November 6, 2024 • 33 mins
KFI – Steve Gregory: Mountain Fire in Camarillo Area explodes to 10,000+ acres. KTLA – Kacey Montoya: Meteorologist talking about the Santa Ana winds. Venture Fire Officials Press Conference on the Mountain Fire.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's KMF I AM sixty and you're listening to the
Conway Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app. A lot
of beautiful homes are burning to the ground as we speak,
and Steve Gregory is out there covering all of this.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Steve, what do you say?
Speaker 3 (00:14):
What do you know, hey, buddy. I'm on Alta Saguna
Court in the foothills of Cama Rio and I'm actually
watching active flames in the backyards of some of these
beautiful upscale homes and it's just devastating that these winds
have whipped up so badly. In another neighborhood I was
at about an hour ago, right in the middle of
the street was a palm tree, a tall palm tree
(00:37):
that had been uprooted and snapped in half. And you
can see that video at Steve Gregory six forty on Instagram.
It's pretty amazing. Right now, fire departments from both Ventura
County and La County and Long Beach are along this
neighborhood here and they're doing what they call structure protection,
and what they're anticipating is that burning embers from above
(00:59):
the foothills here are going to blow down here and
maybe land on a roof or land in someone's yard
or someplace flammable and spark another spot fire. One of
the big telltale signs here is these fires, these homes
that you mentioned have been destroyed are not next door
to each other. They're actually spread out, and that really
indicates that the flames had been sparked by blowing embers
(01:21):
from these high winds, and that's the most dangerous of all.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, and I'm watching these fires.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
You know, when this fire started in more Park, you
thought it would just burn out towards the hills. And
then as soon as it jumped the one eighteen or
you know, it was not the one eighteen, but whatever
Los Angeles Street is, whatever, that main street is out there.
As soon as it jumped over there and headed towards Camio.
I have an uncle used to live out there. Man,
that fire. You know, ten twenty years ago, that fire
(01:49):
would have taken ten to fifteen hours to get out there,
and it got out there in forty minutes.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
This is very spooky because this is definitely what the
color wind driven fire. This was very reminiscent for me
of the fires in Lahina on the Iahwi, because it
blew that those flames were going around sixty miles an hour,
and because it was of a downslope coming from the
foothills down into that city or that tiny town. And
(02:15):
that's what's kind of happening. Here.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Are most of the homes that are burning at least
I'm watching it on Channel seven here, Chris Christie's flying
over it. Are most of the homes that are burning
or have burned up in the hills.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Yeah, the ones that I am noticing that they're all elevated,
so they're all like in a foothill pattern, and they're
not really on like, you know, they're not in a
level area or a level elevation. It's all kind of
up in the foothills. You know.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
It's almost impossible to get home insurance for a house
like that without spending you know, twenty thirty thousand dollars
a year. After this, it's gonna be much more expensive,
and you're gonna see more of these insurance companies, you know,
bail out of California. This is it seems like, you know, Steve,
you've been around forever. I'm born and raised in this
an Fernando Valley here. Every year this happens, and yet
(03:04):
we don't do anything to prevent this from happening in
the future.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
You know, you're right on so many fronts there, because
it's like people don't evacuate even though they've been it's
been pounding into their brain for decades to be ready
to go, and then people pretend like they don't know
what to do at the last minute because you think.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Your house is going to burn, you always think somebody else's.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Right, And then you know people are they're just sort
of there, they're looking. They've got a little garden hose
and they're sitting there squirting water on their roof and meanwhile,
you know, ten feet high flames are coming at them,
and they think that's going to help. People know by
now when they're told to leave, they should leave and
talk about insurance companies and getting the right insurance. And
(03:48):
you know, people who buy homes in these areas have
got to know the risks that they take also on
the back end and the front end. They got to
know that insurance might be difficult to get if at all.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
And it's not just the you know, it's not as
Steve starting interrupt, it's not just the structure. But now
you're risking firefighters and cops to go in and physically
get people out of there, and they're risking their lives.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
And one of the questions that always comes up with
both fire or excuse me, with a county sheriff and
police is that if you do a mandatory evacuation and
you refuse to go, what are legal ramifications? And that's
always a touchy subject with law enforcement because they in theory,
they could force you to leave. But that's a real
touchy civil rights topic. Sure, but they also tell them, here,
(04:34):
sign this waiver and if something happens to you, we'll
get to you when we can. Right. We can't guarantee
we're coming to you, right.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
But it's very, very difficult to look at a photo
of a seventy five year old woman getting handcuffed because
she's not leaving her neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
It is, and that's what I'm saying. It's a very
touchy subject both optics and you know, civil rights wise,
and it's just you know, some people have a lot
of pride. They don't want to leave their homes. May
they may not have anyone else to go, or they've
got medical challenges that prevent them from leaving. It's you know,
it's we're dealing with human beings here.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
No, And that's the variable.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
And in that part of came Rio, my uncle, my
uncle used to live up there.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Those are old school, old family, old money.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
And there are people up there, I bet in their seventies, eighties,
and nineties who've been up there for forty years.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Oh, I'm looking at a house here. Just a few
months ago, I interviewed the homeowner array. He said, he
lived in this exact home for forty years. He's got
a really big American flag flying out front on a
flag pole. He's got a well manicured lawn, beautiful little home,
and you know, And I asked him I and he
was packing as I approached him, he was packing his
car and he said, yeah, this kind of hit us
(05:44):
out of nowhere. He said, it caught us by surprise.
And I said, you got someplace goes as Fortunately, yeah,
we got We're going to our son's house. But there
are people that have nowhere to go, and the hotels
are all sold out.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Right, And this is the worst possible place for a
fire to break out in the or Park area, because
it got a lot of steam before it.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Got to the houses.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
There was a lot of embers and it burned up
a lot of acres and it created a firestorm before
it got to the first house.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Right and then again with that wind driven component to it,
it makes it nearly impossible to control. At last count,
it was still zero percent contained, which means that that
fire crews have had absolutely no luck trying to surround
it or at least getting a break around it. But
there is a lot of air attack, a lot of attempts,
but the high winds are what's really slowing things down.
(06:34):
They've had to ground the fixed wings because it's too
dangerous to fly those. And then the helicopter's, the big
guns you know what they call the v lats, the
very large air tankers. Those are those Chinook double rotor
ones and the big Sikorski's. They're able to handle this
pretty well, but you know, they can only do so
many drops at once and try to get a handle
on this, and you know, literally two things are challenged
(06:56):
with Sometimes, when the area is so hot, they dropped
that water. Sometimes that water vaporizes, it evaporates because of
the heat before it even gets the ground, so they
don't get the full in the full effect of the water.
And the other thing too is that you know, by
the time they get back to refill, then the fires
already advanced. So there's a lot of challenges here, and
(07:16):
the wind is the biggest culprit.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Two things. One I saw that you know forever and
I understand why. Maybe you know why. But these helicopters,
they probably their natural instinct is to drop that retardant
or drop that water on the biggest flame they can see,
and a lot of time that's a house. But yet
they never drop I've never seen them drop it on house.
Very rarely does that happen. Why do you think that is?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Well, there are a couple of reasons for that. One
is because of the sheer power. When you talk about
dropping three thousand gallons of any kind of liquid, that
that's crushing. It's a very crushing effect, and it could
be kind of an explosive effect when it lands on
a piece of property or structure like that. It could
(08:00):
cause it could be like dropping, you know, just a
big hunk a metal on it. Uh, it could be
cause more problems than not. And the other thing too
is that a lot of times there's chemicals there could
be chemicals in there, and doing that could spread chemicals out.
