January 17, 2025 • 26 mins
Inside the DWP’s battle to keep water flowing as the fire exploded. Here are the 11 things Trump promised to carry out on day 1 of his presidency. What does containment actually mean? Palisades and Eaton fires update.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty the bill Handle
show on demand on the iHeartRadio f KFI AM six
forty bill Handle. Here it is a Friday morning, January seventeenth,
Footy Friday without the food.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Neil not still not up to part and so hopefully
comes back.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
On Monday, eight o'clock, we have the press conference, the
obligatory press conference from the fire and police officials, and
then at eight thirty ask handle anything. We started that
and it's just sort of a fun topic where I'm
asked questions and I answer them, and you can ask
me anything, and I now answer almost anything. First couple
(00:42):
of weeks it was really embarrassing. So this is just
that's just fun. That's just fun personal stuff. Yeah, that
works too. Okay, I want to talk a little bit
about the fire for a moment, but this is a
developing story, and this has to do with let's start
blaming everybody. It's the fault of the DWP, it is
(01:04):
the fault of the water districts around the Department of Water.
It's the fault of the Numisipal water systems. It is
the Fire Department's fault. It's Karen Bass's fault, because had
she been in Los Angeles, the fires wouldn't have been
as disastrous as they were.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I mean, the whole issue of her being in Ghana.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
We talked about the politics of that and what's happening,
and as I said, and by the way, the lawsuits
are already being filed.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Lawsuits are already being filed, who's it fault?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
And I said, let's investigate what's going on, you know,
let's find out what actually happened.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So let me tell you.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
The fire breaks out, and you probably didn't know this,
but seventeen miles east of the fires, in downtown LA,
dozens of officials were around computers. There's a long conference
room table and the LA Department of Water and Power
has an emergency operations center, a war room in case
of these huge natural disasters. And all on the wall
(02:06):
are all these screens that show the system's water pressure,
because there are sensors stationed across the city that actually
measure at the pumps and hydrants that actually measure water pressure.
And you go to the afternoon of January seventh, when
the fires really broke out and firefighters are rushing to
(02:28):
deal with those flames, and it became very apparent, very
quickly that the Palisade Paliside, the Palisades needed more water,
and I mean fast. Now you have you seen these
tanks in the hills, these massive water tanks at some
places in the hills. That's how they deal with water pressure.
(02:52):
Water is pumped up to those tanks. Not immediately when
you know you have a swimming pool filled and use
a lot of water, Well, the water is pumped up
through the tanks because that's where the water comes from
from these large tanks, and that's where you get a
lot of water pressure and a lot of water. It
doesn't come from the municipal water supply. We get water
(03:13):
from the normal water lines up there. They get water
from those tanks that the normal water is pumped up
to those tanks and then water is used swimming pools fires. Okay,
so almost immediately the tanks that were up there, the
pressure the water begins to dwindle, and DWP officials had
(03:36):
to figure out really quick how do you get water
pressure into those tanks where it's falling dramatically, Because that's
how the water is supplied. It's not off the municipal
water system like we have from the pipes that we have.
So a thirty six inch pipeline carries water from a
(03:59):
bell Air reservme war, it goes to the west side
and then it goes uphill into the Palisades the highlands.
And here's the choice they had, okay, and boy was
it a choice. Do you shut off the water to
neighborhoods like Brentwood or do you accept diminishing water pressure
on the front lines because there's only a limited amount
(04:23):
of water. Now Here is their problem dialysis centers, medical facilities,
if they don't have water, that's a problem. There are
no dialysis centers up in the hills of the Palisades,
there are no hospitals up there that without water, they
basically shut down. And then the issue is how do
how long does it take to turn off the valve safely?
(04:45):
Can the pipes handle that? Could they rupture?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
They don't know.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
So what they did is they shut off the water
in the areas down below, and they ultimately decided that
if they didn't, those neighborhoods below, hospitals, medical facilities, would
undermine the efforts to staunch the fire. Okay, so why
(05:14):
did they choose, Well, they chose the hospitals and the
head of DWP, the managing director, said we had a plan,
but we didn't execute on the plan because those neighborhoods
where we supplied water needed the water. So decisions by
the DWP, even the years before the Palisades fire and
(05:39):
hours after it exploded, well there's the criticism. Newsom has
ordered an inquiry. The City Council of LA voted to
demand that THEWP publicly present an analysis. Well, they're analyzing.
Now here's the big one. Water officials and experts.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
This is not.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
An article by The Times said that municipal water systems,
not only in LA but all over the country are
not designed to fight firestorms like we have. They just
are not designed to deal with it. This was the
worst fire that we have ever had. It's like our
(06:23):
building codes are designed to deal with the earthquakes of
seven point one seven point two on the Richter scale.
