January 7, 2025 • 35 mins
Gary and Shannon begin the third hour of the show with the latest on a brush fire in Pacific Palisades.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI
AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand
on the iHeartRadio. At we do have a massive fire
incident in the Palisades right now. They say, this beast
started at about ten acres. That was the quickest estimate
you could get already at ten acres, but with the
potential to spread to two hundred acres within twenty minutes.
(00:23):
And this thing is living up to its potential, they
say right now.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
The crews on the ground.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Are furiously engaged in structure protection. They say that the
fire is going to impact structures in the Floresta Place
area in about ten minutes, ten minutes away from hitting
these neighborhoods. If you look at a map of the Palisades,
that Floresta Street backs up right there to that Temescul
(00:50):
Ridge area, the point where this fire is burning. This
is one of those ones that it is just moving
too fast to be able to have any real impact
on this thing right away.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
The smoke itself is just basically going down the mountain,
down the hill towards the ocean. That's clearly the direction
that these winds are coming from, and that means, like
you said, it is headed towards those neighborhood as as
after it burns through this wildland. The images that we
are seeing a lot of them are from people, I
mean they're posting them on social media, but they're down ten,
(01:25):
like at the ten and the four or five, and
you could see this plume of smoke that far down
along the west side there.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
They did request two air tankers to be deployed to
the area, which have arrived. I was wondering what the
capability of La County fire firefighting aircraft would be with
winds like this forty to sixty miles per hour GUS
at this moment. The Super Scoopers, I didn't know we
still had the lease in January to the Super Scoopers
out of Quebec, but we do. And the Super Scoopers
(01:53):
can fly in wind they can scoop water while flying
into headwinds up to forty five miles per hour, and
the pilots there, also on loan from Canada, can adjust
their approach to handle different different varying wind speeds and
gusts and wave heights on the water source. These are
(02:14):
the special machines that we get for fires like this
when we have this wildland interface with homes that we
have so often here in southern California. These babies can
fly and wind so they can reach locations quickly, repeatedly
drop water and flames in the gusts, unlike a lot
of firefighting aircraft that we have year round here in
(02:37):
southern California.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Again, this fire looks like is just south of Temescal
Peak as sort of the Topega State Park area and
is burning down into the Palisades along Palisades Drive and
Kaye Victoria was where they first reported the first flames
just near Goat Peak if you know that is, and
it's headed down towards the Palisades. There are a lot
(02:59):
of images is from cameras, whether they're helicopter cameras from
TV stations farther away, or some of the alert net
cameras that were put up by UC San Diego over
the course of the last several years, that show very
active flames going right up to those homes.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, these are not that it matters. A home is
a home.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
It could be a hovel, it could be a six
million dollar mansion, and that's what they are about.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Six million dollar mansions to say the least, and looking.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
At the forecast here, we've got fifty mile per hour
winds kicking in soon.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I was just checking the weather stations in that area,
and that's the basic thirty to forty mile an hour
sustained winds, and then gusts could be higher than that here.
And again it's at least twenty This is just going
too fast for anybody to get a good read on
how much it is at least twenty acres.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
They don't have time because their hands are full with
structure protection at this point.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
At this point, also on social media at least or
make and the phone calls in the newsroom. We do
not have word of the official evacuation it UH parameters yet.
But if you're in that neighborhood, like you said, along
that that specific street, the forresta floresta place and via Floresta,
(04:18):
et cetera, if you're in that neighborhood bien Venita Avenue,
you know already.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, you clearly are aware of this.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
It's it's not time to joke around. It's not time
to wait for instructions. Get yourself to safety.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
That sunset fire, they say, according to all these scanners
and the uh in the information coming out of there,
the messaging has kind of been we've got this. The
crews on the scene can handle it because they know
what's happening in the Palisades.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
It's not that far away.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
When you look at the sunset fire to the Palisades fire,
same kind of area there, and uh, that's how that's
how bad the Palisade situation is. The guy it suns
that are like, you know, what we'll do with what
we have here.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
We'll see a little bit later the afternoon, probably exactly
this fire again at least twenty acres several hundred homes
are now going to be threatened by this fire in
the Pacific Palisades. It started up in the mountains in
the hills there and is coming down towards the ocean,
towards that floresta place neighborhood. Ridgeview Country estates all along
(05:25):
that the viewpoint there at the Tamescal Ridge trail that's
up there. A couple of different trailheads obviously in that
area the viewpoint, the Temiscal Ridge trailhead, Almetio trailhead, and
the Rivas Canyon trailhead. So if you're an avid hiker,
you may recognize some of those some of those names
for the trails in that area where this thing is
just chewing through some of this the wildland.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
This is going to be an all day slash day's
event because as we talked to the National Weather Service,
we talked to Henry de Carlo, these aren't winds for
this morning. These are winds that may die down a
little bit this afternoon, kick back up this evening, and
last for days this week here in southern California.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
So all hands on deck.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
As you mentioned earlier, there are several agencies fire agencies
from northern California that have made their way down here
to get ready for this. The fire crews were in
position for this event. But when you get a fire
like this burning with ample fuel, you've got winds exceeding,
like you said, forty miles per hour up to sixty
(06:31):
and then the gusts are even higher. Right now, it's
get everybody out, protect the homes, and then we'll assess
where we're at in terms of how big this thing
got how quickly, because we just don't know at this point,
but if the pictures are in any indication, this thing
took off the way that it was predicted to from
ten acres to two hundred and the matter of twenty minutes.
(06:55):
And now you're seeing, you know, it's just dangerously if
not in neighborhoods.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Down there at the bottom of the hill, closer to
the water, that intersection of Sunset and Lost Leonis Drive,
there's a couple dozen fire trucks that are trying to
make their way up the hill.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
That's the staging area leones In twenty three. That's where
they're going to stage. That's where they're going to stage. Okay,
well then that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
But I was going to say, there are people that
do not look like they're getting out of the way
of these fires.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Front.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
No, that's where they're staging, and that's where they will
dispatch all of the different resources. All of the incident
commanders will meet there and they'll bring out their maps
and they will dispatch all of the different crews, hand crews,
ground crews, line crews, and the air attack as well
will be probably mapped out there at that point.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
And again, I mean, this is one of those this
is one of those frustrating situations where there's I mean,
there's plenty of neighborhood streets to get out of there,
but you're going to have to plan now on moving.
Do not wait for them to let you know that
this is your areas under evacuation because right now, as
we've said, they're having a hard time just keeping a
(08:05):
guess on how large this fire is at least twenty acres,
but you can guarantee just by the visuals that it's
well over that by now. Don't want to make any
sort of guess because it would be uneducated on my
part to do so, but it's well over twenty acres.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
I'll tell you that we are on top of this
fire coming called the Palisades fire because it is in
the Palisades and it looks like it is gobbling up
part of the Palisades. It quickly took off from ten
acres to it was perceived that it would go to
two hundred acres within twenty minutes. There are several resources
structure protection crews on the scene. Specifically, we heard from
(08:43):
the Floresta Place neighborhood where it is happening right now,
where the fire is supposed to hit add about right now.