It's just there's it's dangerous to do that, and if
it's in a densely populated area, you could cause damage
to other you know, adjacent homes or adjacent property.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Steve Gregory's out at the fires here in Moore Park
and came rio. I noticed when this fire started, there
weren't enough hands, and there weren't enough people around the
barns and around the horse facilities out there, you know,
the stables out there. And I saw one guy just
opening up a barn and letting horses run free, which
(08:44):
I've never seen before. And maybe that'll help them, maybe
they know how to run away from the fire. But
I've never seen that before, and that was that was
brand new. But I also saw this morning on TV
one of these green trash cans that we put in
our you know, our shrubs and cut grass and everything
rolled down the street because of the wind and was
going so fast it went right through a windshield. That's
(09:05):
how fast these winds are. Where was that more park
or more park? Yeahah, maybe more park or just the
beginning of camera reelle.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
It's I mean, you think about that's like a projectile.
I mean that thing when that when it picks a win.
And plus it's plus it's a cavernous you know, a
cavernous piece of plastic. So when they it's like catching
a windsail.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
So are they expecting these winds to calm down tonight?
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yeah, tonight, these winds will die down a bit, as
it typically does when the sun goes down, weather conditions,
and it's already cool up here. I can feel it.
It's already kind of chilly in the air. I think
seventy two seventy three degrees what I see now, So
it's starting to cool down quite a bit from when
I first got here. That's going to be a big
help tonight. I don't know what the humidity is going
(09:48):
to be like. But that also helps tremendously overnight when
humidity gets in the air, because that really tamps down
active flame and real quickly.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Any origin of the fire, any cause.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
No, it's too early for cause. But this is the
way you kind of look at it. There were no thunderstorms,
so there was no lightning, so that could be ruled out.
It's not clear whether there were power lines in the area,
because I know so cal Edison was already in a
sort of proactive phase. They were already doing blackouts here,
and so I don't know whether they got blackouts before
or after the fire. That could tell us whether or
(10:21):
not the fire was sparked by power lines or power
transmission lines. And the other thing too is you got
to look at remember the fire in Orange County was
started by a front end loader that was scraping against
rocks and caused sparks. So we don't know. Most likely
it was man caused, as they say, human cause what
it used to be called man cause and we can't
say that. Steve, what are you humans like?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Nineteen seventy eight? With you, buddy?
Speaker 1 (10:42):
I appreciate you coming on and well let's we'll check
back in with you.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
You got a power take care.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
There he goes.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
These these are this is the worst outcome for these
poor people live up in Camera Rao. It's one of
the most beautiful areas. Nobody really talks about it. The
people up there are at lot of them have kids. Again,
a lot of them have been, you know, thirty forty
fifty years in the same home, Old old California and
old money.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
They keep to themselves.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
They don't bother anybody, and it's one of the most spectacular,
beautiful places in all of California, Camerio, and it is
on fire.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
We'll continue to watch it all night.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
When come back, we'll talk to Casey Montoya, she's the
meteorologist with KTLA, one of them, and we'll talk about
where these winds are going, will they calm down, and
what does tomorrow look like. We're live on KFI watching
these fires on all these stations, but we're going to
cover it here for most of the afternoon.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
This is a big deal in California.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from KFI
Am sixty.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
After Because Mark Thompson is not a meteorologist anymore, and
Fritz Coleman has left the building. There's only one I
listened to, and one that knows the weather, and her
name is Casey Montoya.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
How are you.
Speaker 6 (11:55):
I'm great, How are you.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
It's been a long time, it's been a while. It's
been a while.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
We'll have to we'll have to discuss why you've been
avoiding us at a later date.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
All right, So these wins you predicted this.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I watched you on Monday on KTLA and you said
there are going to be hurricane winds, hurricane level winds,
and that freaked me out where I actually trimmed four
or five trees in my yard because if I didn't
take those branches down, the wind was going to take
them down. And I think it's really important when you
say something like that hurricane style winds, that people take.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Action, right.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
And what I'm talking about is so just for reference,
like a category one hurricane, those winds are anywhere from
seventy four miles an hour to ninety five miles an hour,
and we've had several wind gusts today in that category.
Fremont Canyon in Orange County seventy nine mile an hour
wind gus Magic Mountain Truck Trail eighty five miles per hour.
(12:49):
And then listen to some of these other wind gus
So Whiteman Airport in Pacoima seventy mile an hour win
gus So. Not quite a hurricane, but that's tropical storm strength.
And then Chatsworth sixty miles an hour, Seee Valley seventy
three mile per hour win gus So almost up to
that category one, and in the New Hall Past seventy
one mile an hour win gus Malibu Coast sixty nine
(13:09):
mile per hour. So when I was, you know, telling
people how strong these winds are going to be, it's
because this is really happening, and we want people to
take it seriously because you're seeing these fires. You feel
so helpless watching these homes burned out on TV, and
all we can do is warn you, right.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
So what do you see in the future here in
the near future tonight.
Speaker 6 (13:30):
And tomorrow, Well, thanksfully, those winds honestly, this morning was
the peak. They are going to still be pretty strong
and dangerous as we head to tonight and tomorrow morning.
So tomorrow late morning, they're going to gradually start to
weaken some spots, so we'll still continue to see some
strong gus, but by tomorrow evening, you know, I think
it's going to be a much different story. And actually,
(13:52):
you know, I'm in the South Bay. I moved, so
we haven't had a win here all day, which is
kind of was a little unexpected. I thought it would
be at least a little bit breezy. But because I've moved,
I have a commute now, and I would just like
to say that your time slot works well for my
schedules because I've been able to listen to you guys.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
You are a very sweet woman. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
I know that you know when when everything calms down
and the winds calm down. Remember you're always welcome to
come on. I know you do a lot of work
with animals, a lot of charity work. Please come on
and talk about that when you get a chance. But
let me ask you a quick question. I heard you
say Monday that Wednesday we're going to have these hurricane wins.
And I know I've said that already once here, But
how did you know that? What sets up that you're
(14:34):
aware of that?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Because I didn't hear that on other stations.
Speaker 6 (14:38):
I think a lot of people are afraid to say,
you know, like you know, the news business, it's these
flashy headlines, but unfortunately, like these are numbers. Like when
we're able to predict how strong winds are going to
be and it falls into the category of either a
tropical storm or hurricane, that's I tell you that to
kind of compro it and give you like a reference point.
So basically like the big picture, and I don't want
(14:59):
to geek out much, but there's like a very strong
surface high over the Great Basin, and there's a trough
a low pressure and still call and so like the
pressure gradient between those, it's really tight and that's what
causes these really strong winds. And since the winds blow
from the high pressure to the low pressure, if we
were looking at a mass that's like northeasterly and that
those are a strong Santa Anas. This is much stronger
(15:20):
than what we felt over the weekend. But you know,
I use those terms just because we all know what
a tropical storm is. We know what kind of damage
it can do. You know what damage a hurricane can do,
and so just to let you know, hey, it's not
just going to be windy. And if I just said
strong Santa Ana wind of it, I think it makes
a little more impactful if I compare it to a
hurricane one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
When I heard you say hurricane wins, I literally went
out that second and started cutting trees.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
That's all I needed to hear.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
And I think you saved a lot of people, you
know that listen and want to But the perfect and
I hate to use this term, the perfect storm, but
because the election was last night on the eve of
these big wins, there wasn't enough coverage of the wind,
too much coverage on politics.
Speaker 6 (16:06):
I agree with you. I will say one of my
producers yesterday gave me five minutes, a five minute weather segment.