If one of a nine point four hits us are
the system is not designed for that. The buildings don't
hold up, they collapse, the bridges collapse, and they go, oh,
you could have made a stronger system. Why didn't you know,
(06:44):
Because we've never had one of those. And it is
not designed for that. That's what this water system is about.
It simply wasn't designed for something like this because something
like this has never happened. We have never had fire
that went through neighborhoods with one hundred mile an hour
wins just completely overloaded. I'm going to come back and
(07:08):
go into it a little bit more, and keep in
mind I'm not defending. All I'm saying is this is
the explanation that is given, and I'd like to see
the investigation before. By the way, lawsuits are being filed,
I mean, it's crazy. The other day I was actually
asked by a law firm to advertise and they've already
(07:31):
filed lawsuits.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
They go, how can I do that?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Filing a lawsuit against the DWP. And I'm telling you,
let's file a lawsuit against the DWP. What if they're
not at fault we don't know yet, doesn't matter. Oh,
that's lawyers. They file lawsuits for anything.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
You know.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
They'll file a lawsuit on a slip and fault before
you slip and fall, before it ever happens.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Let's file the suit.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
We're starting to get some explanations from the fire Department,
and particularly the Department of Water and Power led time
started looking at this and they're now just getting initial
ideas and explanations. And already, of course, who's to blame
La Fire Department They didn't do a good job. Certainly
a DWP Department of Water and Power, they didn't do
(08:15):
a good job. The City of La they certainly certainly
didn't do a good job. But Karen Bass in Ghana,
had she arrived, she would these fires would have been better.
By the way, Supreme Court just has just ruled that
TikTok can be banned in the US. But that was
the law. They weren't going to go any other way
(08:36):
because Congress had passed that law, and the Screme Court
doesn't turn around and go, oh, now, go ahead and
ignore it.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
And the president, remember he has to enforce so you know,
that's up in the air. What was happening with TikTok.
So back we go to the fire and trying to
explain what happened. One of them one of the reasons
that the fire and dealt with the way it quote
should have been was that it couldn't be. Water officials
(09:06):
and experts that were interviewed by the time said that
our water systems, and not just in LA, I'm talking
about across the country, aren't designed to fight firestorms like this.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
That's it. It's that simple. They are not designed to
do that, and when.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Something like this hits, the system simply can't deal with it.
So what ended up happening the fire spreads, you have
the winds, the pressure plummets in those high elevation areas
because there was so much water being used.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Again where this system is not designed.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Those fire hydrants are designed that when you have one
building or a small area fire, a couple of buildings,
a big for example, warehouse, there's plenty of water pressure.
When you're talking about square miles a lot of them
that are burning up in a firestorm. No one anticipates
that or can design it because can you imagine what
(10:03):
it would take to have that much water pressure.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
So that's a problem.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
The other one is these airplanes that they have to
fight fighters, and we have a lot of them, and
the technology is wonderful with a night vision et cetera.
You know what they do, They go into reservoirs and
they suck up the water. Helicopters do the same thing
and then they fly over in dump water and as
we now know, that is a big part of fire fighting,
(10:32):
they couldn't do it. They couldn't get in the air
because the winds were so massive. So we don't know.
Then there was that one reservoir that was empty, and
the managing director of DWP says water quality regulations by
law require the reservoir to be emptied because a tear
(10:54):
in the cover and the repairs were bid out to
a contractor and it hadn't been done. And now we
have to find out is that a normal delay or not.
We don't know the answer to that yet. And Collins,
who is THEDWP managing director, asked, would you do something differently?
He goes, we don't know yet, it's too soon to say.
(11:16):
I'll tell you what I'm doing is I'm focusing on
getting the system back. That's the number one priority. And
then there's a lot of technical issues here. The homes
and the fire hydrants in palis Age dry water from
a thirty six inch main that runs from Sunset to
that Santa Ynez reservoir which wasn't being used, and.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
These huge tanks.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
The way water pressure is created, it's not from the
pipes that are under the ground like we have in
the flatlands. It's water pumped up to these tanks to
keep them full. And as water pressure drops and the
tanks drop, the amount of water is dropped because so
much is being used. Then the tanks in fact philipped.
(12:03):
The tanks were filled up by pumps from the water supply.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Couldn't do it.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Too many hydrants were being used, too many firefighters, too
many pumping the fire trucks.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
That pumped the water.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
There was just too much of it, and so they knew,
they knew what was happening, and they did everything they could,
or so they say. In one case, for example, the
DWP dispatched the teabe to a neighborhood to try to
install some kind of a device that would regulate the
(12:39):
pressure there.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
And the pressure was falling all over the place.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
So the crew shows out and the fire department pulls
them because the fire is going towards them at a
rate you couldn't run, you couldn't drive to keep up
with a fire. And they pulled them out because the
fire was going in that direction. Therefore no water pressure.