The latest is that they're seeing spotting ahead of this
thing a mile to three quarters of a mile out,
which was the absolute fear when you're thinking about the
winds and the gusts that are coming with this wind
event that'll take a fire and carry it and keep
(09:05):
carrying it.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Well, and that's well. I mean, there's a couple thousand
homes well within that range at the front end of
that fire.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
And you see the smoke.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
It's not just white, it's that black smoke, which means
it's burning through fuel.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
There are two at least four helicopters that I saw,
at least two Super Scoopers that are flying and are
trying to get some structure protection in that area.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Caesar works at Sunset Smash and joins us. Now Caesar
crazy over there right now.
Speaker 5 (09:35):
I bet it is very concerning at this point because
there's black smoke. It seems like there's still in the area,
and everyone out of here is just concern about what
was going on. Taking picture videos. We just saw two
airplanes coming by, like I think they're trying to like
spray you know, the the fire to try to put
(09:55):
it down, but it's just increasing every minut They just
get it fire. And why are you gonna know what
we're gonna do?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Are you fully in the smoke right now or is
it still we We're very.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
Close by right now, We're very close. It's coming this way.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Actually the wings are going in that direction.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah, we can hear it.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yeah, you're right there, off to Mescal Canyon Road where
just above you this thing started to take off. Are
there people in your in your business? Are people taking off?
What are you seeing? No?
Speaker 5 (10:26):
Right, No, Most of our customers, like when they saw it,
like people we start calling it time with their friends.
And most of our friends are living within the area.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
So what are you guys going to do? You think?
Speaker 5 (10:39):
Well, at this point right now, we're hoping it was
going to be put out like week or I mean,
at least being able to see that it was. It
was being reduced. But it's growing, uh too fast. So
I think we're gonna have to hopefully shut down and
just you know, try to avoil the traffic, trying to
leave the streets open for the fire department to work.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
That's the right thing to do.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Caesar, Caesar, thank you for your time. Stay safe out there.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
You met Caesar's working at Sunset smashed there in the
Palisades and talked about some of that smoke that you can.
I mean you could hear the wind through his phone there.
The images are not good and they're not getting any better.
This is a fire that started just about maybe a
little less than an hour ago in that summit area
and the Pacific Palisades, just in those hills there next
(11:28):
to goat peak and making its way down the hill
towards all those homes, the Ridgeview Country Estates and along
those the Bi and Venita Avenue via Floresta and Floresta Place.
Those are the homes and the streets that are the
most threatened right now.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
And I mean even with.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
The obscured view through the smoke, you can still see
plenty of active flames in that area. You mentioned that
they have a staging area for all of these different
fire agencies that are coming in policies. Drive in sunset
there right there as you get into Pacific Palisades, and
I mean there are dozens of fire trucks and some
(12:09):
of them aren't going anywhere as of yet. And I
don't know if it's a traffic issue or they're just
waiting to be tech.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
They're just waiting to be dispatched.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Yeah, I mean La County Fire, you're not going to
find better organizational capabilities in terms of dispatching crews where
they need to go. The challenge I would imagine with
a fire moving this quickly is as soon as you
want to dispatch a crew to one specific area, it
has shifted.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
To another area being more of a priority.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
So it is and as I mentioned, it is spotting
a half mile to three quarters of a mile away
from where this fire erupted and where it's moving. So
that is an indication that the embers are being driven
by the winds and they're starting spot fire. That is
(13:01):
a freaking nightmare. When you've got a beast of a
fire like this burning with that much fuel, vegetation and
homes that service fuel, and then you've got spot fires everywhere,
not everywhere, but in a number of places. You've got
to give everything your attention, and there's only so much
(13:22):
attention to give. Despite the fact that we had crews
coming from other agencies to get ready for this wind
event that has been forecast for a while. That was
the good thing, I guess, is that we knew we
had people in place, but like we were talking to
the National Weather Service Henry to Carlo earlier, and it
just didn't seem like this was one of those Oh,
(13:42):
it's going to be cold out today, or it's going
to be windy, or it's a Santa Ana. This seemed
like it was going to be a major deal when
it came to the fire risk in January. In January,
National Weather Service says, usually we get rain in October
through this time of year to kind of help us
combat this.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
We did not.
Speaker 6 (14:01):
We didn't.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
We had I think it was from May to December thirty. First,
it was the second driest time period that we've seen
since we've started keeping records here in La at least
in downtown La. Again, this fire that's burning in the
Palisades making its way towards the homes as you get
farther down, and if the spotting was correct, I mean,
(14:25):
if that distance is correct, there are hundreds, if not
a couple of thousand homes that are very at extreme
risk right now. That as some of these embers could
get in someone's eaves, into their backyard, into their trees
or whatever and cause some huge problems in some of
those neighborhoods.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
All Right, we will stay on top of this.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
According to La Fire, the last update from an overhead
copter is two hundred acres will be sure to grow.
That was the estimate. That's what they said. What happened,
that this thing would take off with a vengeance and
it has.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Keep it here.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
They told us it was going to be destructive, life
throughout threatening and it has not disappointed unfortunately. Like we
were told by the meteorologists we've spoken to so far
on the show, the winds on this Santa Ana event
are coming from the north and from the east, and
because of that what we saw are rupped near Ta
Mescal Canyon there in the Palisades.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Has now moved west.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
The eastward northeast winds, i should say, have pushed this
thing now into the Summit park area.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So it's right now.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
It's pushing against that Chastain Parkway, Kaye Brittany area, threatening
the entire Summit area of the Palisades.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Yeah, it's very close to where it actually started. Now,
the as you mentioned, the wind blowing it to the
south end sort of to the west, means that it's
just making a dead hit. It could on a different
neighborhoods there in the Palisades. It's at about two hundred
acres is what the what we're getting from dispatch tapes,
(16:02):
from dispatch traffic that's going out there. There are firefighting
aircraft in the air, but they I mean they can't.
They're going to have a struggle regardless of what's going
on wind wise, because of the quickness with which this
fire is growing.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
It's forty to sixty mile per hour winds right now.
Those are the sustained winds you're going to guss obviously higher.
We heard that there was going to be a little
bit of a lull this afternoon. We're not there yet, obviously,
and then in the evening they're going to pick back
up again, so there may be a bit of a
sweet spot where they can get in. Like you said,
there do have at least four firefighting aircraft from the
(16:42):
sky attacking this thing. It is all hands on tech
on the ground. I'm not sure if they've been able
to get hand crews in there yet. We do know
that there have been power There have been power services
cut in the Palisades and in Malibu as well. PCH
eastbound is closed to Panga Canyon Boulevard due to this.
They want to be able to open up all those
(17:05):
arteries for as many engines as possible.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
So we were talking to.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Caesar from Sunset Smash Burger Joint there and he said,
we may just leave to keep the roads open, and
that should be the mindset for everybody. It is going
to be devastation there when you look at how quickly
this thing was able to take off.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Yeah, it's been about an hour that we first heard
about this fire, and I'm kind of surprised that we
haven't had any official evacuation orders or warnings from people.
