the Palisades hanging until
everything burned down.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I can tell you first hand.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
The police are not showing up, and there's looters running
all over the place.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
You know what they're doing a good job of doing.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
They're doing a good job of blocking people who want
to see what's left of their homes. Do you see
yesterday they were letting people up to get medication or
close or just look at what's left of their homes.
They're not doing that anymore because too many people wanted
to see what happened to their home. Well, yeah, in
the Palisades, when you have five thousand people all burned
(02:01):
out at the same time, it might draw a crowd.
But you know they had a certain protocol. Five cars
at a time. Wow, that's a thousand trips there and back.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Five cars at a time for five thousand ten for
five thousand homes, which is probably fifteen thousand people. Well,
now none of you can see your house.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Too bad. We don't have enough police, we don't have
enough fire firemen. Oh but you know what we have.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
We have a really large and extensive Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion department. Would you like a tour. It's a Carl
Demayo on Republican California Assemblymen from the San Diego area.
You know, Gavin Newsom has an executive order saying we're
(02:50):
gonna cut all the red tape, ease all the regulations
so that people could build as rapidly as possible. Everything's
going to get streamlined.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Carl.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Hey, well, I'm here to say, don't believe what you
are hearing from Gavin Newsom in the media, because when
you take a look at the fine print in his
executive order, it is absolutely a political stunt. There's no
relief at all that is provided by the executive order.
He is simply restating existing law which is fatally flawed.
(03:24):
No permit relief, no timeline to rebuild will be aided
by the executive order. He's just doing this to pretend
like he gives a damn and then he's doing something
to provide relief. The reality is it's a political stunt.
We need real action, real red tape reduction, and the
(03:45):
only way you're going to get that is by forcing
politicians to change the crazy laws that they've imposed.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
So when people try to rebuild in the Palisades, they're
going to run into the same bureaucratic roadblocks that they
always do.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Yes, not a single thing in the governor's executive order
changes the fundamental problems of the red tape and the
insane costly building mandates that a lot of these fire
victims are going to be saddled with the cost.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
So this is a complete lie. It's fake. He's a liar.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
I can't even I can't even sugarcoat it. Gavin Newsom
is a bald faced liar. And this guy thinks that
no one is going to figure this out. You know what,
the fire victims are going to figure it out when
they're sitting there. Uh, year after year delayed in their
rebuild process.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I do I do think after the I do think
after the fake Joe Biden call, a lot of people
have woken up to what he is, which he is,
bold face liar.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
You're right, yeah, but but but the media yesterday ran
his his executive order ploy cook line and stinker uh
and gave him all sorts of credit for actually cutting
red tape when nothing nothing changed. It's just as bad
as it's ever been.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
What what should it say? What kind of language would
make you convinced that he was serious.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
You know what would convince me that he's serious if
he said, you know what, we're going to scrap all
of the new building regulations, the climate change Green New
Deal added requirements for construction, all of the permit reviews
and Coastal Commission audits and sequel project. We're going to
scrap that for any prevention for my wildland fire. So
(05:30):
all that means that if a project is related to
wildland fire, you can do it. You can do defensible space,
you can clear brush, you can do whatever sort of
fire breaks. But also for the rebuild process, apply those
same standards so that if someone wants to rebuild, that
they're able to get things done. Finally, the Executive Order
should do what Pete Wilson did in the LA earthquakes.
(05:53):
He should say every project has to get done by
a date certain or there's going to be a financial penalty.
Need for the government agency that has the oversight. You've
got to force these politicians and the government bureaucrats to
have skin in the game, or it's the poor fire
victims that are going to be left shouldering the burden.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Does every everyone else in Sacramento, all the representatives, their staff,
do they instantly know what you're saying, that this is
fam No.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I walked into a meeting today and they said, well,
at least the governor did this. And I said, excuse me,
Nothing in this executive order changes the thing. And I
had the staff come in and the Professional Committee staff.
I said, can you show me anything in this executive
order that makes any change other than what's already in
existing law. And they said nothing, there's no there's no change.
(06:47):
And so if we want real relief, we've got to
force the legislature to get brass taxed, to put pen
to paper. None of them, you know what they would
you benefit from? They would benefit from having construction companies,
construction guys come up to the capital and lecture them,
educate them on the insanity of California building codes. They
(07:08):
would have a lot more benefit in getting some land
use attorneys up there who have to sue the Coastal Commission,
you know, and are charging an arm and a leg
for legal fees for their clients, to have them come
up and say, you know what, these are the things
that we have to deal with day and day out
for rebuilds. And you know what, every single one of
(07:30):
those delays and costly requirements. They should be set aside
for these fire victims. We need to make them whole.