And then as the afternoon started, you know, the poll
started closing. You know, weather got shorter and shorter, and unfortunately,
you're right, it was bad timing because of this. But
that's why Monday I was hitting it hard. I knew
we were going to get cut on Tuesday, but I mean,
think about it, ted thirty nine miles an hour to
(16:27):
seventy three miles an hour. It's a tropical storm and
we've been seeing those wins all day.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Well, you know what, I will always remember that you
used the term first. I've never heard of meteorologists in
Los Angeles use the term we're about to get hurricane
style winds.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
And I think you saved a lot of people. And
I would keep that up.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
And I appreciate you coming on and again, once we
you know, get out of this mess, come back, call
us up and we'll talk about your animal charitys anytime.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Kasey Montoya with KTLA Channel five, and she used the
only one I watch a lot of dudes.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I watched two, four.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Five, seven, eleven, sometimes thirteen, sometimes nine, and I watch
I consume a lot. I tape everything. I'm a big,
huge local news junkie. I know a lot of these people.
And for her to use that term hurricane style winds,
it got my ass out of the house and started
cutting trees.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
That's what you need to hear.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
You need to hear terms like that, so in the future,
maybe we can be more proactive and not get into
the mess like we are experiencing right now on Walnut
Avenue and I up in you know the Canyon Road
up there, Balcom Canyon Road up in the moor Park Slash,
you know Camrio area. This is a huge, huge disaster
(17:47):
for people to live up there, and hopefully you know
you spent the little time last night preparing for this,
and they should have either a car or with a
speaker rolling around saying, hey, we're about to get hurricane
style wins. Be prepared, get ready to get your stuff,
and get the hell out, because it seems like we
do this every single year. Every year, we're looking on
(18:09):
TV and we're seeing people with everything they own and
they're home burning to the ground and it's heartbreaking for
those people own the home, for the people who live nearby,
for the relatives of those people own the home. There's
tens of thousands of people that are heartbroken right now
because of what's going on in cam Rio and Malibu.
And we'll continue watching, we'll come back, we'll have a
(18:29):
press conference. They just started. We'll go back and start
it again and played for you. So all the information
you need in Camrio.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from KFI
Am six forty.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
This fire in cam Rio started in more Park and
it was it was west of the twenty three. So
when they've been saying all day long that this jump
to one eighteen, yeah, that's true, but it doesn't didn't
jump to one eighteen that we all know, which is
the freeway out there. Jumped the one eighteen, which is
I think Los Angeles Street, and it jumped the one
(19:03):
eighteen where it becomes a road and so between let's
see here between the twenty three. Actually it's a little
bit between the thirty four if you're from if you're
familiar with the area, it's it's Camera Rio right when
it goes down the incline, there from right there all
the way to the one twenty six, the road the
(19:25):
highway that you go up to Santa Paula. Everybody in
that area is currently under a firewatch. Everybody that includes Oxnard,
the Channel Islands Portwaanimi to the south and up to
the north.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
It's where the thirty three and the one oh one split.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
If if you're familiar with that area, that's the highway
you go up to Ohi. So all those rial Lindo
West Village, Oxnard, everybody lives in there. It is is
currently under a firewatch right now. And with these winds
and these homes that are burning, everybody in that area
(20:06):
should be very aware. You know, the Oxnard Airport's up
in that area. There's a lot of people live up
there now. A lot of people live up in the
Channel Islands area, Oxnard Shores. It's a beautiful, beautiful place
up there, it really is. It's stunning up there, how
great it is. But all of it, including the naval
base up there, the Portwinimian, that whole base up there,
(20:28):
if people remember, that's where Ronald Reagan. They flew Ronald
Reagan's body into that airport right before they brought him
up to the Ronald Reagan Museum for burial, and there
are a lot of expensive, a lot of old money
homes up there, people in there for forty to fifty
sixty years. Very quiet community. You never really hear much
(20:49):
about it. You never hear human complaining. They just go
out living their lives. It is a spectacular area and
it's being decimated right now with this fire. Let's get
the press conference rolling here. This is what we learned
about five about ten minutes of the.
Speaker 7 (21:03):
Official arrival of the incident. Fire was well established and
impacted by the Santa Ana wind event that we're currently
undergoing in southern California. Upon arrival, the fires burning in
various fuel types, including agricultural and various brush and grasses
that we have in our county. Resources that arrived on
scene initially were faced with a tough firefight. Crewis immediately
(21:25):
went into structure protection, property conservation, any type of suppression,
and immediate life safety. Firefighters were right off the bat,
engaged in pulling people out of their houses and saving lives.
Throughout the day, the fire has continued to be impacted
by those right fuels and the wind continuing to the
southwest affecting, excuse me, the communities.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Of so Miss.
Speaker 7 (21:47):
Unfortunately, the fire did hop to the south side of
one eighteen, becoming established in a fuel bed there north
of the city of Camerillo. Fires impacted that whole area
north of Camerio proper there in the Camrio Heights area,
king to run to the southwest there towards the Highway
one oh one corridor in the Central Avenue area. As
it kind of progresses to the west. We have high
(22:09):
confidence in stopping the southwestern progression of the fire. Resources
are actively engaged right now in life safety and property
conservation throughout the incident, working north the Wells area Santa
Clair in the one eighteen corridor. Fire continues to move
west there. We fought fire in that ground before the
right people are in place, and our firefighters are doing
nothing short of heroic out there right now. Across the incident,
(22:32):
we do have fire now established north of South Mountain,
well visible and down into the Santa Clair River bottom
which runs south of the community of Santa Paula. Firefighters
are in there, actively engaged, crews, dozers, engines. We've called
every available resource to the incident. We're working with our
partners to bring quick resolves of this incident. But this
is a tough firefight by no means. We have the
(22:54):
best people out there doing a great job right now
utilizing all the technology and stuff we have at our fingertips.
But that's your current operational update for the Mountain incident.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Thank you.
Speaker 8 (23:04):
Good afternoon, Jeff shav Interurry County Fire Department, Division Chief
and the current incident commander for the Mountain incident, with
a quick weather update. Again, as we have seen, we're
in red flight conditions. Anticipate these conditions to continue now
through at least sundown tomorrow here in Ventura County. What
(23:24):
that means is critically low relative humidity the mountain moisture
in the air is less than ten percent, which is
which is critical for us and for fire behavior. And
the sustained Santa Anna wins or the northeast winds here
which have pushed the mountain incident as cheap as Captain
Johnson described again with gusts to sixty and as high
(23:49):
as eighty miles an hour, and we anticipate those conditions
to continue until tomorrow night at about six o'clock.
Speaker 9 (23:57):
Good afternoon, Sheriff Jim and Freehoff We are in unified
with our Ventura County Fire partners. Very fortunate to have
such a positive relationship with our fire department here in
Ventura County. My thoughts and prayers are with the families
that are affected by this fire. I'm thankful to be
supported by our elected officials here today as well. If
you are wondering what our evacuations are road closures, please
(24:18):
visit vcremergency dot com, and if you're wanting to get
updates sent to you, please sign up on VC Alert.
If you have any animals that need shelter, large animals
will go to the Ventura County Fairgrounds. Small animals will
be at the Cameo Pet.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Shelter near the Cameo Airport.
Speaker 9 (24:36):
We're providing information to the public as soon as we
receive it on our social media platforms. You can follow
it at hashtag Mountain fire. Our goal is law enforcement,
much like fire is preserving life and preserving structures. We
have made over fourteen thousand context to evacuate people within
the community. Please continue to stay out of the area
unless you absolutely need to be here.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Please stay away.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Okay, welcome back and play the rest of this news conference,
but large animals are going to the Ventor of Fairgrounds,
which is right on the coast.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
They should be in pretty good shape there.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
And everybody lives in that area knows where the Ventura
County Fairgrounds are, right off the just right off the
one oh one and and take your large animals there
and they'll hold on to them as long as as
you need them to. But this is a big, huge
disaster for one of the most beautiful areas in California, Camio,
(25:31):
Oxnard and that whole area up there.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from KFI
Am sixty.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Came Rio is under threat Oxnard for the Mountain fire.