But it's this maybe indicative of just how quickly this
thing is going. They don't have time to put out
an evacuation actly. It's upon you now at this point
to make a judgment as to whether to get out.
But I got to tell you, it seems like the
(17:45):
needle would be pointing towards you know, go protect yourself.
You can go back later. The red flag parking restrictions,
of course, have been up throughout We knew that they
were going to be posted starting this morning because of
the red flag warnings that we were going to see.
I mean those areas that have very high fire hazard
(18:05):
severity zones, you know where those are, the montain and
the mountains. Your car was going to be towed if
you were parked in those areas. This is one of
those areas that does have some red flag parking restrictions,
and it is just in case of an incident like
this where you've got to have the fire apparatus get
up into these neighborhoods and have as much space available
(18:27):
to get through there because.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
They know that there will be people leaving going the
other way.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
The pictures of this with the massive plume of white
and black smoke with a heavy runway, I mean, this
thing starts in the hills and already the plume has
made it out miles towards the ocean. There will be
held up because of the juxtaposition of the homes and
the blue sky and the fire. As just the case
(18:52):
in point for the fight against wildland urban interface, right,
this is why you don't build homes in area is
like this. Well that's southern California for you, isn't it.
So we have now two hundred acres at this point,
but that was just like the last helicopter that was
able to go overhead of this thing, and that was
(19:14):
moments ago. They say that the gusts right now in
excess of forty five miles per hour in that fire zone,
and it is spotting.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
It is spotting. You knew that was going to happen
with the.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Potential for those gusts to carry the embers in other locations.
So you can see that active flame in several different spots,
and unfortunately it is near several different neighborhoods. So you know,
you've got to use those resources. Got to be a
freaking genius, a fire genius out there to know exactly
(19:47):
where the priority spots are. When you think about this,
where the fire erupted from, where it's headed, how many
flanks are there to that fire, and then where the
spot fire is headed, and did they have fuel?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Are the and neighborhoods, yeah, there's spotfires.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
I think are the things that concern me the most,
just in terms of how out of control this thing
could get. If this stays in the wild land, If
this stays in the hills in the brush, that's one
thing it has not, But if it gets into those
neighborhoods and and continues to you know, bounce house to house,
block to block, then you're talking about the potential for
a much more serious threat to life and limb.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Then we're yeah, and we're not even at that point yet,
you know.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
I mean, like there's there's times when we've had wildfires.
I want to say, like your Belinda is when I
remember where there wasn't a lot of wind and you
just saw that there was a potential for those embers
to get into the eaves of homes or whatever and
then to travel. This thing doesn't need the eaves of homes. No,
this thing will just they don't. They don't need to
(20:49):
get creative. The embers don't because the winds are so bad.
Elvis take them all on their own. Carry that ball
down down the down the hill there and just looking
at video near the top of Bien Venita, I mean
it's right up against that neighborhood and that's a spot fire.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
This fire is visible all up and down the west side.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
I mean there have been pictures that have been posted
on social media from as far away as Lax and
parts south of there where you could see this plume
of smoke making its way out over the ocean. And
again it is because the wind is coming from the
north and the east that it's blowing at that direction.
The earlier from where the active flame is the smoke
(21:32):
doesn't really have a chance to go very high before
it's blown completely horizontally. Do not wait for this to
get out of the way of it. Do not wait
for orders to get out of the way, because they
are simply not going to have the opportunity. They're busy
fighting the fire and not going to be able to
go through necessarily and get individual neighborhood and street names
(21:54):
on there. You mentioned PCH was closed eastbound at Topanga.
It's closed westbound apparently at Mullhu. So getting into Palisades
rightfully so is off limits.
Speaker 6 (22:07):
Do not go there.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
But if you are in the Palisades, those are opportunities
for you to get out while you can.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
It is a worst case scenario for the Palisades, near
worst case scenario. And when you look at fifty five
mile an hour WINS, you've got the flanks of this
fire and spot fires going into multiple neighborhoods. I did
see that evacuation orders have just been issued. I'm trying
to find out specifically where, but I would say all
(22:36):
of the Palisades, get the hell out of there.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Yeah, no no reason to wait around for this now.
And again it's because, among other things, it gives the
fire cruise the ability to operate without you in the way,
and it's easier for them to do.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
All of this.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
President Biden is in southern California today, but apparently a
trip to the Inland Empire has been anseled, so we'll
see what exactly.
Speaker 6 (23:02):
What that is about.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
I don't know why he would necessarily go on the
other way, but anyway, we'll keep an eye on that
pch again closed between Topanga Canyon and Mulholland because of
this two hundred plus acre fire that's burning in the
Pacific Palisades. The winds in that area sustained thirty forty
miles an hour, and we've seen gusts as high as
sixty in some places.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
It looks like right now, if you know the area,
like we said, burning westward near that highlands community with
Rustic Canyon to the east to Panga Canyon to the west,
all under evacuation warning.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Okay, must be from a different fire. Okay, I was
looking at smoke over this Supulvita Pass, but I believe
that's from the Sunset fire. Yeah, that would be that,
all right, So we'll keep an eye on this again.
A two hundred plus acre fire burning in the Pacific
Palisades in what we knew was going to be a
very dangerous time, and it unfortunately is coming true. So
(23:59):
we'll keep an eye see if we can get some
more information about the evacuation orders that we are expecting,
if they haven't already been issued, and where where we
can get you to safety.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
All Right, the latest we know about this fast moving
fire in Palisades that's quickly made its way in to
neighborhoods from the top of the mountains there.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
The latest is gridlock, gridlock.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
On sunset on Palisades Drive, people driving down both sides
of the road. Crews unable to make it up to
Palisades Drive. They say all four lanes are blocked. That
there is true panic right now, getting the hell out.
Speaker 6 (24:34):
Of there, and I'm already starting to see.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Said that one of the big deals was going to
be spotting where the embers from the current burn are
blown ahead of the fire based on the wind.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Actually I lost count.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
There are some of these neighborhoods you can see right
there on that picture where the active flame is behind them.
But if they're starting to smoke like they're getting some
of those spot fires starting up in the neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Yeah, I stopped counting at five different active flame spot
fires that I could see just from the overhead coverage
there on NBC.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
And like I said, this is visible from just about
everywhere down the west side. And I think one of
the problems that i'd heard reported you mentioned the gridlock
getting out of Palisades. It appears that most of that
is headed south. So if there's an opportunity maybe for
you to go north on to get out of it
towards the Malibu area and make your way up towards
(25:29):
Camerrillo and Oxnard and things like that, that may be
the better way to go, depending on how it looks.
This is something, unfortunately, that everybody was warning about, and
there was a sense of this morning, are we hitting.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
It a little too hard?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
We spent it too much time on what was going
to be this wind event that we've had wind events before.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Well, I mean, we're the first to call bs when
we think the media coverage is overblown with the polar
vortex and the atmospheric river and the what.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Was the recent one Arctic.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Outbreak, When we're like, oh, it's winter, all right, Yeah,
it's fire season.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
This isn't fire season.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
This is like Henry de Carlo was telling us earlier,
this is like the recipe for disaster. Yes, it's January,
but we haven't had rain, which we usually start getting
in October.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
We've seen none.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
You've got these dry temperatures, plenty of fuel, and then
this massive Santa Ana wind event with these mountain waves
of wind blowing down, smacking in to the surface area
there where the homes are, and that's what you're getting. Sure,
this thing started in the mountains, but those mountain waves
(26:40):
that they warned us about coming from the north are
just carrying this baby smack right down into the neighborhoods.