The other thing that we did today is we demanded
that Newsom call a special session to focus just on
fire recovery and fire mitigation. Just moments ago, my office
learned that the governor isn't calling a new special session.
(07:52):
He's going to amend the existing session he says, to
deal with wild land fire and fire rebuilt efforts. We'll see,
because this guy again says one thing publicly and then
of course doesn't do it. I'm also asking President Trump.
I just sent a letter out to the President's transition
team as new appointees that should be in office as
(08:13):
early as next week, asking for a federal investigation of
failures by state and local officials on the Los Angeles fires.
I don't trust Newsom, I don't trust LA Mayor Karen bass.
I don't trust any of these people to investigate themselves,
nor should any citizen of Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
No, they were have all the fire assets, all the
resources were prepositioned ready to go.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Don't worry, and I trust them to be honest about
who failed. You know, who's responsible. The only guy that's
going to be able to do that, and he's got
a lot of motivation for doing it because he he
it's not like he likes these guys. The only person
who can do that Donald Trump. Can you imagine the
irony of politicians saying that we need to protect Californias
(09:05):
from Trump, only to find out that the only way
we're going to get to the bottom of some of
these questions is to get Donald Trump to order federal
agencies come in and put their boot up the rear
end of these agencies locally and get the answers. And
you know what, I believe that not only is it
a failure of negligence, I believe that some of this
may rise to criminal misconduct given the egregious nature of
(09:31):
their failings.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Well, I got one more minute. Do you believe that.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
That that that one hundred and seventeen million gallon reservoir
was empty, bone dry, empty, not a drop of water
in it because they were supposed to fix the cover
in a month last February, and eleven months later it's
not fixed and one hundred and seventeen million gallons was
missing for the fire department.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Do you even believe that that's possible.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Oh no, of course, with the incompetence of state law
politicians out here, I believe if I'm not surprised. But
here's the thing. Someone needs to be fired over this,
and I actually think it should be starting with the mayor.
And I think ultimately Governor Gavin Newsom is in over
his head. The guy wants to cover up the real
(10:17):
issues here rather than solve them, and that means he's
unfit to retain office. We need to throw these again,
I almost said a bad word on air. We need
to throw these bumps out of office. They need to
lose their jobs over this, because people have lost their
homes and their lives over their incompetence.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Gotta go, Carl. We'll talk again soon. Karl Demaiyah, the
Republican state representative. Some of themen from the San Diego area,
thank you once again.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
We come back. I'll finally get to the La Times.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
We even have audio this a retraction, a retraction from
the publisher regarding Karen Bass.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
We'll play you that next.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
We're also going to get into the possible cause of
the Palisades fire. We told you all afternoon about the
empty reservoir. But what started the fire. There's a story there.
Don't know if it's real yet, but everybody's reporting on it.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
In just a minute, the origin of the Palisades fire.
Here's one possibility, not definitive. Washington Post had the first
extensive story last night about it, and it has to
do with an earlier fire on New Year's Eve in
the early morning hours of January.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
First. We'll get to that in a minute.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
But I got to play this here because Patrick Soon Cheang,
the owner of the La Times. First time I've ever
heard of anything like this, he went on, I guess
it's a podcast called The Morning Meeting with Mark Halper
and Sean Spicer and Dan Tarantine. This is Patrick Soon
(11:58):
Cheong admitting to a mistake involving Karen Bass.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
First of all, we'll accept comblain right, So at the
early Times we endorse Karen Bass. I think right now
in front, that's a mistake and we admit that. So
I thought it was very early important early on for
me to come out, and I think we were one
of the few to say competence matters but maybe twenty
(12:24):
twenty three million views to show how that was really
due to the heart of most people, whether you right
or left. And it's the interesting thing is that maybe
we should think about how we elect people on the
basis of did they actually run a job, did they
actually make a payroll? Do they understand what it is?