Therefore there at fault. And this happened over the course
(13:03):
of hours and days, and the DWP asked for water
tankers directly to fill fire trucks instead of hydrants. Nine
arrived on Tuesday. Six more the next day, the state
dispatches water tankers and it all ended up failing up
on top of the palisades.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Now is their fault? I don't know yet. We don't
know yet.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
But for those people that are screaming, okay, fire apartments
screwed up, the water and power people screwed up, the
city screwed up. Okay, we're gonna find out. Maybe that's true.
But don't you love the accusations that come before the fact. Now,
have about some logic?
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Here? Is that possible? Do we ever bring logic to
the table. Not when it's something like this, We don't.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
All Right, Next Monday it was the last full day
of the Bid presidency, and Tuesday is the first full
day of the Trump presidency. And we have been hearing
now for months, actually probably a couple of years.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
That day one. I know that's a phrase that.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Goes around now, we hear that from every president, every
presidential candidate. Here's what I'm going to do day one. Okay,
let's look at a couple of day one. And by
the way, he's not alone. I want to point this out.
Now he is more than other presidents, but in other candidates.
But it's there's been a lot of day ones over
(14:38):
the past several presidencies. Okay, first one, mass deportation starts
day one. Okay, yeah, really, eleven million people are going
to be deported day one. I want the bus franchise.
(14:58):
I want eleven milli million people lined up in front
of my buses. And of course that is a phrase,
and he knows that's a political phrase, so that's been
changed to on day one, I will launch the largest
deportation program in American history to get the criminals out.
And we think they're about eleven million, probably more than that.
(15:21):
So it's not every it's not every immigrant, illegal immigrant,
it's the criminals who, by the way, get deported anyway.
But he's going to be far more proactive in finding
who they are and deporting them, far more than Biden is.
So is that going to happen? Sort of modified to
a much lesser degree than it was going to happen.
(15:42):
And when he was asked on NBC about the cost,
there's been a campaigned about the costs of this deportation plan.
He said, it's not a question of a price tag.
And he says he's prepared to declare a national emergency
and will use the military assets for his deportation program. Actually,
(16:04):
that was a post on to social and he just
responded and said, true, all right, ending birthright citizenship. I
love this. This can be day one, this can be
day one thousand and is it going to happen?
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Why Well, in the United States, anyone who's born in
the United States is automatically granted citizenship, and that's because
we have this little quirk in the law called the
fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and
he is going to change that on day one.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Now, how do you get an amendment to the Constitution
of the United States.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
You can either do it to two thirds of both
Houses of Congress or two thirds of the states legislature
of the fifty states, all voting to amend the Constitution.
Which is why we only have what twenty six twenty
seven amendments in the first ten being when they wrote
the Constitution.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
He's going to end.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
The Biden Order, the Biden era border policies, and he's
going to terminate every open border policy the Biden administration
on day one. I think he can get a good
start on that because a president has the ability to
deal with the border and the border patrol and ice
(17:22):
because it's all part of the executive branch. And he
said he would use Title forty two to do exactly that.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Now, what is Title forty two.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
It was a public health law that was implemented at
the start of COVID, and it had to do with
the president's power to not allow people in or deport
based on a medical issue, based on the national security
medical part of what was going on with COVID. And
(17:55):
he said, we're going to use that. I'm going to
take the medical part of Title Title forty two and
use that to deport or Under the Biden era, the
immigration policy can't happen. Okay, Now what can happen. Day
one is pardoning the January sixth defendants. And that one
(18:21):
it went from pardon all the January sixth defendants, every
one of them, because they are heroes, because those that
were arrested are hostages. And I'm using his words, the
Jay what is it J six defendants? The J six heroes,
(18:41):
because it was a peaceful demonstration. He has said that
there was nothing that was in any way outrageous or
in any way dangerous. It was just a group of
people that were peacefully demonstrating, even the ones that we're
breaking in. And by the way, the only person hurt
was one of those quote demonstrators who was killed by
(19:03):
Capital City police. She was shot as she was breaking
into the area where the Congress people were. And so
he said, I'm going to pardon all of them. And
now he's come back a little bit and was asked,
how about the people that hurt the police officers that
we have on video beating up using flag poles and
(19:28):
other pieces of equipment to beat up police officers. Are
you going to pardon them? And he said, I'm going
to look at it. I haven't decided yet. War in
Ukraine will end Tuesday, it will end done. I have
a relationship with Zelenski, I have a relationship with Putin,
(19:50):
and I'm going to make the phone call to both
of them and the war will end. Okay, that's ridiculous. However,
he said the same thing about the war in Gaza,
the Hamas Israeli war, and he said, if they don't
cut a deal before I'm elected. All hell is going
to break loose in the Middle East. Number one, I
(20:14):
believe that. Number two, how much power did he bring
to the table.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
On that one?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Because Israel relies on the United States for the vast,
vast majority of its ornaments. Without the United States, Israel
does not function as a military force to any great extent.