And because of the wind gusts, that's what you're seeing.
All these spotfires just kind of branch out like ugly
little what would you want to get tentacles.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Again, we haven't gotten official word on specific evacuation orders.
We know that they were requested for this fire all
the way down to Pch through the Palisades down to
the water line basically, but the exact parameters haven't been
stated as of yet. And this is why we've been saying,
do not wait for those specific parameters.
Speaker 6 (27:19):
If you're there.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
If you can see the smoke, if you can see
the fire, if you can see the helicopters and the
airplanes in the air, this is your opportunity to get out. Yes,
it appears that there is traffic getting out of the Palisades,
but it is better to be in on your way
out than to wait for this. I mean, just an
absolute nightmare for some of the some of the fire
(27:41):
crews in there, because clearly getting into these neighborhoods, even
if you kind of mentioned this before, even if you're
at the scene of one fire or a house that's
on fire or a house that's threatened by fire, in
a couple of seconds, that fire is going to jump
over you, the ember is going to light something else
on it, and there's.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
No time time for the structure protection units to get
to your neighborhood. There's just no time when it's moving
this quickly. So if you're usually waiting on somebody to
come knock on the door, that's not going to be
the case with this situation. There's just not time enough
for them to get to your neighborhood. Probably in some cases.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
The images from as far away as Santa Monica are
pretty amazing the amount of smoke that this thing has generated.
It's already showing up on weather radar. We've seen that
at least the two super Scoopers, those the yellow planes
that can scoop up the water while the flying and
then go put it where they need to, are joined
by several helicopters that have taken off. There was another
(28:38):
LA fire had posted from the Van Ey's airport. The
view of this fire from over the hill. They knew
that they were scrambling their aircraft to get into the
air to do this extreme extreme fire and wind risk. Today,
it's only going to get worse. As Henry de Carlo said,
as we get later into this.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Evening, mandatory evacuation orders should just be understood that they're
happening again. The information coming out of here because they're
so swamped, is slow, But if you're anywhere in the Palisades,
just get the hell out of there.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
There are a couple people who have taken to live
streaming what's going on at their house specifically, and this
fire is definitely into people's backyards and oh yeah, I
mean the structures are next. If I haven't seen any homes,
I haven't seen any images of homes on fire, but
it almost seems like it's in an inevitability at this
(29:34):
point because of how fast this thing is moving. There
is again, Yeah, got it, he's on right now. Great,
let's go live. We're gonna get some information from people
who are in the area right now. And Quentin Fleming
from the Pacific Palisades Community Council is joining us.
Speaker 6 (29:54):
Quentin, thanks for taking time for us. We know you're busy.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
H Thank you, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
What is going on? What is a What do you
know about what's going on in the hills above you?
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Well, we've got You've got an active firefight going on
in the hills above above us. I was up on
the roof a few minutes ago and you can see
the fire line along the top of the ridge. From
what I understand, the fire started in the Palisades Highlands area,
which is a separate, a distinct neighborhood in the in
Pacific Palisades, and it appears to be moving spreading a
(30:29):
downwind which would be in a southerly direction.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
So where are you abouts? Are you in the are you.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
Below neighborhood of I'm off to the side of the
fire for now. I'm in the vicinity of Pacific Coast
Highway and Timescal Canyon. It's probably the best, the best
located or Sunset and Timescal Canyon.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
We've heard of just gridlock Sunset Palisades Drive everywhere, people
just panicing, get the hell out out.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
Yes, that's that's that's been a worry we've had for
for quite a while that if, if, if the time comes.
The roads tend to be narrow and they don't have
a lot of capacity for for vehicles. So if everyone
has to evacuate at once, Uh, it can it can
potentially create gridlock?
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Now is there I don't know the area well enough.
Is there more than the one or two main arteries
off the top down to down to the flatlands?
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Uh, Palisades Palisades Drive is the primary artery? Is it?
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Go ahead? I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (31:43):
It's a it's a two lanes each direction, uh, or thoroughfare. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
And again we heard that all four lanes were being
used for people to get out of there, or that
people to get on their own volition just to use
the the lanes going up to go down. Has this
been a conversation locally about when when this happens if
another artery is needed. Has that been like a topic
of conversation as we see these fires get more explosive.
Speaker 4 (32:12):
Yes, the community council has addressed this several times over
the years. And excuse me, I'm getting a beefing in
my ear.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Take it that whatever you need to do, check it out.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
Okay, there we go. Sorry, yeah, it's a it's a
it was an emergency text alert that just came through.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Oh okay, well we'll let you get off the phone,
get out safely.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Thank you so much, thank you, thank you for the
good work you do.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Of course, so you know that that's an interesting thing
because you and I covered the Paradise fire, and this
is where we saw the same thing happened, where even
when we were up there at school, it was a
conversation in the community of we've only got one way
in and one way out. Yes, it's this beautiful cut
off area, and that's what makes it so appealing, you know,
(33:06):
you think about Palace Verdes as well, kind of cut off.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
It's what makes it so appealing.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
But at the same time, if the worst happens, we
are screwed.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Yeah, there's no I mean that was the kind of thing,
and there there is a way. If Paradise was the example,
that you could go farther into the mountains, you get
up towards the Megalia and like Forest Ranch and things
like that, but that was also in danger.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
In this case, there's not even a good Once you
get up Palisades drive into the summit.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Area, there's no way to get out, no way to
get out.
Speaker 6 (33:37):
The other way.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
You have to just go down that main thoroughfare. And
I mean, if everyone's trying to get out at once.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Holy hell.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
We were talking with Quentin Fleming, a Pacific Palisades Community
Council vice president there, and that's we had to let
him go. Obviously he had more important things to do
because he was getting emergency text messages while he was
talking to us. Again, they're they're at this point not
talking about specifics when it comes to evacuation orders.
Speaker 6 (34:03):
But the better thing to think about is just not
waiting for.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Those well, I say, zone ten, zone eight, nine ten,
whatever that means. That's according to all of the dispatch stuff.
Evacuate now has been the call essentially anything between the
fire and the ocean and the Palisides Palisades area, Get
the hell out of there. That's essentially those three zones.
(34:27):
From what the map that I'm rating looks like.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Yeah, the area maps they have them available on their website,
it looks like so. But there should be no question.
Stay or Go's not a thing to mess around with. Again,
we will continue to keep an eye on this fire
at two hundred plus acres burning in the Pacific Palisades area.
It has been spotting into neighborhoods, into homes and people's backyards,
(34:54):
and the expectation is that we are going to see
some of these homes to go up in flames here.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
If not already, we're on top of it right here
on Gary and Shannon.