(12:45):
And rather than having professional politicians whose only job is
ready to run for office. There's nothing I'm trying to
be disparaging, but I think we at the stage now
of the nation and the world. There's many things we'll
talk about in healthcare that you really need people to understand, well,
how to fix a man in the street, you know,
(13:06):
how it fects the working type of person. And I
think President Trump in this election has understood that and
he's become truly a publican party. She said, He's become
the democratic body in terms of the addressing the problems
of the man in the street. So competence absolutely matters,
(13:28):
and I'm glad that that's been taken up as almost
a meme now that competence matters.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Competence matters. Isn't that shocking?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
I haven't heard that in about ten years, Huh, since
the walk movement took over. Competence matters. Yeah, so he's
retracting the endorsement of Karen Bass. He's embarrassed by it. Well,
what does this look like? Oh, I should go find
the editorial race. If you can find the old editorial
when Times endorsed Karen Bass, I bet you there's big
(14:03):
laughs in it.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Now he's embarrassed.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
He runs the only major newspaper in the city of
Los Angeles, and I guess there's some people who looked
to endorsements.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
I don't know, but do you think.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Rick Caruso would have left that one hundred and seventeen
million gallon reservoir empty for eleven months?
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Do you think he would have?
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Some people criticizing Caruso because he hired a private firefighting
unit to protect his shopping center in Pacific Palisades. When
I heard that, you know, I thought good, he made
a quick decision, he spent the money, and they executed
(14:49):
their job and protected that shopping center. That's exactly what
he should do. That's what I would have done. The money,
that's what you would have done. And by the way,
whatever money he's got nothing compared to the amount of
(15:10):
money Karen Bass has her hands on well, City of
Los Angeles budget is way more than Rick Caruso's net worth.
So how come Karen Bass did make quick decisions in
her two years to fully fund the LA Fire Department.
(15:31):
There are hundreds and hundreds of firefighters short. They're at
least sixty two fire stations short. I heard Gigi Grascia
today on with Neil Sevagra and marlteis that by some measure.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
LA supposed it.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Well, the recommendations are that a city like LA should
have one point eight firefighters per x amount of population.
We have zero point nine. We have half the firefighting
staff that we're supposed to have.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Half.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
I think that would have you think under a CARUSA
that would happen. I'm sure we have our quota of diversity,
equity and inclusion bureaucrats though. Oh here it is the
LA Times endorsement Karen Bass for Los Angeles mayor just
printed out. I don't know what this says. October thirteenth,
(16:26):
twenty twenty two. For those of you who look at
editorial boards for your political decisions, Los Angeles desperately needs
and will soon get new leadership. Oh right, right, they're
replacing Garcetti. The Times also endorsed Garcetti. No elected office
(16:48):
is more important than mayor. This is the person Angelino's
will look to in a crisis. Yes we did. We
looked at Karen Bass in a crisis, and she was
in Africa. Who can set the tone of the political discourse? Oooh,
you know what the tone of political discourse was. She
wouldn't answer questions for a minute and a half walking
(17:10):
out of the plane. You got that clip again. Yeah,
you want to hear Karen Bass is setting the tone
of political discord discourse.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Listen to this.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
You know this is just like the tape because she
didn't say anything. She provided total silence too. Hold the
tape for now. It's never an easy job, says The Times,
but this is an especially challenging moment for LA's next mayor.
The public feels pessimistic and angry. Oh this was in
twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
There is frustration over homelessness policy eight. Still is fear
about rising crime rates. Oh, we got tons of looters
on the West Side. Everybody that Gascone would not put
in jail, at everybody that Bass and Garcetti let run
them up, running all over the place, and now an
(18:02):
ugly scandal is Rock City Hall and has damaged decades
of hard fork progress and building racial solidarity. Oh, for
God's sakes, with irracial solidarity, fill the fing reservoir.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Stop this.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
This is a time and job that costs for the
skills of Karen Bass, who spent their career working to
bring people together, bridge racial divides and work for the
betterment of communities. They didn't add that she's not going
to fund the fire department properly, she's not going to
hire the firefighters, she's not going to open the fire stations,
and she's not going to fill the Palisades Reservoir. So
there's about fifteen thousand of you in the Palisades. You're
(18:41):
going to lose your homes. Wasn't mentioned in the endorsement.
Then they carry on about that stupid tape that Newi
Martinez and Kevin de Theon was on. Remember when they
carried on about that for days and weeks. That was
the La Times finest journalistic moment in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Where is the store?
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Worry about the underfunded, understaffed fire department in the empty reservoir?
