January 10, 2025 • 38 mins
ICYMI: Hour THREE of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – Live Coverages of the SoCal wildfires with an in-depth look at what First Responders are facing courtesy of an “Unnamed” LA Firefighter - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Later with mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six fortyf.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Mo Kelly, We're Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
And at the beginning of the night, I was saying
how people outside of southern California, people who are outside
of California, have wrongly characterized these fires, especially Pacific Palisades,
as somehow an indictment of the rich, or it only
(00:45):
was impacting rich, wealthy people, celebrities, and even inside of
Pacific Palisades, if you know the area, that couldn't be
further from the truth.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
But how it's being characterized.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
And I know it's anecdotal in this social media, can't
put too much stock in it, but I do think
that it shapes a perception which is just truly inaccurate
about who is being harmed, who is being displaced, who
is being evacuated. And I told you yesterday how the
national news was at least a day behind trying to
(01:19):
catch up to what was happening here. And they're still
behind because it's not where they live. They're only getting
a very surface view, you know, they're getting the pictures.
They may talk to a few people, but they don't
know what it's like for you and me on an
hour to hour basis, and it's not their job. They're
just trying to give you the big picture, pun intended.
But for many people it's the wrong picture. They think
(01:40):
it's only impacting a certain demographic. And what's being less
covered in the national media at least is what's happening
in Altadena, what's happening in Pasadena, the different fires where
clearly it's not super wealthy folks.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
And three million dollar homes.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
It's folks like you and me, And no disrespect if
you got a two to three million dollar home, God
bless you, God bless you. I'm just saying the multitude
of people who are impacted, the multitude of the people
who've lost their homes, lost their businesses, middle class.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
It's interesting because a friend of mine, and you know her, Sabantha,
oh yeah, yeah, who, she was staying in the Bay Area,
and of course all of her family is here, and
when she was seeing on television at least about the
coverage of the story, she knew it was bad, but
didn't have an idea of the reach of the fires.
And of course just seeing that, you know, areas like Altaden,
(02:43):
and Pasadena had been hit. She knew immediately she had
to come home and take care of her family. When
she arrived back here in southern California, she turned on
the radio. She gotten her in the car and turned
on the radar and could not find any coverage about
what was happening. And now she needed a la she
needed updates. She's looking all over the radio station. The
station station, she said, why is nobody talking about what's
(03:05):
happening in Alta Dina. She said, duh, I need to
go to five seventy. I mean our six forty. She
turned the right when you and I were talking about
the damageing what was happening in Alta Dina, and she
stayed locked in and she was telling everyone tuning in
the CAFI right now, they're letting you know what's happened
in Alta Dena. They're leting you know what you need
to do, where you need to go, where they're talking
(03:26):
about going to the conventions.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
So you're talking about actual information that people need information.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
She's like telling me, turn go to it right now.
This is what you need to know because it wasn't
happening anywhere else. It's just to me, it's the power
of what we do and how we delve into every
little thing that's happening, the minutia of all these fires
and how they're affecting everyone, and how important it is
to relay this information in real time as we get it,
(03:53):
not jumping on stuff that we aren't sure is real
or not, but as we get this information and it's verified,
reay that and connecting our listeners from all walks of life.
There are individuals who are extremely wealthy and Altadena and
individuals who are super lower middle class who are all
listening to the same broadcast saying thank you for this information.
(04:14):
I did not know where to go in Pasadena to evacuate.
I didn't know what resources were available. And this is
why we win and what we're doing. These are those times.
We have a lot of fun on later with mo Kelly.
We jokeing and shoot the ish all the time, but
at times this this is when we excel, because this
is when the news matters most.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
I don't know if you heard earlier Twela, I was
saying that my approach is I think about my family,
the people who have been displaced, like you, for example,
and I think about what is it they would need
to know what would they most desire to know, where
to go, how to get food, how to get short
term shelter, how they can be made whole, how can
(04:57):
they get in touch with the federal government to start
the the FEMA process. Now, how anyone else wants to
look at this moment is up to them. But I
think I have a responsibility. I really do. I have
a responsibility to take care of as many people I
can with the resources and the tools that I have.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
That's all I want to do.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
And the national news media they really can't do that
because they can't speak directly to the needs of the
specific communities.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
They're not going to take the amount of time to.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Talk about where to take large animals, where to take
small animals, how you can get these free meals in
different portions of the city, how you can get your
family from one place to another if you need special assistance.
National news media is not going to do that. That's
why we ATKFI are sometimes painstaking in the small minor details,
(05:54):
so you know where to go, how to get there,
what is being offered. You know, we had some fun
last segment talk about censor but that's real information. Some
people are gonna get fed with money they didn't have
because they were listening last seven. Yeah, and then people
are being impacted outside the Pacific Palisades. No disrespect to
(06:15):
those who have been displaced, who've had to been be evacuated,
who may have lost their homes, But there are a
number of communities right now going through it, and all
of them deserve our due attention.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Absolutely. This is why we are here. And I love
when Mark Ronald chimes In is right there with this
following up with the detailed super News. I just I'm
really proud of us right now. I'm really proud of
this moment for being here and providing all this information
and even for me things that I need, places where
I can take you know, our cats, you know, And
(06:48):
I'm like.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Oh right, I had to go back and listen to
the past.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
It's like boom, this is where we can take the
cats and they will be safe and we know this.