Speaker 6 (35:05):
You've been listening to the Gary and Shannon Show.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
You can always hear us live on KFI AM six
forty nine am to one pm every Monday through Friday,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI
AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand
on the iHeartRadio. At we do have a massive fire
incident in the Palisades right now. They say, this beast
started at about ten acres. That was the quickest estimate
you could get already at ten acres, but with the
potential to spread to two hundred acres within twenty minutes.
(00:23):
And this thing is living up to its potential, they
say right now.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
The crews on the ground.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Are furiously engaged in structure protection. They say that the
fire is going to impact structures in the Floresta Place
area in about ten minutes, ten minutes away from hitting
these neighborhoods. If you look at a map of the Palisades,
that Floresta Street backs up right there to that Temescul
(00:50):
Ridge area, the point where this fire is burning. This
is one of those ones that it is just moving
too fast to be able to have any real impact
on this thing right away.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
The smoke itself is just basically going down the mountain,
down the hill towards the ocean. That's clearly the direction
that these winds are coming from, and that means, like
you said, it is headed towards those neighborhood as as
after it burns through this wildland. The images that we
are seeing a lot of them are from people, I
mean they're posting them on social media, but they're down ten,
(01:25):
like at the ten and the four or five, and
you could see this plume of smoke that far down
along the west side there.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
They did request two air tankers to be deployed to
the area, which have arrived. I was wondering what the
capability of La County fire firefighting aircraft would be with
winds like this forty to sixty miles per hour GUS
at this moment. The Super Scoopers, I didn't know we
still had the lease in January to the Super Scoopers
out of Quebec, but we do. And the Super Scoopers
(01:53):
can fly in wind they can scoop water while flying
into headwinds up to forty five miles per hour, and
the pilots there, also on loan from Canada, can adjust
their approach to handle different different varying wind speeds and
gusts and wave heights on the water source. These are
(02:14):
the special machines that we get for fires like this
when we have this wildland interface with homes that we
have so often here in southern California. These babies can
fly and wind so they can reach locations quickly, repeatedly
drop water and flames in the gusts, unlike a lot
of firefighting aircraft that we have year round here in
(02:37):
southern California.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Again, this fire looks like is just south of Temescal
Peak as sort of the Topega State Park area and
is burning down into the Palisades along Palisades Drive and
Kaye Victoria was where they first reported the first flames
just near Goat Peak if you know that is, and
it's headed down towards the Palisades. There are a lot
(02:59):
of images is from cameras, whether they're helicopter cameras from
TV stations farther away, or some of the alert net
cameras that were put up by UC San Diego over
the course of the last several years, that show very
active flames going right up to those homes.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, these are not that it matters. A home is
a home.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
It could be a hovel, it could be a six
million dollar mansion, and that's what they are about.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Six million dollar mansions to say the least, and looking.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
At the forecast here, we've got fifty mile per hour
winds kicking in soon.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I was just checking the weather stations in that area,
and that's the basic thirty to forty mile an hour
sustained winds, and then gusts could be higher than that here.
And again it's at least twenty This is just going
too fast for anybody to get a good read on
how much it is at least twenty acres.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
They don't have time because their hands are full with
structure protection at this point.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
At this point, also on social media at least or
make and the phone calls in the newsroom. We do
not have word of the official evacuation it UH parameters yet.
But if you're in that neighborhood, like you said, along
that that specific street, the forresta floresta place and via Floresta,
(04:18):
et cetera, if you're in that neighborhood bien Venita Avenue,
you know already.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, you clearly are aware of this.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
It's it's not time to joke around. It's not time
to wait for instructions. Get yourself to safety.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
That sunset fire, they say, according to all these scanners
and the uh in the information coming out of there,
the messaging has kind of been we've got this. The
crews on the scene can handle it because they know
what's happening in the Palisades.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
It's not that far away.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
When you look at the sunset fire to the Palisades fire,
same kind of area there, and uh, that's how that's
how bad the Palisade situation is. The guy it suns
that are like, you know, what we'll do with what
we have here.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
We'll see a little bit later the afternoon, probably exactly
this fire again at least twenty acres several hundred homes
are now going to be threatened by this fire in
the Pacific Palisades. It started up in the mountains in
the hills there and is coming down towards the ocean,
towards that floresta place neighborhood. Ridgeview Country estates all along
(05:25):
that the viewpoint there at the Tamescal Ridge trail that's
up there. A couple of different trailheads obviously in that
area the viewpoint, the Temiscal Ridge trailhead, Almetio trailhead, and
the Rivas Canyon trailhead. So if you're an avid hiker,
you may recognize some of those some of those names
for the trails in that area where this thing is
just chewing through some of this the wildland.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
This is going to be an all day slash day's
event because as we talked to the National Weather Service,
we talked to Henry de Carlo, these aren't winds for
this morning. These are winds that may die down a
little bit this afternoon, kick back up this evening, and
last for days this week here in southern California.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
So all hands on deck.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
As you mentioned earlier, there are several agencies fire agencies
from northern California that have made their way down here
to get ready for this. The fire crews were in
position for this event. But when you get a fire
like this burning with ample fuel, you've got winds exceeding,
like you said, forty miles per hour up to sixty
(06:31):
and then the gusts are even higher. Right now, it's
get everybody out, protect the homes, and then we'll assess
where we're at in terms of how big this thing
got how quickly, because we just don't know at this point,
but if the pictures are in any indication, this thing
took off the way that it was predicted to from
ten acres to two hundred and the matter of twenty minutes.
(06:55):
And now you're seeing, you know, it's just dangerously if
not in neighborhoods.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Down there at the bottom of the hill, closer to
the water, that intersection of Sunset and Lost Leonis Drive,
there's a couple dozen fire trucks that are trying to
make their way up the hill.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
That's the staging area leones In twenty three. That's where
they're going to stage. That's where they're going to stage. Okay,
well then that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
But I was going to say, there are people that
do not look like they're getting out of the way
of these fires.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Front.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
No, that's where they're staging, and that's where they will
dispatch all of the different resources. All of the incident
commanders will meet there and they'll bring out their maps
and they will dispatch all of the different crews, hand crews,
ground crews, line crews, and the air attack as well
will be probably mapped out there at that point.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
And again, I mean, this is one of those this
is one of those frustrating situations where there's I mean,
there's plenty of neighborhood streets to get out of there,
but you're going to have to plan now on moving.
Do not wait for them to let you know that
this is your areas under evacuation because right now, as
we've said, they're having a hard time just keeping a
(08:05):
guess on how large this fire is at least twenty acres,
but you can guarantee just by the visuals that it's
well over that by now. Don't want to make any
sort of guess because it would be uneducated on my
part to do so, but it's well over twenty acres.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
I'll tell you that we are on top of this
fire coming called the Palisades fire because it is in
the Palisades and it looks like it is gobbling up
part of the Palisades. It quickly took off from ten
acres to it was perceived that it would go to
two hundred acres within twenty minutes. There are several resources
structure protection crews on the scene. Specifically, we heard from
(08:43):
the Floresta Place neighborhood where it is happening right now,
where the fire is supposed to hit add about right now.