Can't go on? I want to throw up. All right,
we got to take a break. We come back. All right,
we'll get the origin of the Palisades fire. Recording this
(19:21):
Washington Post story. Nobody knows it's if it's definitive, it's
certainly suspicious.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI Am.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Six forty on from one until four.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
What we had a really powerful program today, So if
you missed it, iHeartRadio app posted after four o'clock John
Cobelt Show on demand Moistline eight seven seven moist eighty six.
Shouldn't just be me yelling eight seven seven moist eighty
six or the talkback feature on the iHeart app and
(19:55):
you can tell the world what you think. We'll play
it on Friday twice. Up to one hundred twenty seven
six hundred ninety five signatures change dot org demanding the
immediate resignation of Karen Bass. Let's not go through the
expense and the time of a recall. Lets everybody demand
that she leave now. I think the case is absolute, irrefutable.
(20:19):
She is a disaster as mayor. That one hundred and
seventeen million gallon reservoir that was left empty for the
last eleven months and that DWP Looney tune Genie Keinonyez gone,
and also get rid of that deputy chief as well.
(20:43):
Let's get her name, Christine Larson if you haven't heard
that clip, she's all for a diversity and equity in
the fire department. And as far as women not being
strong enough, Hey, if you're a man and I can't
lift you out of a burning house, well I guess
(21:06):
you were in the wrong place. That really was her response.
You know that's a weird thing. Is there comfortable saying
this out loud to a television camera and have it broadcast?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
All right?
Speaker 1 (21:18):
The origin of the Palisades fire not definitive, lengthy story
in the Washington Post. It's by four writers here, and
they say that a half hour after the Palisades fire started,
that's when firefighters radios started crackling. The flames were coming
(21:40):
from a familiar place on the mountain ridge. Because this
was on January seventh, a week earlier, on January first,
it was New Year's Eve past midnight, and there was
another fire in the same spot. Post reviewed radio transmissions
(22:04):
and a firefighter La County said the foot of the
fire started real close to where the last fire was
on New Year's Eve. Looks like it's going to make
a good run, said another. So the Post analyzed photos, videos,
satellite images, radio communications, interviewed witnesses, and they have evidence
that the Policy's fire started in the area where the
(22:25):
other fire had been a week earlier.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
They had to use helicopters.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
They batt up that fire for four hours, so they're
looking at the burn scar looking for evidence. The first
fire was probably kids shooting off fireworks up on the ridge,
and then when the winds started blowing last Tuesday, the
(22:53):
fire was reignited, which can occur because fires are never
completely out for a number of weeks. They're still hot,
they're still smoldering, there's still some activity going on. Residents
told the Post and investigators that the firefighters response on
(23:16):
Tuesday of the seventh was much slower than on New
Year's Eve. This is what we talked about earlier in
the show. A you confirmed by radio transmissions. That's going
to be another big investigation. Why was the reservoir left
dry for eleven months? Why was the response so slow
(23:38):
this past summer. According to the Post, California officials coordinated
a social media campaign oh to warn residents that land scorched,
seemingly extinguished fire can spawn deadly new fires for weeks
after the old ones. Well, what are you telling the
public for six months earlier? Nobody stops to read that stuff.
(23:59):
They're not going to remember it, and what does it matter?
After midnight on New Year's Eve, everybody's drunk passed out
in bed. It's the firefighters who ought to be aware
of that. What are we gonna do.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
On New Year's Eve? Who knew that? This is what
I mean?
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I don't understand putting got a social media message six
months before? How's that gonna help? That's what we pay
the government to do. But the department admitted they don't
patrol past fire sites, even for a few days after
(24:38):
the fire goes out. Michael goner is a professor fire
scientist at UC Berkeley. He looked at the post's materials,
and Gaulner says, we know that fires rekindle and transition
from smoldering to flaming. It's certainly possible that something from
that previous fire within a week had rekindled and caused
the ignition. This is out of post identified the burn scar.