This is why I'm just you know, I'm overwhelmed and
it still hasn't sunk in in what I'm dealing with,
but this helps me through it.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
I'll give you a perfect example.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
There are those individuals who may have everything that they
own in their car, or they may have to move
as much as they can out of their house and
they have nowhere to put it. Did you know that
U haul is opening its facilities across southern California for
thirty days of free self storage to victims. That helps someone.
(07:29):
The UBox Container Disaster Relief program is also available to
assist evacuees and affected families. That helps people right where
they are. Uber and Lyft are helping evacuated residents with
free rides to shelter locations. Evacuees can redeem a free
Uber ride up to forty dollars by applying the promo
(07:52):
code wild Fire twenty five in the wallet section of
their Uber app before requesting a ride to a designated
shelter location for lift. The promo code is c A
Fire Relief twenty five. Let me see say that again.
CA is in California. See A Fire Relief twenty five.
(08:16):
That's the code for a free ride worth up to
twenty five dollars. Each user can use the code for
two rides maximum. Think about Pacific Palisades in that area,
all those abandoned cars. All of a sudden, you're without
transportation and you may need to get yourself, maybe a
loved one someone else to a shelter. This is information
(08:38):
I think we're obligated to make sure that you know
and have available. And you may not remember all of this,
but it'll be up on the podcast as well. KFI
AM six forty I'm o Kelly going to be with
you all evening up until midnight, as we have been
earlier in the week, So keep it right here. We
have more good information which is going to help you
(08:58):
and your family.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
You're listening to later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I Am six forty mo Kelly here. We're live everywhere
on the iHeartRadio app. Give you a brief update. The
Kenneth fire has burned more than one thousand acres, but
it is up to thirty five percent containment. That's some
good news. And the Palisades fire has burned twenty thousand
(09:49):
acres but it is at least up to six percent containment,
so firefighters are making some headway on some of these fires.
And I may mention what I thought was a pretty
good press conference top to bottom as far as information
from civic leaders, from law enforcement, from fire department, first
(10:12):
responders as far as what we need to know as
far as evacuation areas, contact information, if you have certain
needs need which have yet to be met, some sort
of indication of what to expect in the coming days.
We heard Sheriff Luna talk about the curfew. Mark Ronner
even talked about it. It is implemented in the evacuation
(10:35):
areas and it's from six pm to six am. So understand,
if you are in an evacuation area, you are under curfew.
Many you cannot enter in that area and if you
do during the curfew of six pm to six am,
you will be subject to arrest. And at this press
(10:58):
conference earlier today we heard from Jim McDonald, LAPD chief
told you about Sheriff Luna. Also Ella County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath,
FEMA administrator Diann chris Well.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Will hear from her in the little bit.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
John O'Brien, who's a chief Deputy of Emergency Operations, but
also LA Mayor Karen Bass spoke and I will leave
it up to you as far as how you want
to interpret it, but here's what she had to say
earlier today.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Good afternoon, everyone, and let me just thank all of
the leaders that are here with us today. I think
it is a perfect example of how we are speaking
with one voice. We will unify our city, We will
get through this crisis, and we will rebuild a better
Los Angeles. First and foremost, of course, my thoughts are
with the thousands of Angelinos impacted by these continuing fires.
(11:51):
There is a new fire unfortunately in West Hills, pushing
into Ventura County, and we are expecting this fire to
rapidly spread due to high winds. This is a reminder
that this is a very dynamic situation that can change quickly.
The priority for all Angelino's remains stay safe and please
(12:12):
follow directions from the public safety officials. When you are
told to evacuate, please evacuate. When you don't evacuate, you
compromise the abilities of the first responders one to address
this crisis. You put yourself in danger and you put
others in dangers. Again, we know that this is an
(12:33):
active situation. LAPD will be assisting with evacuations, and I
want to thank the firefighters from all over the state
and frankly from many other areas who have come to
respond to this unprecedented situation. Now for an update, on
this most recent fire, I'd like to call Chief Crowley.
Speaker 6 (12:59):
Well, everyone, I'm Christian Crowley, fire Chief of Los Angeles
City Fire Department. We are now actively engaged in a
new brush fire. We're calling it the Kenneth Fire in
the West Hills area of Los Angeles on the border
of Ventura County. This fire was over fifty acres upon arrival,
with the potential for rapid growth over the next hour.