The latest is that they're seeing spotting ahead of this
thing a mile to three quarters of a mile out,
which was the absolute fear when you're thinking about the
winds and the gusts that are coming with this wind
event that'll take a fire and carry it and keep
(09:05):
carrying it.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Well, and that's well. I mean, there's a couple thousand
homes well within that range at the front end of
that fire.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
And you see the smoke.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
It's not just white, it's that black smoke, which means
it's burning through fuel.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
There are two at least four helicopters that I saw,
at least two Super Scoopers that are flying and are
trying to get some structure protection in that area.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Caesar works at Sunset Smash and joins us. Now Caesar
crazy over there right now.
Speaker 5 (09:35):
I bet it is very concerning at this point because
there's black smoke. It seems like there's still in the area,
and everyone out of here is just concern about what
was going on. Taking picture videos. We just saw two
airplanes coming by, like I think they're trying to like
spray you know, the the fire to try to put
(09:55):
it down, but it's just increasing every minut They just
get it fire. And why are you gonna know what
we're gonna do?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Are you fully in the smoke right now or is
it still we We're very.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
Close by right now, We're very close. It's coming this way.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Actually the wings are going in that direction.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah, we can hear it.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yeah, you're right there, off to Mescal Canyon Road where
just above you this thing started to take off. Are
there people in your in your business? Are people taking off?
What are you seeing? No?
Speaker 5 (10:26):
Right, No, Most of our customers, like when they saw it,
like people we start calling it time with their friends.
And most of our friends are living within the area.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
So what are you guys going to do? You think?
Speaker 5 (10:39):
Well, at this point right now, we're hoping it was
going to be put out like week or I mean,
at least being able to see that it was. It
was being reduced. But it's growing, uh too fast. So
I think we're gonna have to hopefully shut down and
just you know, try to avoil the traffic, trying to
leave the streets open for the fire department to work.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
That's the right thing to do.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Caesar, Caesar, thank you for your time. Stay safe out there.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
You met Caesar's working at Sunset smashed there in the
Palisades and talked about some of that smoke that you can.
I mean you could hear the wind through his phone there.
The images are not good and they're not getting any better.
This is a fire that started just about maybe a
little less than an hour ago in that summit area
and the Pacific Palisades, just in those hills there next
(11:28):
to goat peak and making its way down the hill
towards all those homes, the Ridgeview Country Estates and along
those the Bi and Venita Avenue via Floresta and Floresta Place.
Those are the homes and the streets that are the
most threatened right now.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
And I mean even with.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
The obscured view through the smoke, you can still see
plenty of active flames in that area. You mentioned that
they have a staging area for all of these different
fire agencies that are coming in policies. Drive in sunset
there right there as you get into Pacific Palisades, and
I mean there are dozens of fire trucks and some
(12:09):
of them aren't going anywhere as of yet. And I
don't know if it's a traffic issue or they're just
waiting to be tech.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
They're just waiting to be dispatched.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Yeah, I mean La County Fire, you're not going to
find better organizational capabilities in terms of dispatching crews where
they need to go. The challenge I would imagine with
a fire moving this quickly is as soon as you
want to dispatch a crew to one specific area, it
has shifted.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
To another area being more of a priority.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
So it is and as I mentioned, it is spotting
a half mile to three quarters of a mile away
from where this fire erupted and where it's moving. So
that is an indication that the embers are being driven
by the winds and they're starting spot fire. That is
(13:01):
a freaking nightmare. When you've got a beast of a
fire like this burning with that much fuel, vegetation and
homes that service fuel, and then you've got spot fires everywhere,
not everywhere, but in a number of places. You've got
to give everything your attention, and there's only so much
(13:22):
attention to give. Despite the fact that we had crews
coming from other agencies to get ready for this wind
event that has been forecast for a while. That was
the good thing, I guess, is that we knew we
had people in place, but like we were talking to
the National Weather Service Henry to Carlo earlier, and it
just didn't seem like this was one of those Oh,
(13:42):
it's going to be cold out today, or it's going
to be windy, or it's a Santa Ana. This seemed
like it was going to be a major deal when
it came to the fire risk in January. In January,
National Weather Service says, usually we get rain in October
through this time of year to kind of help us
combat this.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
We did not.
Speaker 6 (14:01):
We didn't.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
We had I think it was from May to December thirty. First,
it was the second driest time period that we've seen
since we've started keeping records here in La at least
in downtown La. Again, this fire that's burning in the
Palisades making its way towards the homes as you get
farther down, and if the spotting was correct, I mean,
(14:25):
if that distance is correct, there are hundreds, if not
a couple of thousand homes that are very at extreme
risk right now. That as some of these embers could
get in someone's eaves, into their backyard, into their trees
or whatever and cause some huge problems in some of
those neighborhoods.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
All Right, we will stay on top of this.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
According to La Fire, the last update from an overhead
copter is two hundred acres will be sure to grow.
That was the estimate. That's what they said. What happened,
that this thing would take off with a vengeance and
it has.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Keep it here.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
They told us it was going to be destructive, life
throughout threatening and it has not disappointed unfortunately. Like we
were told by the meteorologists we've spoken to so far
on the show, the winds on this Santa Ana event
are coming from the north and from the east, and
because of that what we saw are rupped near Ta
Mescal Canyon there in the Palisades.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Has now moved west.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
The eastward northeast winds, i should say, have pushed this
thing now into the Summit park area.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So it's right now.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
It's pushing against that Chastain Parkway, Kaye Brittany area, threatening
the entire Summit area of the Palisades.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Yeah, it's very close to where it actually started. Now,
the as you mentioned, the wind blowing it to the
south end sort of to the west, means that it's
just making a dead hit. It could on a different
neighborhoods there in the Palisades. It's at about two hundred
acres is what the what we're getting from dispatch tapes,
(16:02):
from dispatch traffic that's going out there. There are firefighting
aircraft in the air, but they I mean they can't.
They're going to have a struggle regardless of what's going
on wind wise, because of the quickness with which this
fire is growing.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
It's forty to sixty mile per hour winds right now.
Those are the sustained winds you're going to guss obviously higher.
We heard that there was going to be a little
bit of a lull this afternoon. We're not there yet, obviously,
and then in the evening they're going to pick back
up again, so there may be a bit of a
sweet spot where they can get in. Like you said,
there do have at least four firefighting aircraft from the
(16:42):
sky attacking this thing. It is all hands on tech
on the ground. I'm not sure if they've been able
to get hand crews in there yet. We do know
that there have been power There have been power services
cut in the Palisades and in Malibu as well. PCH
eastbound is closed to Panga Canyon Boulevard due to this.
They want to be able to open up all those
(17:05):
arteries for as many engines as possible.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
So we were talking to.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Caesar from Sunset Smash Burger Joint there and he said,
we may just leave to keep the roads open, and
that should be the mindset for everybody. It is going
to be devastation there when you look at how quickly
this thing was able to take off.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Yeah, it's been about an hour that we first heard
about this fire, and I'm kind of surprised that we
haven't had any official evacuation orders or warnings from people.
But it's this maybe indicative of just how quickly this
thing is going. They don't have time to put out
an evacuation actly. It's upon you now at this point
to make a judgment as to whether to get out.