And let's get some more information for the people live
up there. This is a matter of life and death.
Speaker 9 (25:47):
Again, if you've missed anything that I've just said, please
refer to vimergency dot com.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
Good afternoon, body Dustin Gardner Fire Chief, Enter County Fire Department,
or wrap this up, keep it simple. This is a
classic sant Ana win event. We've got sustained wins more
than fifty miles an hour with gusts over eighty Every
firefighter in the region, all of our partners from Los
Angeles City Los Angeles County, Orange County, Current County, Santa
Barbara County, our partners at CalFire, our partners in the sheriff,
every law enforcement agency available, every helicopter, every fixed wing aircraft,
(26:15):
everything we've been able to get a hold of, is
here fighting this fire, and it is moving at a
dangerous rate aspired. This spire has spotted more than two
and a half miles out in front of itself. Bushes
are burning, grass is burning, hedgerows are burning, agricultural fields
are burning, and structures are burning. This fire is moving
dangerously fast. If you're from the region and you know
(26:36):
southern California weather, you know how dangerous these fires are.
When you get an evac order from the sheriff leaf
these aren't one of these fires where you can wait
and predict and maybe stay home. Your homes can be replaced,
your lives can't leave. If you're from out of the area,
pay attention to VC Alert, pay attention to the news,
get your updates, and stay out of the area. Our
(26:57):
firefighters and law enforcement agencies are doing everything they can
to protect lives, so we need your help. Is staying
out of the way. Staying out of the way thank
you very much, and I believe we're going to move
to Andy toick questions. So with thank you, Chief Captain
Trevor Johnson will answer your questions that you may have
with regard to operations.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Come besides the way, what does start a fire like this?
Speaker 7 (27:19):
There are multiple things that can start a fire like this,
you know, coming into the event, all of our resources
in the operational area. We're upstaffed because we knew what
this was coming, so we're well prepared ahead of time
for this incident. As far as the nature of what
could start it, it could be a variety of things.
I'm not going to get into the details of that.
The fire is currently under investigation. That's down the line
and not for us to really to dive into. We're
(27:41):
here to put the fire out, protect all the people
in the area, and you know, you guys provide for
our lifestyles and we're here to serve you, my nosaken
me and so everybody's out there on the line right
now doing exactly that.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Where you're most concerned that this fire the.
Speaker 7 (27:55):
Movie, Yeah, Well, throughout the course of the day, it's
moved into those areas your areas of concern, we're Camrio Heights,
We're the cam Rio Estates area there north or northwest
of the city of Camerio. The Highway one corridor super
valuable for commerce travel for everybody in the area. So
those are all super valuable to us right now. There's
infrastructure threats around the whole fire area, not only with
(28:18):
our partners with Southern California Edison a gas company.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
So all super valuable. The city of.
Speaker 7 (28:23):
Santa Paula, we have a vested interest and those are
the citizens we protect. So we have the right people
in the right place to protect those all areas of concern.
But with the fire of this magnitude, there's so much
going on at once that you can't handle every issue.
So what we do and what we train to do
is prioritize, prioritize what's important, what's valuable, and what difference
(28:43):
can we make on the ground. And I believe throughout
the operational period we've done just that. And what is
valuable is the people of Interra County, the people traveling
through our county and their homes, their property and their
well being.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Are fasting tankers able to.
Speaker 6 (28:56):
Apply this fire yet?
Speaker 7 (28:58):
Yeah, So great question upon initial dispatch We launched a
variety of aircraft to the incident, both rotor wing in
the form of helicopters that drop water as part of
initial attack, and we upgraded our amount of fixed wing
needed to the incident right away. So how that works
as an air tactical group supervisor or supervisor in this
sky comes overhead and makes an assessment on whether or
(29:19):
not retardant drops via fixed wing is applicable to the
incident based on the wind conditions. Upon initial assessment that
was not feasible for a variety of factors that they
deal with up there in the sky. Throughout the day,
we continue to assess that based on fire in different areas.
We have dropped retarden in some areas. We're continuing to
scout for opportunities to use that to our advantage, and
(29:40):
we'll continue to do so through the remainder of the incident.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
I thought one search.
Speaker 6 (29:43):
Of rescue team, do you have others out there and
how were they dispatched to where?
Speaker 7 (29:48):
If the chief sheriff wants to take that one, But
we work with our sheriff partners and they're responsible for
search and rescue in our county. So through our system,
I'll let the sheriff cover it. But we get ordered
up and we're in constant community.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
I'll answer that.
Speaker 9 (30:00):
When they were having other long questions, so we'll finish
your questions.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Okay.
Speaker 7 (30:04):
Injuries injuries on the incident, I can't report on that
right now. It's what we're doing right now. Out there
on the ground is very dangerous. The firefighters out there,
they open a door and the door cancrease and bend
and go out of service on them just to locate
fire hydrants. When the water system is failing. Everything is
dangerous out there. Driving they can't see five feet in
front of their engine, operating in and around power lines,
(30:26):
gas lines that are on fire. So there's a variety
of dangers out there. None injuries that we're going to
report on right now. Everybody is doing good. No significant
injuries that I've been told throughout the incident. But we've
also established multiple ambulances not only for public safety, but
for firefighter safety on the incident.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
Also speak to water pressure.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
I understand at one point the pressure.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
Was too low.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yeah, so water pressure.
Speaker 7 (30:50):
Without getting into the nuts and bolts of all that,
the cam Real Heights area, is it up at elevation
compared to the valley floor. So up at that there's
certain systems in place, but we're in constant coordination with
all the water companies that serve the fire hydrants up here.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Our partners did a great.
Speaker 7 (31:05):
Job of quickly establishing maximum pressure and volume to give
our firefighters. We combine that with water tenders that we'll
utilize to fill our fire engines, and so we're working
in great coordination to keep our fire engines topped off
and keep standing in the fight with all of our
engine resources on the incident.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
So you say there's a.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Lot going on, you have to prioritize.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
How does that prioritization system work? How are you breaking
what to address forth?
Speaker 7 (31:29):
Yeah, great question. So prioritization it comes from. We all
have a great deal of training. My mentors are here
and in the room. And when we prioritize, number one
is life. So right off the bat, our department stands
for that, our cooperators stand for that. So life is
our paramount concern. So with the fire of this magnitude
and moving that fast, getting people out of the way
(31:50):
is paramount. And due to the rapid nature of this fire,
it was moving so fast where our evacuations, they don't.
It takes a long time to work in those areas.
So we work in a combination with our sheriff's partners,
our Oees department to give out public messaging for evacuations,
and then our fire engines. I directed them this afternoon
(32:11):
to go directly into saving lives, and they were doing
just that, pulling people out of houses, driving them off
their street, and their own fire engine to get them
to safety, and taking any means necessary. After the life
safety portion, we know that these are people's homes, their livelihoods,
so those are valuable too. So Priority one is life safety,
followed by property conservation.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
In a nutshell, Catherin, all you're here is part of
these winds.
Speaker 6 (32:34):
Great with you.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
The magnitude of.
Speaker 7 (32:36):
These windings, Yeah, our county is notoriously windy, the way
the Santa Ana wins work with that high pressure over
the Great Basin coming out to the Pacific Ocean. We
study the weather, and throughout my training and career, I've
been given many lessons and been on many Santa Ana
win fires. These rate is up there as high as
(32:57):
they get. We're looking at the pressure ingredient as it's
measured by the National Weather Service as part of our
calculations and our forecasting and our fire behavior assessments. But
these are up there, and we're aware, and it changes
our tactics a little bit, but we're well aware of
it and prepared to do our jobs.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Conway Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Now you
can always hear us live on kf I Am six
forty four to seven pm Monday through Friday, and anytime
on demand on the iHeart Radio app
It's KMF I AM sixty and you're listening to the
Conway Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app. A lot
of beautiful homes are burning to the ground as we speak,
and Steve Gregory is out there covering all of this.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Steve, what do you say?