(13:22):
Over sixty fire companies from the Los Angeles City Fire Department,
LA County Fire Department, and Ventura County Fire Department were
initially dispatched to the specific incident. Additional resources have been
requested and are en route. The fire started in the
city of Los Angeles and burned rapidly into the County
(13:42):
of Ventura. Los Angeles County Fire Department and Ventura County
Fire Department are in unified command. The LFD is now
an assisting agency. There are currently immediate evacuation orders in
place south of Van Owen, north of Burbank, east of
Valley Circle, and west of County Lane Road, and evacuation
(14:06):
warning is in place west of Valley Circle, north of Sataquoi,
east of Woodlake, and south of Burbank. I will now
be providing a quick update on the Palisades Fire. Current
anchorage is nineteen thousand, nine hundred and seventy eight. There
are currently five three hundred and sixteen structures that were
(14:28):
damaged or destroyed, and unfortunately, our thoughts and prayers go
out to the families. We do have a confirmed two
fatalities that are now due to this incident. Closing, I
want to make sure that we thank the residents of
Los Angeles for remaining vigilant and this new fire shows
that we are absolutely not out of this extreme weather event.
(14:53):
I personally want to take and show I should say
my thanks and gratitude to all of our firefighters, are
the first responders and for their families, for all the
sacrifices their relentless efforts in battling this historic fire, and
I should make that plural historic fires. Next up, we're
going to bring back the mayor.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
Thank you, Chief Crowley for your leadership, and thank you
for that update. We'll have critical updates on the state
of this emergency, broadly including resources for Angelinos who have
been impacted. Again, the priority of all Angelino's remains to
stay safe and to follow directions from public safety officials.
I was at the command post for the Palisades fire
(15:40):
with Governor Newsom and other federal partners earlier today and
we talked about strategies to provide relief. First, I just
got off the phone with President Biden, and right before
this press conference I also spoke to Vice President Harris
earlier today. Earlier today the President's announce the federal government
(16:00):
would pay for one hundred percent of disaster response costs
from the wildfires in this area. This is unprecedented because
usually it is not one hundred percent. As the FEMA Administrator,
Chris Wall will discuss, new resources are also available for
impacted Angelinos to recover from this emergency. So thank you
(16:24):
FEMA Administrator for being here today and for your continued
partnership on behalf of the White House. Second, as you
heard from the update from the County at the Eaton
fire posts, in coordination with the County of La, we
have requested the National Guard along with the sheriff, and
the county has implemented a curfew in all burn areas.
(16:46):
And actually let me correct that and say that the
county is looking at a curveview but has not implemented it.
Yet in Los Angeles, we have had evacuation orders in
place in the Palisades, and in those evacuation orders have
the force of a curfew, meaning you must leave and
you cannot come back into the area period twenty four
(17:10):
hours a day. We have to protect the area, especially
from those properties that remain I've joined the sheriff in
inviting the National Guard to take on non emergency rules
and provide us with resources to keep the burn area
secure so that our frontline firefighters and police officers can
(17:30):
focus on saving lives. So let me be clear, there's
going to be zero tolerance, zero tolerance for anybody that
would be I don't even know how to say this,
but that would dare to enter houses or looted property
or anything from the individuals or from structures that remain standing.
(17:52):
I was with DA Hawkman this morning and he made
it very clear that if anybody is involved in looting
or any proper damage, that he is ready to prosecute
to the full extent of the law. So my team
is in coordination with the Adjutant General who heads the
National Guard, and I've spoken with the governor with about
(18:14):
the National Guard to take on specifically non emergency roles
to free up our firefighters and officers to do the
life saving work that they do in the city, so
that we are sure to have enough resources to surge
our first responder so that they can focus on the
life saving work. Third, we're already looking ahead to aggressively
(18:37):
rebuild the city of Los Angeles. Will lead in this
effort in the areas that are impacted by the city.
We are going to clear the red tape and unnecessary
delays and costs and headaches that people experience in ordinary
times so that we can rebuild your homes quickly. We're
going to clear the way to rapidly rebuild our neighborhood infrastructure,
(19:01):
which means roads, sidewalks, street lights, and utilities. We will
clear the way to rebuild and open our small businesses
and provide assistance to make it through these disclosures. This
is a massive effort, but we will be ready and
we will get the job done. By turning away from
the usual city system and moving forward in a new direction.
(19:25):
LA has to be strong united. We will reject those
who seek in this emergency. When lives are at stake
and lives have been lost, we will reject those who
seek to divide us and seek to misinform, because as
evidence by the leadership standing here today, we will be united.
(19:47):
We will rebuild our city, and we will do what
isever it's necessary to get us past this crisis. And
we can do that by being united.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
That was Mayor Karen Bass earlier today from a press
conference which was around five pm RAND about forty five minutes.