(25:03):
They used what they call false color satellite imagery and
attracts changes to vegetation. Healthy plants appear red, scorched ground
appears blue to brown, and the satellite imagery taken Tuesday
at ten forty five, twenty minutes after the fire began,
(25:23):
indicates the origin of the smoke overlapped with the burn
scar from the New Year's Eve fire. Here's some of
the witnesses. Darren Hurwitz lived in the area. He was
hiking around nine am near Skull Rock at the base
of the burn scar, and he faintly smelled smoke, but
it disappeared as he walked down the trail. Another resident,
(25:43):
who was cleaning ash out of his home, told a
Post reporter and an ATF officer that the disaster was
started by idiots on New Year's Eve. It happens every year. Jesus,
maybe we should have somebody patrolling on New Year's Eve.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
That it.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Cost money.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
People go up at night and party when they're not
supposed to. His family heard fireworks popping off and a
fire had started on New Year's Eve night about twelve
twenty am. He said, you got to know better. It's dry,
there's no precipitation. I don't know if you've ever been camping,
But when you go camping and put a fire out,
that doesn't mean it's not hot below. Then the Santannas
came on Monday, and that's when it started. That's what
(26:29):
reignited the fire. After midnight January first, firefighters responded to
the fire and covered three to four acres of heavy brush,
slow rate of spread, winds were light, but even with
almost ideal conditions, it took about four hours to contain
the blaze until quarter to five in the morning. Another
(26:52):
professor at Syracuse had published a paper in twenty eighteen
indicating a fire could smolder up for ten days before
being reignited. So again, shouldn't we have the fire department
going out to look, especially at the Santa Ana windsor
blowing in a place where there was a previous fire,
and they know that it could reignite within ten days?
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Isn't that on the two do list? Now listen to this.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
When I come back, I'll tell you about the comparison
between the firefighters showing up for the New Year's Eve
fire and firefighters showing up for the second fire on
January seventh, night and day completely different. Why because on
New Year's Eve, there was no extreme fire danger warning,
(27:39):
but there was on January seventh. They were very quick
to respond on January first, but very slow on January seventh.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Why is that?
Speaker 1 (27:50):
And again I'm focusing this on the management here, not
the firefighters. Firefighters did spectacular job, watching them all all
weekend on my iPad because we're powerless in our house.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
All right, I'll give you part two of this story
coming up.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
You're listening to John Cobbels on demand from KFI AM
sixty Conway.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Coming up after four o'clock.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
We're telling you the story of how the Palalasades fire
may have started. It's not definitive, but the Washington Post
put together a lot of evidence. They analyzed radio transmissions,
talk to witnesses, looked at satellite imagery and they and
(28:38):
videos as well and photos, and they found that there
was another fire in the same spot as the January
seventh fire starting the Palisades on late on New Year's
Eve twelve twenty in the morning January first, took over
four hours to put out, and it was teenagers had
(28:58):
shot off fireworks and it had caused a fire, and
that the fire may have very subtly been smoldering for
a week. Sant Ana Winz started to blow and it reignited,
which happens.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Again. Not definitive.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
And as I said at the end of the segment,
I saw the firefighters in action over the weekend. They
do spectacular They do spectacularly, but there's something about the
management and the direction. And I will tell you what
the Washington Post has found. Let's see what you think
(29:43):
we get this right. Michael Valentine owns two homes in
the neighbor in the neighborhood right by the fire's origin,
and he was home for both blazes. The response for
the New Year's incident was swift and impress he said.
Sirens blared up the street. Firefighters jumped out of their
(30:03):
trucks and made their way through the thick brush, breaking
down his gate, attacking the fire with hoses and hand crews,
and men coming in these tractor vans to do a
perimeter cut to a week later, Michael Valentine and his
wife were on the hill walking their dog and saw
a huge plume of smoke fanned by the wind. She
thinks she was one of the first people to call
(30:25):
nine one to one. He also called because half our
ladies saw more smoke coming from the same place. Line
was busy and he waited, and according to radio traffic,
fire crews were almost at the same time responding to
two other incidents in other parts of the city, and
they both said they would send resources when they could.
(30:48):
Now we're up to ten thirty three, and the firefighter said, yeah,
cameras showing smoke, showing smoke from the second brush fire
and Palisades were going to divert. A few minutes later,
they were fighting a small brush fire in West Hollywood
and a crew said, we're working real hard to spare
as many resources as we can. Valentine says the fire
(31:09):
was ripping about forty five minutes when he saw a helicopter.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Go over, but it didn't have water. For ten more minutes.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
A firefighters called back and forth asking who was responding,
who was on the scene, LA from City Fire forward,
you have ground resources up at the Palisades fire for
LA stand by.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
We're still showing en route. This is an hour later. Now.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
If everything was prepositioned, we had extreme fire warnings from
the National Weather Service, Obviously the Palisades would be a
prime target because of the dry brush in the Hills
at ten forty eight. Now this is an hour after
(31:54):
the fire had started. Currently it's a ten acre brush fire,
heavy fuel on top of a ridge, wal said an
official ten forty eight. It's one hundred percent in alignment
with the wind. It has the potential for a few
hundred plus acres in the next twenty minutes. We have
a potential for structures being threatened in the next twenty minutes.