It cannot defend itself the way it does now. And
Israel needs a president who is on their side, and
Trump is a president who is on their side. And
(20:43):
when he said all hell breaks loose, it's not going
to be in defense of the Palestinians.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
So I believe that, and I give him a lot
of credit for that.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Implementing the terriffs, an immedia twenty five percent tariff on
everything important for Mexico and Canada. You know what, Let
me give a break here, because there's a couple more
I want to talk about.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
And I just love this day one stuff. And by
the way, there have been day.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Ones Bill Clinton when he was elected president, he got
off of being sworn in and he went and started
signing orders.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
There were day ones all right now.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Talking about Donald Trump, what is going to happen Day one,
get a lot of promises for day one.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yep, some of them are just ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Some of those are probably not going to happen, and
then there are some that may very well happen. Now,
what could happen is the implementation of tariffs. Trump promised
that he would sign an executive order to implement a
twenty five percent tariff on all products imported from Mexico
and Canada, our biggest trading partners. I will sign the
(21:51):
documents to charge Mexico and Canada twenty five percent tariff
all products coming in.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And then you talk about the open borders that are ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
And now he had previously proposed a ten percent tariff
across the board, and in November he goes even further.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
And what happened.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Okay, First of all, to implement a tariff of that
size just screws up the economy completely. He put and
he's right by the way in pushing tariffs, in saying
that if we make it so expensive to buy foreign
products implementing tariffs on those products, then we buy American
products and American workers manufacture those products. He's absolutely right.
(22:36):
Here's the problem. Tariffs can happen tomorrow. Building a factory
takes two years by the time the American worker starts manufacturing.
So what happens during those two years, Well, prices go up,
and man, they go up because remember twenty five percent tariff.
So let's say you have a manufacturer here who is
(22:59):
buying a part from Canada car manufacturer and pays one
hundred dollars for that part.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Well, all of a.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Sudden, with a twenty five percent tariff, that manufacturer pays
one hundred and twenty five dollars.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Well, do you think the car is going to go
up now? Canceling the electrical vehicle mandate? He can do it.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Twenty twenty one, Biden signed an order, an executive order,
setting a nationwide goal fifty percent of new cars and
trucks sold by twenty thirty zero emission. California has a
lot of By twenty thirty five, all of.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
The vehicles will be electric. Can he do that? He
can make it a lot more difficult. Yeah, he can
undo executive orders that Biden put in place.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
How about oil drilling, he has said often drill, drill, drill.
He does not believe in any environmental protections. He has
said climate change is a hoax. He has not changed
and admitted that climate change is real and oil and
(24:03):
gas is very near and dear to his heart. They
threw a pile of money at his campaign and that's
where he goes. And those people say he was bought
by oil and gas. I don't believe that. I think
that's just his belief.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
For real.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Participation in women's sports, that one is an interesting one.
I think there's a real validity to that, and that
is saying that if a man becomes a woman, should
the man be able to play women's sports, or should
now the women be able to pay women's sports. Well,
there's a physiological, physiological difference, and in fact there may
be and I don't know. I'm not a doctor, although
(24:43):
I do play one on radio. There may be a
physiological advantage.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Don't know the answer to that.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
We know that's going to change under the Biden under
the Trump administration in terms of the government views it.
And then gender affirming care practices, goodbye, the federal government
paying for allowing gender affirming for example, hormone therapy. Not necessarily.
We're talking surgery where you have a man who becomes
(25:13):
a woman, and the surgery known as de sponsification that
removes the fruit package and creates the women parts. Government
is not really involved in that to any extent. That's
the way it's portrayed. It's ninety nine percent hormone therapy.