Give you an updated information on the Eaten fire. It
has burned thirteen six hundred and ninety acres and it
still sits at zero percent containment. And when we come back,
we hope to have an on the ground report from
(20:19):
the Altadena Pasadena area and what that actually looks like
from inside the evacuation zone, so we can give you
more information. Maybe you're concerned about whether your house is
still there, whether there will be any chance for you
to go back into that area anytime soon. We hope
to get some specific information in the next segment. So
keep it right here.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
You can't find a six forty everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
And right now we want to take you into some
of these evacuation zones to give you a sense of
what it feels like, what it looks like, some updated
a sense of what firefighters are dealing with. And Twalla
(21:17):
Sharp has a very special guest for us city set up.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
For us one of my one of my very good friends,
an individual who I've known close to thirty years now.
He is a Deana native. He is a firefighter, and
he is currently off duty and is taking his time
out to let us know what it is that our
(21:41):
first responders are facing, what they are dealing with, and
what it's like trying to contain these blazes, but also
what it's like as a citizen living in these areas. So,
my man, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
How you feeling, sir, I'm very well, sir. How are
you I'm doing well.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Yes, we're intentionally not giving your last name, and yes
we're not telling people exactly where you work because we're
not trying to get anyone in trouble. So we appreciate
you coming on tonight and giving us a sense of
what is really going on.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Now.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Do I have it correct that you were first deployed
to the Palisades Fire?
Speaker 7 (22:20):
Oh no, that morning when I was on my way
to work. Before I was even up, that's when we
got the emergency evacuation order for Alta.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Dina uh huh uh huh.
Speaker 7 (22:32):
So at that point I got up, made a couple
of phone calls to neighbors see if they got the notice,
got my wife going to her parents' house, and started
knocking on doors. A lot of people in the area.
They didn't know what was going on because about six
pm that earlier that day, all the power went out,
(22:55):
all the internet went out, so a lot of people
weren't aware. So when it happened, things moved fast. So
I was knocking on doors. The neighbors who weren't aware,
helped a couple of people get out of their houses
and went to the station, grabbed my gear, and my
crew kind of knew what was going on in that
(23:17):
Altadena was now on fire, so they actually sent me
home and I came back with my gear and I
started helping over here.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Why do you think people may not have known about
the evacuation order? Was it they weren't listening to or
watching traditional news sources. It was not necessarily an alert
they got on their phone. Why do you think that was.
Speaker 7 (23:39):
Well I think in Altadena a lot of people they
didn't have service. So again, at six pm that night,
all internet, all power went out, so people just weren't
aware they didn't have access. And the Aldena doesn't have
the best signal anyway, so everything was okay, hey, this
(24:05):
is a wind event, and we've seen these before as
will be diligent. But when the fire broke out and
you can see it on the hill, you know that
a lot of people weren't prepared for that, and it
moved very quickly.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
You were knocking on doors where people responsive. Were they
willing to take you at your word? I'm quite sure
they knew that you're a firefighter, But did they believe
you when you were trying to convey the severity of it.
Speaker 7 (24:29):
Yeah, because by that time, if you're living in Pasadena
and you can simply look to the foothills, then you
can see the flame, you can see the wallfire moving,
So everybody knew how serious it was right off.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Back Today is Thursday.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
I'm quite sure Altadena and Pasadena to a certain degree,
looked very different on Tuesday. How would you characterize the
difference in then and now?
Speaker 7 (24:55):
You know, my family's lived in Alcadena for seventy five years,
and it's an absolute wasteland. Altadena is completely white, completely.
There is nobody in Pasadena that doesn't have at least
(25:16):
five friends or five family members who have not lost
their homes. It's it's all gone. The esthetic of Alasadena
is gone. Homes that you grew up in, that you
have memories, Corners that you remember walking on the way
to school are gone. I don't think you know, people's
(25:39):
YouTube videos, facebook videos give it justice. Just the wasteland
and the gravity of what happened. And you know, I
had the chance to drive from the east side of
Alstina all the way over to the west side, and
it's it's it's terrible. It is absolutely terrible.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
The people, the friends, the family that you helped evacuate,
to the best of your knowledge, did they go to shelters,
did they have somewhere to go? What would their circumstances
generally like, I.
Speaker 7 (26:18):
Think people were just in a panic in her to
get out of the immediate area. I think people were
just going to family's home, family members' houses outside of
al To dinner past Dina. I don't think at that
point people were aware of any kind of shelters. At
that point, people were just trying to get out of
immediate danger.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
You, as a firefighter can look at this in a
way that a lay person cannot. Can you, like in
what you've seen in out to dinner with anything that
you've experienced in your professional career.
Speaker 7 (26:52):
I've never seen anything like that. I don't think I
don't think any of us have ever seen something like that.
That was or ninety miles per hour winds, Yes, pushing
the fire. That fire at that point, fire isn't coming,
isn't burning up, It's burning horizontal, and it's just moving.
(27:15):
It's being pushed by the wind. So it's going from
one point to the next, one house to the next,
and the embers are falling three and two blocks over.
So now everything's catching its wave of fire. It's just moving,
it's just sweeping. It covers so much ground so fast.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
You said your company sent you home at the beginning
of that day, knowing where you lived, so you could
help people right where you were.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Have you engaged the fire since?