But radio traffic records show that the fire trucks were
(32:14):
still in route to the fire twenty five minutes after
it ignited. For the longest time, said Michael Valentine. I
didn't see any police, any firefighters, not on the ground
or in the air. I was disappointed because the second
fire was moving so fast and there was no one there.
Remember first fire moving slowly, They were there right away.
(32:37):
Second fire. He's standing outside eleven thirty eleven forty five,
eleven forty five. He saw the first fire trucks drive
up to his neighborhood. Now we're talking about an hour
and a half since nine one one was called. It's
an hour and a half later when Valentine saw the
first trucks, But they took a look at the street
and made a U turn and left because the fire
(32:58):
extended into the hillside and traveling. According to radio traffic,
first responders arrived in the palisade shortly before eleven am,
and we're focused on the foot of the fire and
your palisades drive. By five o'clock, the fire spurred by
wind driven embers. They were traveling up to two miles away.
They had spread across most of the community. It got
(33:19):
out of control, reel real quick, he said. And story
goes on quite a bit from there, but you get
the idea. For some reason, I don't know who's in
charge of dispatching, management direction, very very slow response for
that second fire conways here and.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Phil Schuman is on with us to that. Phil Schuman, Yeah,
guys will give.
Speaker 6 (33:40):
Us, like the news perspective of what's going on here
with these fires. All right, this guy knows, man, he's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Let me flip your I just know if we can
take more, yeah, I know, I know.
Speaker 6 (33:50):
You know a lot of people are like, hey, I
can't take any more you know, video or footage of this,
but you.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Got to take it. You got to take it. Oh yeah, And.
Speaker 6 (33:58):
The reason why, you know, the news guys and gals
are out there is to get more FEMA money, get
more federal money, get more state, city, local and county money.
Speaker 4 (34:07):
Rolling.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
That's how you do it. You show people what a
disaster it is. Yeah, but people only believe something when
they see it.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
That's right.
Speaker 6 (34:13):
Yeah, that's what the world we live in. James Brotherton's
calling in from the National Weather Service. We also have
a public information officer from the Palisades Fire, David Howard,
who who works here Burg.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Talked with him earlier. Unbelievable. It's really sad.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 6 (34:29):
I don't know another state where the the hydrants run
out of water.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
I've never heard of that before.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
There's so many things that are preposterous about this. And
I know some people think, oh, it's too soon. No,
it's not too soon. This is when everyone's paying attention.
This is whenever. You know, in a few weeks, people
are not going to pay attention anymore. It's going to
be an old story. So they now is when you
when you when you get the information, the truth out
as to what happened.
Speaker 4 (34:53):
Right.
Speaker 6 (34:53):
Have you seen the Santa Anita parking lot? I mean, yeah,
it's film it's overwhelmed with you know, people donating stuff.
My wife and daughter, God love them, man, I mean,
much much bigger hearts than I got. They went through
their closet and they took all this stuff they don't wear,
and stuff that doesn't fit anymore, and stuff that they
think will you know, be helpful as other families, and
they put it into five huge bags, mostly Christmas gifts
(35:14):
from dad. You know, if that's not really a hip
to the quip on what's fashionable nowadays?
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Right, and well, nobody's gonna want your your button down shirt.
Speaker 6 (35:23):
That's not true, John, I'm putting them up on for
raise the money on these shirts to give to people.
So they took I'll tell you the story of donating clothes.
It's a nightmare in La. It's really it's it's nobody
wants them. Nobody wants them. You mean, before this, nobody
wants it. No, No, this This past weekend Saturday and Sunday,
(35:44):
they took them to seven different places. They all said no,
all of them because they had enough. They had too
many clothes, Oh, too much clothing. And I thought, I'm
thinking they just don't like your shirts. No, it's not
my clothes, John. If you listen carefully, it's my daughter.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
My wife. All right.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Conway is next, and Phil Showman and we got Michael
Krouscher live in the CAMFI twenty four hour 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
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John Kobylt
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