Speaker 3 (00:14):
What do you know, hey, buddy. I'm on Alta Saguna
Court in the foothills of Cama Rio and I'm actually
watching active flames in the backyards of some of these
beautiful upscale homes and it's just devastating that these winds
have whipped up so badly. In another neighborhood I was
at about an hour ago, right in the middle of
the street was a palm tree, a tall palm tree
(00:37):
that had been uprooted and snapped in half. And you
can see that video at Steve Gregory six forty on Instagram.
It's pretty amazing. Right now, fire departments from both Ventura
County and La County and Long Beach are along this
neighborhood here and they're doing what they call structure protection,
and what they're anticipating is that burning embers from above
(00:59):
the foothills here are going to blow down here and
maybe land on a roof or land in someone's yard
or someplace flammable and spark another spot fire. One of
the big telltale signs here is these fires, these homes
that you mentioned have been destroyed are not next door
to each other. They're actually spread out, and that really
indicates that the flames had been sparked by blowing embers
(01:21):
from these high winds, and that's the most dangerous of all.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, and I'm watching these fires.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
You know, when this fire started in more Park, you
thought it would just burn out towards the hills. And
then as soon as it jumped the one eighteen or
you know, it was not the one eighteen, but whatever
Los Angeles Street is, whatever, that main street is out there.
As soon as it jumped over there and headed towards Camio.
I have an uncle used to live out there. Man,
that fire. You know, ten twenty years ago, that fire
(01:49):
would have taken ten to fifteen hours to get out there,
and it got out there in forty minutes.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
This is very spooky because this is definitely what the
color wind driven fire. This was very reminiscent for me
of the fires in Lahina on the Iahwi, because it
blew that those flames were going around sixty miles an hour,
and because it was of a downslope coming from the
foothills down into that city or that tiny town. And
(02:15):
that's what's kind of happening. Here.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Are most of the homes that are burning at least
I'm watching it on Channel seven here, Chris Christie's flying
over it. Are most of the homes that are burning
or have burned up in the hills.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Yeah, the ones that I am noticing that they're all elevated,
so they're all like in a foothill pattern, and they're
not really on like, you know, they're not in a
level area or a level elevation. It's all kind of
up in the foothills. You know.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
It's almost impossible to get home insurance for a house
like that without spending you know, twenty thirty thousand dollars
a year. After this, it's gonna be much more expensive,
and you're gonna see more of these insurance companies, you know,
bail out of California. This is it seems like, you know, Steve,
you've been around forever. I'm born and raised in this
an Fernando Valley here. Every year this happens, and yet
(03:04):
we don't do anything to prevent this from happening in
the future.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
You know, you're right on so many fronts there, because
it's like people don't evacuate even though they've been it's
been pounding into their brain for decades to be ready
to go, and then people pretend like they don't know
what to do at the last minute because you think.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Your house is going to burn, you always think somebody else's.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Right, And then you know people are they're just sort
of there, they're looking. They've got a little garden hose
and they're sitting there squirting water on their roof and meanwhile,
you know, ten feet high flames are coming at them,
and they think that's going to help. People know by
now when they're told to leave, they should leave and
talk about insurance companies and getting the right insurance. And
(03:48):
you know, people who buy homes in these areas have
got to know the risks that they take also on
the back end and the front end. They got to
know that insurance might be difficult to get if at all.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
And it's not just the you know, it's not as
Steve starting interrupt, it's not just the structure. But now
you're risking firefighters and cops to go in and physically
get people out of there, and they're risking their lives.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
And one of the questions that always comes up with
both fire or excuse me, with a county sheriff and
police is that if you do a mandatory evacuation and
you refuse to go, what are legal ramifications? And that's
always a touchy subject with law enforcement because they in theory,
they could force you to leave. But that's a real
touchy civil rights topic. Sure, but they also tell them, here,
(04:34):
sign this waiver and if something happens to you, we'll
get to you when we can. Right. We can't guarantee
we're coming to you, right.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
But it's very, very difficult to look at a photo
of a seventy five year old woman getting handcuffed because
she's not leaving her neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
It is, and that's what I'm saying. It's a very
touchy subject both optics and you know, civil rights wise,
and it's just you know, some people have a lot
of pride. They don't want to leave their homes. May
they may not have anyone else to go, or they've
got medical challenges that prevent them from leaving. It's you know,
it's we're dealing with human beings here.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
No, And that's the variable.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
And in that part of came Rio, my uncle, my
uncle used to live up there.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Those are old school, old family, old money.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
And there are people up there, I bet in their seventies, eighties,
and nineties who've been up there for forty years.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Oh, I'm looking at a house here. Just a few
months ago, I interviewed the homeowner array. He said, he
lived in this exact home for forty years. He's got
a really big American flag flying out front on a
flag pole. He's got a well manicured lawn, beautiful little home,
and you know, And I asked him I and he
was packing as I approached him, he was packing his
car and he said, yeah, this kind of hit us
(05:44):
out of nowhere. He said, it caught us by surprise.
And I said, you got someplace goes as Fortunately, yeah,
we got We're going to our son's house. But there
are people that have nowhere to go, and the hotels
are all sold out.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Right, And this is the worst possible place for a
fire to break out in the or Park area, because
it got a lot of steam before it.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Got to the houses.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
There was a lot of embers and it burned up
a lot of acres and it created a firestorm before
it got to the first house.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Right and then again with that wind driven component to it,
it makes it nearly impossible to control. At last count,
it was still zero percent contained, which means that that
fire crews have had absolutely no luck trying to surround
it or at least getting a break around it. But
there is a lot of air attack, a lot of attempts,
but the high winds are what's really slowing things down.
(06:34):
They've had to ground the fixed wings because it's too
dangerous to fly those. And then the helicopter's, the big
guns you know what they call the v lats, the
very large air tankers. Those are those Chinook double rotor
ones and the big Sikorski's. They're able to handle this
pretty well, but you know, they can only do so
many drops at once and try to get a handle
on this, and you know, literally two things are challenged
(06:56):
with Sometimes, when the area is so hot, they dropped
that water. Sometimes that water vaporizes, it evaporates because of
the heat before it even gets the ground, so they
don't get the full in the full effect of the water.
And the other thing too is that you know, by
the time they get back to refill, then the fires
already advanced. So there's a lot of challenges here, and
(07:16):
the wind is the biggest culprit.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Two things. One I saw that you know forever and
I understand why. Maybe you know why. But these helicopters,
they probably their natural instinct is to drop that retardant
or drop that water on the biggest flame they can see,
and a lot of time that's a house. But yet
they never drop I've never seen them drop it on house.
Very rarely does that happen. Why do you think that is?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Well, there are a couple of reasons for that. One
is because of the sheer power. When you talk about
dropping three thousand gallons of any kind of liquid, that
that's crushing. It's a very crushing effect, and it could
be kind of an explosive effect when it lands on
a piece of property or structure like that. It could
(08:00):
cause it could be like dropping, you know, just a
big hunk a metal on it. Uh, it could be
cause more problems than not. And the other thing too
is that a lot of times there's chemicals there could
be chemicals in there, and doing that could spread chemicals out.