(25:34):
And he said on a video on February first, the
twenty twenty three it posted his campaign website, on day one,
I will revoke Joe Biden's cruel policies on so called
affirming care.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
I think he can do that. So day one, you're
going to see some real day ones. You're gonna not
see a lot of day ones, and you're going to
see some attempts day ones, and we'll see, by the way,
that comes up on Tuesday. Tuesday is day one of
his administration. That one's going to be fun KFI. You've
(26:10):
been listening to The Bill Handle Show Catch My Show
Monday through Friday six am to nine am, and anytime
on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to KFI AM six forty the bill Handle
show on demand on the iHeartRadio f KFI AM six
forty bill Handle. Here it is a Friday morning, January seventeenth,
Footy Friday without the food.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Neil not still not up to part and so hopefully
comes back.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
On Monday, eight o'clock, we have the press conference, the
obligatory press conference from the fire and police officials, and
then at eight thirty ask handle anything. We started that
and it's just sort of a fun topic where I'm
asked questions and I answer them, and you can ask
me anything, and I now answer almost anything. First couple
(00:42):
of weeks it was really embarrassing. So this is just
that's just fun. That's just fun personal stuff. Yeah, that
works too. Okay, I want to talk a little bit
about the fire for a moment, but this is a
developing story, and this has to do with let's start
blaming everybody. It's the fault of the DWP, it is
(01:04):
the fault of the water districts around the Department of Water.
It's the fault of the Numisipal water systems. It is
the Fire Department's fault. It's Karen Bass's fault, because had
she been in Los Angeles, the fires wouldn't have been
as disastrous as they were.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I mean, the whole issue of her being in Ghana.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
We talked about the politics of that and what's happening,
and as I said, and by the way, the lawsuits
are already being filed.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Lawsuits are already being filed, who's it fault?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
And I said, let's investigate what's going on, you know,
let's find out what actually happened.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So let me tell you.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
The fire breaks out, and you probably didn't know this,
but seventeen miles east of the fires, in downtown LA,
dozens of officials were around computers. There's a long conference
room table and the LA Department of Water and Power
has an emergency operations center, a war room in case
of these huge natural disasters. And all on the wall
(02:06):
are all these screens that show the system's water pressure,
because there are sensors stationed across the city that actually
measure at the pumps and hydrants that actually measure water pressure.
And you go to the afternoon of January seventh, when
the fires really broke out and firefighters are rushing to
(02:28):
deal with those flames, and it became very apparent, very
quickly that the Palisade Paliside, the Palisades needed more water,
and I mean fast. Now you have you seen these
tanks in the hills, these massive water tanks at some
places in the hills. That's how they deal with water pressure.
(02:52):
Water is pumped up to those tanks. Not immediately when
you know you have a swimming pool filled and use
a lot of water, Well, the water is pumped up
through the tanks because that's where the water comes from
from these large tanks, and that's where you get a
lot of water pressure and a lot of water. It
doesn't come from the municipal water supply. We get water
(03:13):
from the normal water lines up there. They get water
from those tanks that the normal water is pumped up
to those tanks and then water is used swimming pools fires. Okay,
so almost immediately the tanks that were up there, the
pressure the water begins to dwindle, and DWP officials had
(03:36):
to figure out really quick how do you get water
pressure into those tanks where it's falling dramatically, Because that's
how the water is supplied. It's not off the municipal
water system like we have from the pipes that we have.
So a thirty six inch pipeline carries water from a
(03:59):
bell Air reservme war, it goes to the west side
and then it goes uphill into the Palisades the highlands.
And here's the choice they had, okay, and boy was
it a choice. Do you shut off the water to
neighborhoods like Brentwood or do you accept diminishing water pressure
on the front lines because there's only a limited amount
(04:23):
of water. Now Here is their problem dialysis centers, medical facilities,
if they don't have water, that's a problem. There are
no dialysis centers up in the hills of the Palisades,
there are no hospitals up there that without water, they
basically shut down. And then the issue is how do
how long does it take to turn off the valve safely?
(04:45):
Can the pipes handle that? Could they rupture?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
They don't know.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
So what they did is they shut off the water
in the areas down below, and they ultimately decided that
if they didn't, those neighborhoods below, hospitals, medical facilities, would
undermine the efforts to staunch the fire. Okay, so why
(05:14):
did they choose, Well, they chose the hospitals and the
head of DWP, the managing director, said we had a plan,
but we didn't execute on the plan because those neighborhoods
where we supplied water needed the water. So decisions by
the DWP, even the years before the Palisades fire and
(05:39):
hours after it exploded, well there's the criticism. Newsom has
ordered an inquiry. The City Council of LA voted to
demand that THEWP publicly present an analysis. Well, they're analyzing.
Now here's the big one. Water officials and experts.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
This is not.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
An article by The Times said that municipal water systems,
not only in LA but all over the country are
not designed to fight firestorms like we have. They just
are not designed to deal with it. This was the
worst fire that we have ever had. It's like our
(06:23):
building codes are designed to deal with the earthquakes of
seven point one seven point two on the Richter scale.