Speaker 7 (27:50):
Uh, that night I went home, I was able to
help save some houses on my block. I was able
to kind of prep it was the houses that did leave,
and I told them, hey, I want to stay and
I'll take pictures of your houses. If anything changes, i'll
let you know. And you know, me and another neighbor
(28:13):
who we did the best, and you know, we stayed
and we did what we could and we're able to
help some people. But the whole area was dumped. There
was no resources because there are multiple fires going all
over the place.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
If you're just tuning in, I'm speaking with we're intentionally
withholding this last name. He is a firefighter locally. We're
not saying with which department he's with, because obviously I'm
quite sure their p IO wouldn't want him talking to
just but I thought it was important that we get
some on the ground sense of what outitting it specifically
looks like and what the people have dealt with.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
When do you think, well, let me let me put
this another way.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
For as bad as it's been, we have not heard
about a lot high number loss of life. Are you
surprised in any way?
Speaker 7 (29:07):
Well, I think we're still trying to wrap our hands
around the gravity of what's going on. We just got
additional companies into the area, so now you see a
very strong presence of fire companies here. Then you have
to wait for the reports of the missing person's reports
(29:28):
to come in. Hey, we haven't spoke to our grandmother
or our mother in X amount of days, So all
those people who fled the area, then you're gonna get
reports of missing people, and then they have to go
to those areas. They have to search, you know, they
have to call family, wait for somebody to actually start
questioning where they are. So all this is gonna be
(29:49):
a process.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
We know that that area is under a mandatory evacuation order.
We know that that area is under a curfew from
six pm to six am. But we also know that
people are curious about to your point, loved ones who
may not have responded, they're curious about the status of
their homes, if there's anything left, that there's anything they
can save. In a situation like this, despite the destruction,
(30:15):
how long might it take before and all clear could
be given for people to re enter that area?
Speaker 7 (30:22):
The area is they're still activey in the area. There's
still open gas mains in the area. It's not safe.
There's still down power lines in the area. As much
as people want to be up here, it's still not safe.
It's infrastructure that still needs to be built and prepared
for people to be able to function and move around
(30:44):
safely up here. Going to take time.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Keep going with that.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
I'm quite sure people may not have thought about the
other dangers which are associated with a disaster area. You
mentioned gas lines, You may mention you mentioned down power lines.
What other sure types of dangers or threats might there
be for someone who ill advised tries to get into
the evacuation area.
Speaker 7 (31:10):
There are so many different things that can kill you
or injure you, so many different things. Just a chance
or a half burned structure that the integrity is already weak,
and you digging around going inside that house, and a
house could possibly collapse on you. There's so many unknowns.
There's no way to properly answer that question, because pretty
(31:32):
much at this point everything's destroyed, so everything can hurt you,
even the air. The air is terrible. If you don't
have to be in the area, you shouldn't be in
the area. If you have a headache, it's probably because
you have carbon dioxide poisoning. Wear your mask. If you
don't need to be here, you stay away as much
(31:54):
you want to get up there to your property. It's
going to take time.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
What is the priority as best you could glean for firefighters?
Obviously they were trying to put out fires. Are they
trying to protect certain structures? Are they trying to keep
it away from certain houses? What's the thought process as
far as a fire department when they're trying to battle
multiple blazes like these, Well.
Speaker 7 (32:22):
A company can only do the best they can do
with the amount of resources that they have. So if
you have a whole street going and one fire engine,
not much is going to be able to be done
until they get additional resources. So in that area all
about Tadena, with the limited amount of companies that are
(32:44):
in that area, they were immediately overwhelmed immediately. So at
that point you're going to the which you can save
or what's directly in front of you. It's immediately overwhelming
and ultimately the only thing that's going to help is
more resources at that moment. But if a fire is
(33:07):
skipping neighborhoods and streets over, you're racing against the winds,
and the winds we're going eighty miles an hour.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Can a company or multiple companies do anything when the
fire starts skipping they're not chasing the fire, are they.
Speaker 7 (33:23):
And they're trying to put out the fires when they
start in the early stages, put it out so it
doesn't go into a big fire that they can't handle.
That's what they're trying to do.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Since we know that we're all talking about limited resources
to a certain degree, for and give me your best
guests estimate how long are these shifts for these firefighters.
How long are they on the front lines trying to
fight these fires. Are we talking about twelve hours, fourteen hours?
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Longer?
Speaker 7 (33:51):
Definitely longer, definitely longer, especially in the early stages. And again,
different departments, when these fires happen, different protocols fall in line.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Give me an example of just a scenario where because
of circumstances, those protocols might change as best you can.
Speaker 7 (34:11):
If you have an immediate need, immediate threat to life
and property, where you have multiple structures injeopardy, then the
resources that are in that area they're going to go
as long as they possibly can to save life and property.