It's just there's it's dangerous to do that, and if
it's in a densely populated area, you could cause damage
to other you know, adjacent homes or adjacent property.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Steve Gregory's out at the fires here in Moore Park
and came rio. I noticed when this fire started, there
weren't enough hands, and there weren't enough people around the
barns and around the horse facilities out there, you know,
the stables out there. And I saw one guy just
opening up a barn and letting horses run free, which
(08:44):
I've never seen before. And maybe that'll help them, maybe
they know how to run away from the fire. But
I've never seen that before, and that was that was
brand new. But I also saw this morning on TV
one of these green trash cans that we put in
our you know, our shrubs and cut grass and everything
rolled down the street because of the wind and was
going so fast it went right through a windshield. That's
(09:05):
how fast these winds are. Where was that more park
or more park? Yeahah, maybe more park or just the
beginning of camera reelle.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
It's I mean, you think about that's like a projectile.
I mean that thing when that when it picks a win.
And plus it's plus it's a cavernous you know, a
cavernous piece of plastic. So when they it's like catching
a windsail.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
So are they expecting these winds to calm down tonight?
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yeah, tonight, these winds will die down a bit, as
it typically does when the sun goes down, weather conditions,
and it's already cool up here. I can feel it.
It's already kind of chilly in the air. I think
seventy two seventy three degrees what I see now, So
it's starting to cool down quite a bit from when
I first got here. That's going to be a big
help tonight. I don't know what the humidity is going
(09:48):
to be like. But that also helps tremendously overnight when
humidity gets in the air, because that really tamps down
active flame and real quickly.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Any origin of the fire, any cause.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
No, it's too early for cause. But this is the
way you kind of look at it. There were no thunderstorms,
so there was no lightning, so that could be ruled out.
It's not clear whether there were power lines in the area,
because I know so cal Edison was already in a
sort of proactive phase. They were already doing blackouts here,
and so I don't know whether they got blackouts before
or after the fire. That could tell us whether or
(10:21):
not the fire was sparked by power lines or power
transmission lines. And the other thing too is you got
to look at remember the fire in Orange County was
started by a front end loader that was scraping against
rocks and caused sparks. So we don't know. Most likely
it was man caused, as they say, human cause what
it used to be called man cause and we can't
say that. Steve, what are you humans like?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Nineteen seventy eight? With you, buddy?
Speaker 1 (10:42):
I appreciate you coming on and well let's we'll check
back in with you.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
You got a power take care.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
There he goes.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
These these are this is the worst outcome for these
poor people live up in Camera Rao. It's one of
the most beautiful areas. Nobody really talks about it. The
people up there are at lot of them have kids. Again,
a lot of them have been, you know, thirty forty
fifty years in the same home, Old old California and
old money.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
They keep to themselves.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
They don't bother anybody, and it's one of the most spectacular,
beautiful places in all of California, Camerio, and it is
on fire.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
We'll continue to watch it all night.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
When come back, we'll talk to Casey Montoya, she's the
meteorologist with KTLA, one of them, and we'll talk about
where these winds are going, will they calm down, and
what does tomorrow look like. We're live on KFI watching
these fires on all these stations, but we're going to
cover it here for most of the afternoon.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
This is a big deal in California.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from KFI
Am sixty.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
After Because Mark Thompson is not a meteorologist anymore, and
Fritz Coleman has left the building. There's only one I
listened to, and one that knows the weather, and her
name is Casey Montoya.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
How are you.
Speaker 6 (11:55):
I'm great, How are you.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
It's been a long time, it's been a while. It's
been a while.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
We'll have to we'll have to discuss why you've been
avoiding us at a later date.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
All right, So these wins you predicted this.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I watched you on Monday on KTLA and you said
there are going to be hurricane winds, hurricane level winds,
and that freaked me out where I actually trimmed four
or five trees in my yard because if I didn't
take those branches down, the wind was going to take
them down. And I think it's really important when you
say something like that hurricane style winds, that people take.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Action, right.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
And what I'm talking about is so just for reference,
like a category one hurricane, those winds are anywhere from
seventy four miles an hour to ninety five miles an hour,
and we've had several wind gusts today in that category.
Fremont Canyon in Orange County seventy nine mile an hour
wind gus Magic Mountain Truck Trail eighty five miles per hour.
(12:49):
And then listen to some of these other wind gus
So Whiteman Airport in Pacoima seventy mile an hour win
gus So. Not quite a hurricane, but that's tropical storm strength.
And then Chatsworth sixty miles an hour, Seee Valley seventy
three mile per hour win gus So almost up to
that category one, and in the New Hall Past seventy
one mile an hour win gus Malibu Coast sixty nine
(13:09):
mile per hour. So when I was, you know, telling
people how strong these winds are going to be, it's
because this is really happening, and we want people to
take it seriously because you're seeing these fires. You feel
so helpless watching these homes burned out on TV, and
all we can do is warn you, right.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
So what do you see in the future here in
the near future tonight.
Speaker 6 (13:30):
And tomorrow, Well, thanksfully, those winds honestly, this morning was
the peak. They are going to still be pretty strong
and dangerous as we head to tonight and tomorrow morning.
So tomorrow late morning, they're going to gradually start to
weaken some spots, so we'll still continue to see some
strong gus, but by tomorrow evening, you know, I think
it's going to be a much different story. And actually,
(13:52):
you know, I'm in the South Bay. I moved, so
we haven't had a win here all day, which is
kind of was a little unexpected. I thought it would
be at least a little bit breezy. But because I've moved,
I have a commute now, and I would just like
to say that your time slot works well for my
schedules because I've been able to listen to you guys.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
You are a very sweet woman. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
I know that you know when when everything calms down
and the winds calm down. Remember you're always welcome to
come on. I know you do a lot of work
with animals, a lot of charity work. Please come on
and talk about that when you get a chance. But
let me ask you a quick question. I heard you
say Monday that Wednesday we're going to have these hurricane wins.
And I know I've said that already once here, But
how did you know that? What sets up that you're
(14:34):
aware of that?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Because I didn't hear that on other stations.
Speaker 6 (14:38):
I think a lot of people are afraid to say,
you know, like you know, the news business, it's these
flashy headlines, but unfortunately, like these are numbers. Like when
we're able to predict how strong winds are going to
be and it falls into the category of either a
tropical storm or hurricane, that's I tell you that to
kind of compro it and give you like a reference point.
So basically like the big picture, and I don't want
(14:59):
to geek out much, but there's like a very strong
surface high over the Great Basin, and there's a trough
a low pressure and still call and so like the
pressure gradient between those, it's really tight and that's what
causes these really strong winds. And since the winds blow
from the high pressure to the low pressure, if we
were looking at a mass that's like northeasterly and that
those are a strong Santa Anas. This is much stronger
(15:20):
than what we felt over the weekend. But you know,
I use those terms just because we all know what
a tropical storm is. We know what kind of damage
it can do. You know what damage a hurricane can do,
and so just to let you know, hey, it's not
just going to be windy. And if I just said
strong Santa Ana wind of it, I think it makes
a little more impactful if I compare it to a
hurricane one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
When I heard you say hurricane wins, I literally went
out that second and started cutting trees.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
That's all I needed to hear.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
And I think you saved a lot of people, you
know that listen and want to But the perfect and
I hate to use this term, the perfect storm, but
because the election was last night on the eve of
these big wins, there wasn't enough coverage of the wind,
too much coverage on politics.
Speaker 6 (16:06):
I agree with you. I will say one of my
producers yesterday gave me five minutes, a five minute weather segment.