If one of a nine point four hits us are
the system is not designed for that. The buildings don't
hold up, they collapse, the bridges collapse, and they go, oh,
you could have made a stronger system. Why didn't you know,
(06:44):
Because we've never had one of those. And it is
not designed for that. That's what this water system is about.
It simply wasn't designed for something like this because something
like this has never happened. We have never had fire
that went through neighborhoods with one hundred mile an hour
wins just completely overloaded. I'm going to come back and
(07:08):
go into it a little bit more, and keep in
mind I'm not defending. All I'm saying is this is
the explanation that is given, and I'd like to see
the investigation before. By the way, lawsuits are being filed,
I mean, it's crazy. The other day I was actually
asked by a law firm to advertise and they've already
(07:31):
filed lawsuits.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
They go, how can I do that?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Filing a lawsuit against the DWP. And I'm telling you,
let's file a lawsuit against the DWP. What if they're
not at fault we don't know yet, doesn't matter. Oh,
that's lawyers. They file lawsuits for anything.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
You know.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
They'll file a lawsuit on a slip and fault before
you slip and fall, before it ever happens.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Let's file the suit.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
We're starting to get some explanations from the fire Department,
and particularly the Department of Water and Power led time
started looking at this and they're now just getting initial
ideas and explanations. And already, of course, who's to blame
La Fire Department They didn't do a good job. Certainly
a DWP Department of Water and Power, they didn't do
(08:15):
a good job. The City of La they certainly certainly
didn't do a good job. But Karen Bass in Ghana,
had she arrived, she would these fires would have been better.
By the way, Supreme Court just has just ruled that
TikTok can be banned in the US. But that was
the law. They weren't going to go any other way
(08:36):
because Congress had passed that law, and the Screme Court
doesn't turn around and go, oh, now, go ahead and
ignore it.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
And the president, remember he has to enforce so you know,
that's up in the air. What was happening with TikTok.
So back we go to the fire and trying to
explain what happened. One of them one of the reasons
that the fire and dealt with the way it quote
should have been was that it couldn't be. Water officials
(09:06):
and experts that were interviewed by the time said that
our water systems, and not just in LA, I'm talking
about across the country, aren't designed to fight firestorms like this.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
That's it. It's that simple. They are not designed to
do that, and when.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Something like this hits, the system simply can't deal with it.
So what ended up happening the fire spreads, you have
the winds, the pressure plummets in those high elevation areas
because there was so much water being used.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Again where this system is not designed.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Those fire hydrants are designed that when you have one
building or a small area fire, a couple of buildings,
a big for example, warehouse, there's plenty of water pressure.
When you're talking about square miles a lot of them
that are burning up in a firestorm. No one anticipates
that or can design it because can you imagine what
(10:03):
it would take to have that much water pressure.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
So that's a problem.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
The other one is these airplanes that they have to
fight fighters, and we have a lot of them, and
the technology is wonderful with a night vision et cetera.
You know what they do, They go into reservoirs and
they suck up the water. Helicopters do the same thing
and then they fly over in dump water and as
we now know, that is a big part of fire fighting,
(10:32):
they couldn't do it. They couldn't get in the air
because the winds were so massive. So we don't know.
Then there was that one reservoir that was empty, and
the managing director of DWP says water quality regulations by
law require the reservoir to be emptied because a tear
(10:54):
in the cover and the repairs were bid out to
a contractor and it hadn't been done. And now we
have to find out is that a normal delay or not.
We don't know the answer to that yet. And Collins,
who is THEDWP managing director, asked, would you do something differently?
He goes, we don't know yet, it's too soon to say.
(11:16):
I'll tell you what I'm doing is I'm focusing on
getting the system back. That's the number one priority. And
then there's a lot of technical issues here. The homes
and the fire hydrants in palis Age dry water from
a thirty six inch main that runs from Sunset to
that Santa Ynez reservoir which wasn't being used, and.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
These huge tanks.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
The way water pressure is created, it's not from the
pipes that are under the ground like we have in
the flatlands. It's water pumped up to these tanks to
keep them full. And as water pressure drops and the
tanks drop, the amount of water is dropped because so
much is being used. Then the tanks in fact philipped.
(12:03):
The tanks were filled up by pumps from the water supply.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Couldn't do it.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Too many hydrants were being used, too many firefighters, too
many pumping the fire trucks.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
That pumped the water.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
There was just too much of it, and so they knew,
they knew what was happening, and they did everything they could,
or so they say. In one case, for example, the
DWP dispatched the teabe to a neighborhood to try to
install some kind of a device that would regulate the
(12:39):
pressure there.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
And the pressure was falling all over the place.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
So the crew shows out and the fire department pulls
them because the fire is going towards them at a
rate you couldn't run, you couldn't drive to keep up
with a fire. And they pulled them out because the
fire was going in that direction. Therefore no water pressure.