They're just going to do it. And then as other
(34:32):
resources come in, those resources that we're in the initial
attack are going to be relieved and sent for rehab
and rest.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
I know that we have no business being in the
evacuation zone because it's obviously dangerous to us as civilians
and citizens.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
All we can do is get hurt or get killed.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
But I'm quite sure are there are other reasons why
we shouldn't be there, because it gets in the way
of your efforts to save structures. And also you can't
do certain types of maneuvers if you suspect that someone's
in a house.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Correct.
Speaker 7 (35:06):
Yes, And for the most part, if you're blocking streets
that are already damaged and are blocked by all the debris,
branches and power lines, you're in the way. You're in
the way, and you could limit and slow access to
a fire that might be starting and we might be
able to stop, or somebody who might be trapped.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
I know it's one thing when you're fighting a fire
in some other area of the city. You may not
know anyone connected to the neighborhood, the community, the city,
and you're just doing your job. But what are the
emotions when you are confronting this in your own neighborhood
(35:48):
with people you've known your whole life, and seeing those
houses that you've probably been inside as a kid or
maybe as an adult go up in flames.
Speaker 7 (36:01):
I think that to a certain extent, any first reponder
is going to have some level of PTSD. I think
when it is your family or you are directly affected
by whatever's in front of you, I think it all
comes back. I think it all comes back in that
(36:22):
moment and it's just a swell of emotion that you're
you kind of recognize what's happening, and you're trying to
manage that emotion because you try to be methodical in
your practice how you attack a situation, but it hits
(36:45):
ten times harder because all of the previous trauma and
things you've experienced come back in that moment and you
are you are overwhelmed momentarily.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
Is it fair to say that firefighters across southern California,
regardless of the fire, are probably experiencing similar emotions as
you are. Even though they may not be fighting a
fire in their particular community, they probably know of another
community where they're very they live close to, or they
have close ties to going through the same thing. My
(37:20):
question is, are all these firefighters probably going through these
same types of emotions right now?
Speaker 7 (37:26):
Very much so, very much so, hands down, everybody's feeling it.
It's impossible not to. Southern California's bury.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Is it going to get an better tomorrow with this
wind event or is it looking like that it's probably
going to get be worse.
Speaker 7 (37:43):
Sir, I wish I knew.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
I wish I knew, And all I can say is,
thank you for your service, thank you for your commitment,
thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for you know,
running to the danger instead of running from the danger,
protecting all of these people, you know, during the worst
moments of their lives, with less thought about your own
(38:06):
safety and your life.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Thank you for coming on today.
Speaker 7 (38:10):
Sure, thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
I'm Okelly.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
We're going to continue our coverage of these fires all
around southern California and make sure we give you the
information that you need first and foremost to make sure
you and your family are safe. Kf I AM six forty.
We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
When fires strikes Southern California, KFI.
Speaker 7 (38:33):
News is on it.
Speaker 4 (38:35):
K f IM KOST HD two.
Speaker 7 (38:38):
Los Angeles, Orange County live everywhere on the radio app
You're listening to Later with mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six fortyf.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Mo Kelly, We're Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
And at the beginning of the night, I was saying
how people outside of southern California, people who are outside
of California, have wrongly characterized these fires, especially Pacific Palisades,
as somehow an indictment of the rich, or it only
(00:45):
was impacting rich, wealthy people, celebrities, and even inside of
Pacific Palisades, if you know the area, that couldn't be
further from the truth.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
But how it's being characterized.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
And I know it's anecdotal in this social media, can't
put too much stock in it, but I do think
that it shapes a perception which is just truly inaccurate
about who is being harmed, who is being displaced, who
is being evacuated. And I told you yesterday how the
national news was at least a day behind trying to
(01:19):
catch up to what was happening here. And they're still
behind because it's not where they live. They're only getting
a very surface view, you know, they're getting the pictures.
They may talk to a few people, but they don't
know what it's like for you and me on an
hour to hour basis, and it's not their job. They're
just trying to give you the big picture, pun intended.
But for many people it's the wrong picture. They think
(01:40):
it's only impacting a certain demographic. And what's being less
covered in the national media at least is what's happening
in Altadena, what's happening in Pasadena, the different fires where
clearly it's not super wealthy folks.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
And three million dollar homes.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
It's folks like you and me, And no disrespect if
you got a two to three million dollar home, God
bless you, God bless you. I'm just saying the multitude
of people who are impacted, the multitude of the people
who've lost their homes, lost their businesses, middle class.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
It's interesting because a friend of mine, and you know her, Sabantha,
oh yeah, yeah, who, she was staying in the Bay Area,
and of course all of her family is here, and
when she was seeing on television at least about the
coverage of the story, she knew it was bad, but
didn't have an idea of the reach of the fires.