And then as the afternoon started, you know, the poll
started closing. You know, weather got shorter and shorter, and unfortunately,
you're right, it was bad timing because of this. But
that's why Monday I was hitting it hard. I knew
we were going to get cut on Tuesday, but I mean,
think about it, ted thirty nine miles an hour to
(16:27):
seventy three miles an hour. It's a tropical storm and
we've been seeing those wins all day.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Well, you know what, I will always remember that you
used the term first. I've never heard of meteorologists in
Los Angeles use the term we're about to get hurricane
style winds.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
And I think you saved a lot of people. And
I would keep that up.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
And I appreciate you coming on and again, once we
you know, get out of this mess, come back, call
us up and we'll talk about your animal charitys anytime.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Kasey Montoya with KTLA Channel five, and she used the
only one I watch a lot of dudes.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I watched two, four.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Five, seven, eleven, sometimes thirteen, sometimes nine, and I watch
I consume a lot. I tape everything. I'm a big,
huge local news junkie. I know a lot of these people.
And for her to use that term hurricane style winds,
it got my ass out of the house and started
cutting trees.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
That's what you need to hear.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
You need to hear terms like that, so in the future,
maybe we can be more proactive and not get into
the mess like we are experiencing right now on Walnut
Avenue and I up in you know the Canyon Road
up there, Balcom Canyon Road up in the moor Park Slash,
you know Camrio area. This is a huge, huge disaster
(17:47):
for people to live up there, and hopefully you know
you spent the little time last night preparing for this,
and they should have either a car or with a
speaker rolling around saying, hey, we're about to get hurricane
style wins. Be prepared, get ready to get your stuff,
and get the hell out, because it seems like we
do this every single year. Every year, we're looking on
(18:09):
TV and we're seeing people with everything they own and
they're home burning to the ground and it's heartbreaking for
those people own the home, for the people who live nearby,
for the relatives of those people own the home. There's
tens of thousands of people that are heartbroken right now
because of what's going on in cam Rio and Malibu.
And we'll continue watching, we'll come back, we'll have a
(18:29):
press conference. They just started. We'll go back and start
it again and played for you. So all the information
you need in Camrio.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from KFI
Am six forty.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
This fire in cam Rio started in more Park and
it was it was west of the twenty three. So
when they've been saying all day long that this jump
to one eighteen, yeah, that's true, but it doesn't didn't
jump to one eighteen that we all know, which is
the freeway out there. Jumped the one eighteen, which is
I think Los Angeles Street, and it jumped the one
(19:03):
eighteen where it becomes a road and so between let's
see here between the twenty three. Actually it's a little
bit between the thirty four if you're from if you're
familiar with the area, it's it's Camera Rio right when
it goes down the incline, there from right there all
the way to the one twenty six, the road the
(19:25):
highway that you go up to Santa Paula. Everybody in
that area is currently under a firewatch. Everybody that includes Oxnard,
the Channel Islands Portwaanimi to the south and up to
the north.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
It's where the thirty three and the one oh one split.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
If if you're familiar with that area, that's the highway
you go up to Ohi. So all those rial Lindo
West Village, Oxnard, everybody lives in there. It is is
currently under a firewatch right now. And with these winds
and these homes that are burning, everybody in that area
(20:06):
should be very aware. You know, the Oxnard Airport's up
in that area. There's a lot of people live up
there now. A lot of people live up in the
Channel Islands area, Oxnard Shores. It's a beautiful, beautiful place
up there, it really is. It's stunning up there, how
great it is. But all of it, including the naval
base up there, the Portwinimian, that whole base up there,
(20:28):
if people remember, that's where Ronald Reagan. They flew Ronald
Reagan's body into that airport right before they brought him
up to the Ronald Reagan Museum for burial, and there
are a lot of expensive, a lot of old money
homes up there, people in there for forty to fifty
sixty years. Very quiet community. You never really hear much
(20:49):
about it. You never hear human complaining. They just go
out living their lives. It is a spectacular area and
it's being decimated right now with this fire. Let's get
the press conference rolling here. This is what we learned
about five about ten minutes of the.
Speaker 7 (21:03):
Official arrival of the incident. Fire was well established and
impacted by the Santa Ana wind event that we're currently
undergoing in southern California. Upon arrival, the fires burning in
various fuel types, including agricultural and various brush and grasses
that we have in our county. Resources that arrived on
scene initially were faced with a tough firefight. Crewis immediately
(21:25):
went into structure protection, property conservation, any type of suppression,
and immediate life safety. Firefighters were right off the bat,
engaged in pulling people out of their houses and saving lives.
Throughout the day, the fire has continued to be impacted
by those right fuels and the wind continuing to the
southwest affecting, excuse me, the communities.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Of so Miss.
Speaker 7 (21:47):
Unfortunately, the fire did hop to the south side of
one eighteen, becoming established in a fuel bed there north
of the city of Camerillo. Fires impacted that whole area
north of Camerio proper there in the Camrio Heights area,
king to run to the southwest there towards the Highway
one oh one corridor in the Central Avenue area. As
it kind of progresses to the west. We have high
(22:09):
confidence in stopping the southwestern progression of the fire. Resources
are actively engaged right now in life safety and property
conservation throughout the incident, working north the Wells area Santa
Clair in the one eighteen corridor. Fire continues to move
west there. We fought fire in that ground before the
right people are in place, and our firefighters are doing
nothing short of heroic out there right now. Across the incident,
(22:32):
we do have fire now established north of South Mountain,
well visible and down into the Santa Clair River bottom
which runs south of the community of Santa Paula. Firefighters
are in there, actively engaged, crews, dozers, engines. We've called
every available resource to the incident. We're working with our
partners to bring quick resolves of this incident. But this
is a tough firefight by no means. We have the
(22:54):
best people out there doing a great job right now
utilizing all the technology and stuff we have at our fingertips.
But that's your current operational update for the Mountain incident.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Thank you.
Speaker 8 (23:04):
Good afternoon, Jeff shav Interurry County Fire Department, Division Chief
and the current incident commander for the Mountain incident, with
a quick weather update. Again, as we have seen, we're
in red flight conditions. Anticipate these conditions to continue now
through at least sundown tomorrow here in Ventura County. What
(23:24):
that means is critically low relative humidity the mountain moisture
in the air is less than ten percent, which is
which is critical for us and for fire behavior. And
the sustained Santa Anna wins or the northeast winds here
which have pushed the mountain incident as cheap as Captain
Johnson described again with gusts to sixty and as high
(23:49):
as eighty miles an hour, and we anticipate those conditions
to continue until tomorrow night at about six o'clock.
Speaker 9 (23:57):
Good afternoon, Sheriff Jim and Freehoff We are in unified
with our Ventura County Fire partners. Very fortunate to have
such a positive relationship with our fire department here in
Ventura County. My thoughts and prayers are with the families
that are affected by this fire. I'm thankful to be
supported by our elected officials here today as well. If
you are wondering what our evacuations are road closures, please
(24:18):
visit vcremergency dot com, and if you're wanting to get
updates sent to you, please sign up on VC Alert.
If you have any animals that need shelter, large animals
will go to the Ventura County Fairgrounds. Small animals will
be at the Cameo Pet.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Shelter near the Cameo Airport.
Speaker 9 (24:36):
We're providing information to the public as soon as we
receive it on our social media platforms. You can follow
it at hashtag Mountain fire. Our goal is law enforcement,
much like fire is preserving life and preserving structures. We
have made over fourteen thousand context to evacuate people within
the community. Please continue to stay out of the area
unless you absolutely need to be here.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Please stay away.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Okay, welcome back and play the rest of this news conference,
but large animals are going to the Ventor of Fairgrounds,
which is right on the coast.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
They should be in pretty good shape there.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
And everybody lives in that area knows where the Ventura
County Fairgrounds are, right off the just right off the
one oh one and and take your large animals there
and they'll hold on to them as long as as
you need them to. But this is a big, huge
disaster for one of the most beautiful areas in California, Camio,
(25:31):
Oxnard and that whole area up there.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from KFI
Am sixty.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Came Rio is under threat Oxnard for the Mountain fire.