Therefore there at fault. And this happened over the course
(13:03):
of hours and days, and the DWP asked for water
tankers directly to fill fire trucks instead of hydrants. Nine
arrived on Tuesday. Six more the next day, the state
dispatches water tankers and it all ended up failing up
on top of the palisades.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Now is their fault? I don't know yet. We don't
know yet.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
But for those people that are screaming, okay, fire apartments
screwed up, the water and power people screwed up, the
city screwed up. Okay, we're gonna find out. Maybe that's true.
But don't you love the accusations that come before the fact. Now,
have about some logic?
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Here? Is that possible? Do we ever bring logic to
the table. Not when it's something like this, We don't.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
All Right, Next Monday it was the last full day
of the Bid presidency, and Tuesday is the first full
day of the Trump presidency. And we have been hearing
now for months, actually probably a couple of years.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
That day one. I know that's a phrase that.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Goes around now, we hear that from every president, every
presidential candidate. Here's what I'm going to do day one. Okay,
let's look at a couple of day one. And by
the way, he's not alone. I want to point this out.
Now he is more than other presidents, but in other candidates.
But it's there's been a lot of day ones over
(14:38):
the past several presidencies. Okay, first one, mass deportation starts
day one. Okay, yeah, really, eleven million people are going
to be deported day one. I want the bus franchise.
(14:58):
I want eleven milli million people lined up in front
of my buses. And of course that is a phrase,
and he knows that's a political phrase, so that's been
changed to on day one, I will launch the largest
deportation program in American history to get the criminals out.
And we think they're about eleven million, probably more than that.
(15:21):
So it's not every it's not every immigrant, illegal immigrant,
it's the criminals who, by the way, get deported anyway.
But he's going to be far more proactive in finding
who they are and deporting them, far more than Biden is.
So is that going to happen? Sort of modified to
a much lesser degree than it was going to happen.
(15:42):
And when he was asked on NBC about the cost,
there's been a campaigned about the costs of this deportation plan.
He said, it's not a question of a price tag.
And he says he's prepared to declare a national emergency
and will use the military assets for his deportation program. Actually,
(16:04):
that was a post on to social and he just
responded and said, true, all right, ending birthright citizenship. I
love this. This can be day one, this can be
day one thousand and is it going to happen?
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Why Well, in the United States, anyone who's born in
the United States is automatically granted citizenship, and that's because
we have this little quirk in the law called the
fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and
he is going to change that on day one.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Now, how do you get an amendment to the Constitution
of the United States.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
You can either do it to two thirds of both
Houses of Congress or two thirds of the states legislature
of the fifty states, all voting to amend the Constitution.
Which is why we only have what twenty six twenty
seven amendments in the first ten being when they wrote
the Constitution.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
He's going to end.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
The Biden Order, the Biden era border policies, and he's
going to terminate every open border policy the Biden administration
on day one. I think he can get a good
start on that because a president has the ability to
deal with the border and the border patrol and ice
(17:22):
because it's all part of the executive branch. And he
said he would use Title forty two to do exactly that.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Now, what is Title forty two.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
It was a public health law that was implemented at
the start of COVID, and it had to do with
the president's power to not allow people in or deport
based on a medical issue, based on the national security
medical part of what was going on with COVID. And
(17:55):
he said, we're going to use that. I'm going to
take the medical part of Title Title forty two and
use that to deport or Under the Biden era, the
immigration policy can't happen. Okay, Now what can happen. Day
one is pardoning the January sixth defendants. And that one
(18:21):
it went from pardon all the January sixth defendants, every
one of them, because they are heroes, because those that
were arrested are hostages. And I'm using his words, the
Jay what is it J six defendants? The J six heroes,
(18:41):
because it was a peaceful demonstration. He has said that
there was nothing that was in any way outrageous or
in any way dangerous. It was just a group of
people that were peacefully demonstrating, even the ones that we're
breaking in. And by the way, the only person hurt
was one of those quote demonstrators who was killed by
(19:03):
Capital City police. She was shot as she was breaking
into the area where the Congress people were. And so
he said, I'm going to pardon all of them. And
now he's come back a little bit and was asked,
how about the people that hurt the police officers that
we have on video beating up using flag poles and
(19:28):
other pieces of equipment to beat up police officers. Are
you going to pardon them? And he said, I'm going
to look at it. I haven't decided yet. War in
Ukraine will end Tuesday, it will end done. I have
a relationship with Zelenski, I have a relationship with Putin,
(19:50):
and I'm going to make the phone call to both
of them and the war will end. Okay, that's ridiculous. However,
he said the same thing about the war in Gaza,
the Hamas Israeli war, and he said, if they don't
cut a deal before I'm elected. All hell is going
to break loose in the Middle East. Number one, I
(20:14):
believe that. Number two, how much power did he bring
to the table.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
On that one?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Because Israel relies on the United States for the vast,
vast majority of its ornaments. Without the United States, Israel
does not function as a military force to any great extent.