And of course just seeing that, you know, areas like Altaden,
(02:43):
and Pasadena had been hit. She knew immediately she had
to come home and take care of her family. When
she arrived back here in southern California, she turned on
the radio. She gotten her in the car and turned
on the radar and could not find any coverage about
what was happening. And now she needed a la she
needed updates. She's looking all over the radio station. The
station station, she said, why is nobody talking about what's
(03:05):
happening in Alta Dina. She said, duh, I need to
go to five seventy. I mean our six forty. She
turned the right when you and I were talking about
the damageing what was happening in Alta Dina, and she
stayed locked in and she was telling everyone tuning in
the CAFI right now, they're letting you know what's happened
in Alta Dena. They're leting you know what you need
to do, where you need to go, where they're talking
(03:26):
about going to the conventions.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
So you're talking about actual information that people need information.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
She's like telling me, turn go to it right now.
This is what you need to know because it wasn't
happening anywhere else. It's just to me, it's the power
of what we do and how we delve into every
little thing that's happening, the minutia of all these fires
and how they're affecting everyone, and how important it is
to relay this information in real time as we get it,
(03:53):
not jumping on stuff that we aren't sure is real
or not, but as we get this information and it's verified,
reay that and connecting our listeners from all walks of life.
There are individuals who are extremely wealthy and Altadena and
individuals who are super lower middle class who are all
listening to the same broadcast saying thank you for this information.
(04:14):
I did not know where to go in Pasadena to evacuate.
I didn't know what resources were available. And this is
why we win and what we're doing. These are those times.
We have a lot of fun on later with mo Kelly.
We jokeing and shoot the ish all the time, but
at times this this is when we excel, because this
is when the news matters most.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
I don't know if you heard earlier Twela, I was
saying that my approach is I think about my family,
the people who have been displaced, like you, for example,
and I think about what is it they would need
to know what would they most desire to know, where
to go, how to get food, how to get short
term shelter, how they can be made whole, how can
(04:57):
they get in touch with the federal government to start
the the FEMA process. Now, how anyone else wants to
look at this moment is up to them. But I
think I have a responsibility. I really do. I have
a responsibility to take care of as many people I
can with the resources and the tools that I have.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
That's all I want to do.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
And the national news media they really can't do that
because they can't speak directly to the needs of the
specific communities.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
They're not going to take the amount of time to.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Talk about where to take large animals, where to take
small animals, how you can get these free meals in
different portions of the city, how you can get your
family from one place to another if you need special assistance.
National news media is not going to do that. That's
why we ATKFI are sometimes painstaking in the small minor details,
(05:54):
so you know where to go, how to get there,
what is being offered. You know, we had some fun
last segment talk about censor but that's real information. Some
people are gonna get fed with money they didn't have
because they were listening last seven. Yeah, and then people
are being impacted outside the Pacific Palisades. No disrespect to
(06:15):
those who have been displaced, who've had to been be evacuated,
who may have lost their homes, But there are a
number of communities right now going through it, and all
of them deserve our due attention.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Absolutely. This is why we are here. And I love
when Mark Ronald chimes In is right there with this
following up with the detailed super News. I just I'm
really proud of us right now. I'm really proud of
this moment for being here and providing all this information
and even for me things that I need, places where
I can take you know, our cats, you know, And
(06:48):
I'm like.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Oh right, I had to go back and listen to
the past.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
It's like boom, this is where we can take the
cats and they will be safe and we know this.
This is why I'm just you know, I'm overwhelmed and
it still hasn't sunk in in what I'm dealing with,
but this helps me through it.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
I'll give you a perfect example.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
There are those individuals who may have everything that they
own in their car, or they may have to move
as much as they can out of their house and
they have nowhere to put it. Did you know that
U haul is opening its facilities across southern California for
thirty days of free self storage to victims. That helps someone.
(07:29):
The UBox Container Disaster Relief program is also available to
assist evacuees and affected families. That helps people right where
they are. Uber and Lyft are helping evacuated residents with
free rides to shelter locations. Evacuees can redeem a free
Uber ride up to forty dollars by applying the promo
(07:52):
code wild Fire twenty five in the wallet section of
their Uber app before requesting a ride to a designated
shelter location for lift. The promo code is c A
Fire Relief twenty five. Let me see say that again.
CA is in California. See A Fire Relief twenty five.
(08:16):
That's the code for a free ride worth up to
twenty five dollars. Each user can use the code for
two rides maximum. Think about Pacific Palisades in that area,
all those abandoned cars. All of a sudden, you're without
transportation and you may need to get yourself, maybe a
loved one someone else to a shelter. This is information
(08:38):
I think we're obligated to make sure that you know
and have available. And you may not remember all of this,
but it'll be up on the podcast as well. KFI
AM six forty I'm o Kelly going to be with
you all evening up until midnight, as we have been
earlier in the week, So keep it right here. We
have more good information which is going to help you
(08:58):
and your family.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
You're listening to later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I Am six forty mo Kelly here. We're live everywhere
on the iHeartRadio app. Give you a brief update. The
Kenneth fire has burned more than one thousand acres, but
it is up to thirty five percent containment. That's some
good news. And the Palisades fire has burned twenty thousand
(09:49):
acres but it is at least up to six percent containment,
so firefighters are making some headway on some of these fires.