And let's get some more information for the people live
up there. This is a matter of life and death.
Speaker 9 (25:47):
Again, if you've missed anything that I've just said, please
refer to vimergency dot com.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
Good afternoon, body Dustin Gardner Fire Chief, Enter County Fire Department,
or wrap this up, keep it simple. This is a
classic sant Ana win event. We've got sustained wins more
than fifty miles an hour with gusts over eighty Every
firefighter in the region, all of our partners from Los
Angeles City Los Angeles County, Orange County, Current County, Santa
Barbara County, our partners at CalFire, our partners in the sheriff,
every law enforcement agency available, every helicopter, every fixed wing aircraft,
(26:15):
everything we've been able to get a hold of, is
here fighting this fire, and it is moving at a
dangerous rate aspired. This spire has spotted more than two
and a half miles out in front of itself. Bushes
are burning, grass is burning, hedgerows are burning, agricultural fields
are burning, and structures are burning. This fire is moving
dangerously fast. If you're from the region and you know
(26:36):
southern California weather, you know how dangerous these fires are.
When you get an evac order from the sheriff leaf
these aren't one of these fires where you can wait
and predict and maybe stay home. Your homes can be replaced,
your lives can't leave. If you're from out of the area,
pay attention to VC Alert, pay attention to the news,
get your updates, and stay out of the area. Our
(26:57):
firefighters and law enforcement agencies are doing everything they can
to protect lives, so we need your help. Is staying
out of the way. Staying out of the way thank
you very much, and I believe we're going to move
to Andy toick questions. So with thank you, Chief Captain
Trevor Johnson will answer your questions that you may have
with regard to operations.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Come besides the way, what does start a fire like this?
Speaker 7 (27:19):
There are multiple things that can start a fire like this,
you know, coming into the event, all of our resources
in the operational area. We're upstaffed because we knew what
this was coming, so we're well prepared ahead of time
for this incident. As far as the nature of what
could start it, it could be a variety of things.
I'm not going to get into the details of that.
The fire is currently under investigation. That's down the line
and not for us to really to dive into. We're
(27:41):
here to put the fire out, protect all the people
in the area, and you know, you guys provide for
our lifestyles and we're here to serve you, my nosaken
me and so everybody's out there on the line right
now doing exactly that.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Where you're most concerned that this fire the.
Speaker 7 (27:55):
Movie, Yeah, Well, throughout the course of the day, it's
moved into those areas your areas of concern, we're Camrio Heights,
We're the cam Rio Estates area there north or northwest
of the city of Camerio. The Highway one corridor super
valuable for commerce travel for everybody in the area. So
those are all super valuable to us right now. There's
infrastructure threats around the whole fire area, not only with
(28:18):
our partners with Southern California Edison a gas company.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
So all super valuable. The city of.
Speaker 7 (28:23):
Santa Paula, we have a vested interest and those are
the citizens we protect. So we have the right people
in the right place to protect those all areas of concern.
But with the fire of this magnitude, there's so much
going on at once that you can't handle every issue.
So what we do and what we train to do
is prioritize, prioritize what's important, what's valuable, and what difference
(28:43):
can we make on the ground. And I believe throughout
the operational period we've done just that. And what is
valuable is the people of Interra County, the people traveling
through our county and their homes, their property and their
well being.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Are fasting tankers able to.
Speaker 6 (28:56):
Apply this fire yet?
Speaker 7 (28:58):
Yeah, So great question upon initial dispatch We launched a
variety of aircraft to the incident, both rotor wing in
the form of helicopters that drop water as part of
initial attack, and we upgraded our amount of fixed wing
needed to the incident right away. So how that works
as an air tactical group supervisor or supervisor in this
sky comes overhead and makes an assessment on whether or
(29:19):
not retardant drops via fixed wing is applicable to the
incident based on the wind conditions. Upon initial assessment that
was not feasible for a variety of factors that they
deal with up there in the sky. Throughout the day,
we continue to assess that based on fire in different areas.
We have dropped retarden in some areas. We're continuing to
scout for opportunities to use that to our advantage, and
(29:40):
we'll continue to do so through the remainder of the incident.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
I thought one search.
Speaker 6 (29:43):
Of rescue team, do you have others out there and
how were they dispatched to where?
Speaker 7 (29:48):
If the chief sheriff wants to take that one, But
we work with our sheriff partners and they're responsible for
search and rescue in our county. So through our system,
I'll let the sheriff cover it. But we get ordered
up and we're in constant community.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
I'll answer that.
Speaker 9 (30:00):
When they were having other long questions, so we'll finish
your questions.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Okay.
Speaker 7 (30:04):
Injuries injuries on the incident, I can't report on that
right now. It's what we're doing right now. Out there
on the ground is very dangerous. The firefighters out there,
they open a door and the door cancrease and bend
and go out of service on them just to locate
fire hydrants. When the water system is failing. Everything is
dangerous out there. Driving they can't see five feet in
front of their engine, operating in and around power lines,
(30:26):
gas lines that are on fire. So there's a variety
of dangers out there. None injuries that we're going to
report on right now. Everybody is doing good. No significant
injuries that I've been told throughout the incident. But we've
also established multiple ambulances not only for public safety, but
for firefighter safety on the incident.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
Also speak to water pressure.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
I understand at one point the pressure.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
Was too low.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yeah, so water pressure.
Speaker 7 (30:50):
Without getting into the nuts and bolts of all that,
the cam Real Heights area, is it up at elevation
compared to the valley floor. So up at that there's
certain systems in place, but we're in constant coordination with
all the water companies that serve the fire hydrants up here.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Our partners did a great.
Speaker 7 (31:05):
Job of quickly establishing maximum pressure and volume to give
our firefighters. We combine that with water tenders that we'll
utilize to fill our fire engines, and so we're working
in great coordination to keep our fire engines topped off
and keep standing in the fight with all of our
engine resources on the incident.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
So you say there's a.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Lot going on, you have to prioritize.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
How does that prioritization system work? How are you breaking
what to address forth?
Speaker 7 (31:29):
Yeah, great question. So prioritization it comes from. We all
have a great deal of training. My mentors are here
and in the room. And when we prioritize, number one
is life. So right off the bat, our department stands
for that, our cooperators stand for that. So life is
our paramount concern. So with the fire of this magnitude
and moving that fast, getting people out of the way
(31:50):
is paramount. And due to the rapid nature of this fire,
it was moving so fast where our evacuations, they don't.
It takes a long time to work in those areas.
So we work in a combination with our sheriff's partners,
our Oees department to give out public messaging for evacuations,
and then our fire engines. I directed them this afternoon
(32:11):
to go directly into saving lives, and they were doing
just that, pulling people out of houses, driving them off
their street, and their own fire engine to get them
to safety, and taking any means necessary. After the life
safety portion, we know that these are people's homes, their livelihoods,
so those are valuable too. So Priority one is life safety,
followed by property conservation.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
In a nutshell, Catherin, all you're here is part of
these winds.
Speaker 6 (32:34):
Great with you.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
The magnitude of.
Speaker 7 (32:36):
These windings, Yeah, our county is notoriously windy, the way
the Santa Ana wins work with that high pressure over
the Great Basin coming out to the Pacific Ocean. We
study the weather, and throughout my training and career, I've
been given many lessons and been on many Santa Ana
win fires. These rate is up there as high as
(32:57):
they get. We're looking at the pressure ingredient as it's
measured by the National Weather Service as part of our
calculations and our forecasting and our fire behavior assessments. But
these are up there, and we're aware, and it changes
our tactics a little bit, but we're well aware of
it and prepared to do our jobs.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
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