But I got to tell you, it seems like the
(17:45):
needle would be pointing towards you know, go protect yourself.
You can go back later. The red flag parking restrictions,
of course, have been up throughout We knew that they
were going to be posted starting this morning because of
the red flag warnings that we were going to see.
I mean those areas that have very high fire hazard
(18:05):
severity zones, you know where those are, the montain and
the mountains. Your car was going to be towed if
you were parked in those areas. This is one of
those areas that does have some red flag parking restrictions,
and it is just in case of an incident like
this where you've got to have the fire apparatus get
up into these neighborhoods and have as much space available
(18:27):
to get through there because.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
They know that there will be people leaving going the
other way.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
The pictures of this with the massive plume of white
and black smoke with a heavy runway, I mean, this
thing starts in the hills and already the plume has
made it out miles towards the ocean. There will be
held up because of the juxtaposition of the homes and
the blue sky and the fire. As just the case
(18:52):
in point for the fight against wildland urban interface, right,
this is why you don't build homes in area is
like this. Well that's southern California for you, isn't it.
So we have now two hundred acres at this point,
but that was just like the last helicopter that was
able to go overhead of this thing, and that was
(19:14):
moments ago. They say that the gusts right now in
excess of forty five miles per hour in that fire zone,
and it is spotting.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
It is spotting. You knew that was going to happen
with the.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Potential for those gusts to carry the embers in other locations.
So you can see that active flame in several different spots,
and unfortunately it is near several different neighborhoods. So you know,
you've got to use those resources. Got to be a
freaking genius, a fire genius out there to know exactly
(19:47):
where the priority spots are. When you think about this,
where the fire erupted from, where it's headed, how many
flanks are there to that fire, and then where the
spot fire is headed, and did they have fuel?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Are the and neighborhoods, yeah, there's spotfires.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
I think are the things that concern me the most,
just in terms of how out of control this thing
could get. If this stays in the wild land, If
this stays in the hills in the brush, that's one
thing it has not, But if it gets into those
neighborhoods and and continues to you know, bounce house to house,
block to block, then you're talking about the potential for
a much more serious threat to life and limb.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Then we're yeah, and we're not even at that point yet,
you know.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
I mean, like there's there's times when we've had wildfires.
I want to say, like your Belinda is when I
remember where there wasn't a lot of wind and you
just saw that there was a potential for those embers
to get into the eaves of homes or whatever and
then to travel. This thing doesn't need the eaves of homes. No,
this thing will just they don't. They don't need to
(20:49):
get creative. The embers don't because the winds are so bad.
Elvis take them all on their own. Carry that ball
down down the down the hill there and just looking
at video near the top of Bien Venita, I mean
it's right up against that neighborhood and that's a spot fire.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
This fire is visible all up and down the west side.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
I mean there have been pictures that have been posted
on social media from as far away as Lax and
parts south of there where you could see this plume
of smoke making its way out over the ocean. And
again it is because the wind is coming from the
north and the east that it's blowing at that direction.
The earlier from where the active flame is the smoke
(21:32):
doesn't really have a chance to go very high before
it's blown completely horizontally. Do not wait for this to
get out of the way of it. Do not wait
for orders to get out of the way, because they
are simply not going to have the opportunity. They're busy
fighting the fire and not going to be able to
go through necessarily and get individual neighborhood and street names
(21:54):
on there. You mentioned PCH was closed eastbound at Topanga.
It's closed westbound apparently at Mullhu. So getting into Palisades
rightfully so is off limits.
Speaker 6 (22:07):
Do not go there.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
But if you are in the Palisades, those are opportunities
for you to get out while you can.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
It is a worst case scenario for the Palisades, near
worst case scenario. And when you look at fifty five
mile an hour WINS, you've got the flanks of this
fire and spot fires going into multiple neighborhoods. I did
see that evacuation orders have just been issued. I'm trying
to find out specifically where, but I would say all
(22:36):
of the Palisades, get the hell out of there.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Yeah, no no reason to wait around for this now.
And again it's because, among other things, it gives the
fire cruise the ability to operate without you in the way,
and it's easier for them to do.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
All of this.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
President Biden is in southern California today, but apparently a
trip to the Inland Empire has been anseled, so we'll
see what exactly.
Speaker 6 (23:02):
What that is about.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
I don't know why he would necessarily go on the
other way, but anyway, we'll keep an eye on that
pch again closed between Topanga Canyon and Mulholland because of
this two hundred plus acre fire that's burning in the
Pacific Palisades. The winds in that area sustained thirty forty
miles an hour, and we've seen gusts as high as
sixty in some places.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
It looks like right now, if you know the area,
like we said, burning westward near that highlands community with
Rustic Canyon to the east to Panga Canyon to the west,
all under evacuation warning.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Okay, must be from a different fire. Okay, I was
looking at smoke over this Supulvita Pass, but I believe
that's from the Sunset fire. Yeah, that would be that,
all right, So we'll keep an eye on this again.
A two hundred plus acre fire burning in the Pacific
Palisades in what we knew was going to be a
very dangerous time, and it unfortunately is coming true. So
(23:59):
we'll keep an eye see if we can get some
more information about the evacuation orders that we are expecting,
if they haven't already been issued, and where where we
can get you to safety.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
All Right, the latest we know about this fast moving
fire in Palisades that's quickly made its way in to
neighborhoods from the top of the mountains there.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
The latest is gridlock, gridlock.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
On sunset on Palisades Drive, people driving down both sides
of the road. Crews unable to make it up to
Palisades Drive. They say all four lanes are blocked. That
there is true panic right now, getting the hell out.
Speaker 6 (24:34):
Of there, and I'm already starting to see.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Said that one of the big deals was going to
be spotting where the embers from the current burn are
blown ahead of the fire based on the wind.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Actually I lost count.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
There are some of these neighborhoods you can see right
there on that picture where the active flame is behind them.
But if they're starting to smoke like they're getting some
of those spot fires starting up in the neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Yeah, I stopped counting at five different active flame spot
fires that I could see just from the overhead coverage
there on NBC.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
And like I said, this is visible from just about
everywhere down the west side. And I think one of
the problems that i'd heard reported you mentioned the gridlock
getting out of Palisades. It appears that most of that
is headed south. So if there's an opportunity maybe for
you to go north on to get out of it
towards the Malibu area and make your way up towards
(25:29):
Camerrillo and Oxnard and things like that, that may be
the better way to go, depending on how it looks.
This is something, unfortunately, that everybody was warning about, and
there was a sense of this morning, are we hitting.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
It a little too hard?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
We spent it too much time on what was going
to be this wind event that we've had wind events before.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Well, I mean, we're the first to call bs when
we think the media coverage is overblown with the polar
vortex and the atmospheric river and the what.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Was the recent one Arctic.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Outbreak, When we're like, oh, it's winter, all right, Yeah,
it's fire season.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
This isn't fire season.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
This is like Henry de Carlo was telling us earlier,
this is like the recipe for disaster. Yes, it's January,
but we haven't had rain, which we usually start getting
in October.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
We've seen none.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
You've got these dry temperatures, plenty of fuel, and then
this massive Santa Ana wind event with these mountain waves
of wind blowing down, smacking in to the surface area
there where the homes are, and that's what you're getting. Sure,
this thing started in the mountains, but those mountain waves
(26:40):
that they warned us about coming from the north are
just carrying this baby smack right down into the neighborhoods.