It cannot defend itself the way it does now. And
Israel needs a president who is on their side, and
Trump is a president who is on their side. And
(20:43):
when he said all hell breaks loose, it's not going
to be in defense of the Palestinians.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
So I believe that, and I give him a lot
of credit for that.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Implementing the terriffs, an immedia twenty five percent tariff on
everything important for Mexico and Canada. You know what, Let
me give a break here, because there's a couple more
I want to talk about.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
And I just love this day one stuff. And by
the way, there have been day.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Ones Bill Clinton when he was elected president, he got
off of being sworn in and he went and started
signing orders.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
There were day ones all right now.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Talking about Donald Trump, what is going to happen Day one,
get a lot of promises for day one.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yep, some of them are just ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Some of those are probably not going to happen, and
then there are some that may very well happen. Now,
what could happen is the implementation of tariffs. Trump promised
that he would sign an executive order to implement a
twenty five percent tariff on all products imported from Mexico
and Canada, our biggest trading partners. I will sign the
(21:51):
documents to charge Mexico and Canada twenty five percent tariff
all products coming in.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And then you talk about the open borders that are ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
And now he had previously proposed a ten percent tariff
across the board, and in November he goes even further.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
And what happened.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Okay, First of all, to implement a tariff of that
size just screws up the economy completely. He put and
he's right by the way in pushing tariffs, in saying
that if we make it so expensive to buy foreign
products implementing tariffs on those products, then we buy American
products and American workers manufacture those products. He's absolutely right.
(22:36):
Here's the problem. Tariffs can happen tomorrow. Building a factory
takes two years by the time the American worker starts manufacturing.
So what happens during those two years, Well, prices go up,
and man, they go up because remember twenty five percent tariff.
So let's say you have a manufacturer here who is
(22:59):
buying a part from Canada car manufacturer and pays one
hundred dollars for that part.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Well, all of a.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Sudden, with a twenty five percent tariff, that manufacturer pays
one hundred and twenty five dollars.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Well, do you think the car is going to go
up now? Canceling the electrical vehicle mandate? He can do it.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Twenty twenty one, Biden signed an order, an executive order,
setting a nationwide goal fifty percent of new cars and
trucks sold by twenty thirty zero emission. California has a
lot of By twenty thirty five, all of.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
The vehicles will be electric. Can he do that? He
can make it a lot more difficult. Yeah, he can
undo executive orders that Biden put in place.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
How about oil drilling, he has said often drill, drill, drill.
He does not believe in any environmental protections. He has
said climate change is a hoax. He has not changed
and admitted that climate change is real and oil and
(24:03):
gas is very near and dear to his heart. They
threw a pile of money at his campaign and that's
where he goes. And those people say he was bought
by oil and gas. I don't believe that. I think
that's just his belief.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
For real.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Participation in women's sports, that one is an interesting one.
I think there's a real validity to that, and that
is saying that if a man becomes a woman, should
the man be able to play women's sports, or should
now the women be able to pay women's sports. Well,
there's a physiological, physiological difference, and in fact there may
be and I don't know. I'm not a doctor, although
(24:43):
I do play one on radio. There may be a
physiological advantage.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Don't know the answer to that.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
We know that's going to change under the Biden under
the Trump administration in terms of the government views it.
And then gender affirming care practices, goodbye, the federal government
paying for allowing gender affirming for example, hormone therapy. Not necessarily.
We're talking surgery where you have a man who becomes
(25:13):
a woman, and the surgery known as de sponsification that
removes the fruit package and creates the women parts. Government
is not really involved in that to any extent. That's
the way it's portrayed. It's ninety nine percent hormone therapy.
(25:34):
And he said on a video on February first, the
twenty twenty three it posted his campaign website, on day one,
I will revoke Joe Biden's cruel policies on so called
affirming care.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
I think he can do that. So day one, you're
going to see some real day ones. You're gonna not
see a lot of day ones, and you're going to
see some attempts day ones, and we'll see, by the way,
that comes up on Tuesday. Tuesday is day one of
his administration. That one's going to be fun KFI. You've
(26:10):
been listening to The Bill Handle Show Catch My Show
Monday through Friday six am to nine am, and anytime
on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The Bill Handel Show News
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.