And because of the wind gusts, that's what you're seeing.
All these spotfires just kind of branch out like ugly
little what would you want to get tentacles.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Again, we haven't gotten official word on specific evacuation orders.
We know that they were requested for this fire all
the way down to Pch through the Palisades down to
the water line basically, but the exact parameters haven't been
stated as of yet. And this is why we've been saying,
do not wait for those specific parameters.
Speaker 6 (27:19):
If you're there.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
If you can see the smoke, if you can see
the fire, if you can see the helicopters and the
airplanes in the air, this is your opportunity to get out. Yes,
it appears that there is traffic getting out of the Palisades,
but it is better to be in on your way
out than to wait for this. I mean, just an
absolute nightmare for some of the some of the fire
(27:41):
crews in there, because clearly getting into these neighborhoods, even
if you kind of mentioned this before, even if you're
at the scene of one fire or a house that's
on fire or a house that's threatened by fire, in
a couple of seconds, that fire is going to jump
over you, the ember is going to light something else
on it, and there's.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
No time time for the structure protection units to get
to your neighborhood. There's just no time when it's moving
this quickly. So if you're usually waiting on somebody to
come knock on the door, that's not going to be
the case with this situation. There's just not time enough
for them to get to your neighborhood. Probably in some cases.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
The images from as far away as Santa Monica are
pretty amazing the amount of smoke that this thing has generated.
It's already showing up on weather radar. We've seen that
at least the two super Scoopers, those the yellow planes
that can scoop up the water while the flying and
then go put it where they need to, are joined
by several helicopters that have taken off. There was another
(28:38):
LA fire had posted from the Van Ey's airport. The
view of this fire from over the hill. They knew
that they were scrambling their aircraft to get into the
air to do this extreme extreme fire and wind risk. Today,
it's only going to get worse. As Henry de Carlo said,
as we get later into this.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Evening, mandatory evacuation orders should just be understood that they're
happening again. The information coming out of here because they're
so swamped, is slow, But if you're anywhere in the Palisades,
just get the hell out of there.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
There are a couple people who have taken to live
streaming what's going on at their house specifically, and this
fire is definitely into people's backyards and oh yeah, I
mean the structures are next. If I haven't seen any homes,
I haven't seen any images of homes on fire, but
it almost seems like it's in an inevitability at this
(29:34):
point because of how fast this thing is moving. There
is again, Yeah, got it, he's on right now. Great,
let's go live. We're gonna get some information from people
who are in the area right now. And Quentin Fleming
from the Pacific Palisades Community Council is joining us.
Speaker 6 (29:54):
Quentin, thanks for taking time for us. We know you're busy.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
H Thank you, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
What is going on? What is a What do you
know about what's going on in the hills above you?
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Well, we've got You've got an active firefight going on
in the hills above above us. I was up on
the roof a few minutes ago and you can see
the fire line along the top of the ridge. From
what I understand, the fire started in the Palisades Highlands area,
which is a separate, a distinct neighborhood in the in
Pacific Palisades, and it appears to be moving spreading a
(30:29):
downwind which would be in a southerly direction.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
So where are you abouts? Are you in the are you.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
Below neighborhood of I'm off to the side of the
fire for now. I'm in the vicinity of Pacific Coast
Highway and Timescal Canyon. It's probably the best, the best
located or Sunset and Timescal Canyon.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
We've heard of just gridlock Sunset Palisades Drive everywhere, people
just panicing, get the hell out out.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
Yes, that's that's that's been a worry we've had for
for quite a while that if, if, if the time comes.
The roads tend to be narrow and they don't have
a lot of capacity for for vehicles. So if everyone
has to evacuate at once, Uh, it can it can
potentially create gridlock?
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Now is there I don't know the area well enough.
Is there more than the one or two main arteries
off the top down to down to the flatlands?
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Uh, Palisades Palisades Drive is the primary artery? Is it?
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Go ahead? I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (31:43):
It's a it's a two lanes each direction, uh, or thoroughfare. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
And again we heard that all four lanes were being
used for people to get out of there, or that
people to get on their own volition just to use
the the lanes going up to go down. Has this
been a conversation locally about when when this happens if
another artery is needed. Has that been like a topic
of conversation as we see these fires get more explosive.
Speaker 4 (32:12):
Yes, the community council has addressed this several times over
the years. And excuse me, I'm getting a beefing in
my ear.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Take it that whatever you need to do, check it out.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
Okay, there we go. Sorry, yeah, it's a it's a
it was an emergency text alert that just came through.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Oh okay, well we'll let you get off the phone,
get out safely.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Thank you so much, thank you, thank you for the
good work you do.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Of course, so you know that that's an interesting thing
because you and I covered the Paradise fire, and this
is where we saw the same thing happened, where even
when we were up there at school, it was a
conversation in the community of we've only got one way
in and one way out. Yes, it's this beautiful cut
off area, and that's what makes it so appealing, you know,
(33:06):
you think about Palace Verdes as well, kind of cut off.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
It's what makes it so appealing.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
But at the same time, if the worst happens, we
are screwed.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Yeah, there's no I mean that was the kind of thing,
and there there is a way. If Paradise was the example,
that you could go farther into the mountains, you get
up towards the Megalia and like Forest Ranch and things
like that, but that was also in danger.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
In this case, there's not even a good Once you
get up Palisades drive into the summit.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Area, there's no way to get out, no way to
get out.
Speaker 6 (33:37):
The other way.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
You have to just go down that main thoroughfare. And
I mean, if everyone's trying to get out at once.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Holy hell.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
We were talking with Quentin Fleming, a Pacific Palisades Community
Council vice president there, and that's we had to let
him go. Obviously he had more important things to do
because he was getting emergency text messages while he was
talking to us. Again, they're they're at this point not
talking about specifics when it comes to evacuation orders.
Speaker 6 (34:03):
But the better thing to think about is just not
waiting for.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Those well, I say, zone ten, zone eight, nine ten,
whatever that means. That's according to all of the dispatch stuff.
Evacuate now has been the call essentially anything between the
fire and the ocean and the Palisides Palisades area, Get
the hell out of there. That's essentially those three zones.
(34:27):
From what the map that I'm rating looks like.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Yeah, the area maps they have them available on their website,
it looks like so. But there should be no question.
Stay or Go's not a thing to mess around with. Again,
we will continue to keep an eye on this fire
at two hundred plus acres burning in the Pacific Palisades area.
It has been spotting into neighborhoods, into homes and people's backyards,
(34:54):
and the expectation is that we are going to see
some of these homes to go up in flames here.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
If not already, we're on top of it right here
on Gary and Shannon.
Speaker 6 (35:05):
You've been listening to the Gary and Shannon Show.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
You can always hear us live on KFI AM six
forty nine am to one pm every Monday through Friday,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
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