And I may mention what I thought was a pretty
good press conference top to bottom as far as information
from civic leaders, from law enforcement, from fire department, first
(10:12):
responders as far as what we need to know as
far as evacuation areas, contact information, if you have certain
needs need which have yet to be met, some sort
of indication of what to expect in the coming days.
We heard Sheriff Luna talk about the curfew. Mark Ronner
even talked about it. It is implemented in the evacuation
(10:35):
areas and it's from six pm to six am. So understand,
if you are in an evacuation area, you are under curfew.
Many you cannot enter in that area and if you
do during the curfew of six pm to six am,
you will be subject to arrest. And at this press
(10:58):
conference earlier today we heard from Jim McDonald, LAPD chief
told you about Sheriff Luna. Also Ella County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath,
FEMA administrator Diann chris Well.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Will hear from her in the little bit.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
John O'Brien, who's a chief Deputy of Emergency Operations, but
also LA Mayor Karen Bass spoke and I will leave
it up to you as far as how you want
to interpret it, but here's what she had to say
earlier today.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Good afternoon, everyone, and let me just thank all of
the leaders that are here with us today. I think
it is a perfect example of how we are speaking
with one voice. We will unify our city, We will
get through this crisis, and we will rebuild a better
Los Angeles. First and foremost, of course, my thoughts are
with the thousands of Angelinos impacted by these continuing fires.
(11:51):
There is a new fire unfortunately in West Hills, pushing
into Ventura County, and we are expecting this fire to
rapidly spread due to high winds. This is a reminder
that this is a very dynamic situation that can change quickly.
The priority for all Angelino's remains stay safe and please
(12:12):
follow directions from the public safety officials. When you are
told to evacuate, please evacuate. When you don't evacuate, you
compromise the abilities of the first responders one to address
this crisis. You put yourself in danger and you put
others in dangers. Again, we know that this is an
(12:33):
active situation. LAPD will be assisting with evacuations, and I
want to thank the firefighters from all over the state
and frankly from many other areas who have come to
respond to this unprecedented situation. Now for an update, on
this most recent fire, I'd like to call Chief Crowley.
Speaker 6 (12:59):
Well, everyone, I'm Christian Crowley, fire Chief of Los Angeles
City Fire Department. We are now actively engaged in a
new brush fire. We're calling it the Kenneth Fire in
the West Hills area of Los Angeles on the border
of Ventura County. This fire was over fifty acres upon arrival,
with the potential for rapid growth over the next hour.
(13:22):
Over sixty fire companies from the Los Angeles City Fire Department,
LA County Fire Department, and Ventura County Fire Department were
initially dispatched to the specific incident. Additional resources have been
requested and are en route. The fire started in the
city of Los Angeles and burned rapidly into the County
(13:42):
of Ventura. Los Angeles County Fire Department and Ventura County
Fire Department are in unified command. The LFD is now
an assisting agency. There are currently immediate evacuation orders in
place south of Van Owen, north of Burbank, east of
Valley Circle, and west of County Lane Road, and evacuation
(14:06):
warning is in place west of Valley Circle, north of Sataquoi,
east of Woodlake, and south of Burbank. I will now
be providing a quick update on the Palisades Fire. Current
anchorage is nineteen thousand, nine hundred and seventy eight. There
are currently five three hundred and sixteen structures that were
(14:28):
damaged or destroyed, and unfortunately, our thoughts and prayers go
out to the families. We do have a confirmed two
fatalities that are now due to this incident. Closing, I
want to make sure that we thank the residents of
Los Angeles for remaining vigilant and this new fire shows
that we are absolutely not out of this extreme weather event.
(14:53):
I personally want to take and show I should say
my thanks and gratitude to all of our firefighters, are
the first responders and for their families, for all the
sacrifices their relentless efforts in battling this historic fire, and
I should make that plural historic fires. Next up, we're
going to bring back the mayor.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
Thank you, Chief Crowley for your leadership, and thank you
for that update. We'll have critical updates on the state
of this emergency, broadly including resources for Angelinos who have
been impacted. Again, the priority of all Angelino's remains to
stay safe and to follow directions from public safety officials.
I was at the command post for the Palisades fire
(15:40):
with Governor Newsom and other federal partners earlier today and
we talked about strategies to provide relief. First, I just
got off the phone with President Biden, and right before
this press conference I also spoke to Vice President Harris
earlier today. Earlier today the President's announce the federal government
(16:00):
would pay for one hundred percent of disaster response costs
from the wildfires in this area. This is unprecedented because
usually it is not one hundred percent. As the FEMA Administrator,
Chris Wall will discuss, new resources are also available for
impacted Angelinos to recover from this emergency. So thank you
(16:24):
FEMA Administrator for being here today and for your continued
partnership on behalf of the White House. Second, as you
heard from the update from the County at the Eaton
fire posts, in coordination with the County of La, we
have requested the National Guard along with the sheriff, and
the county has implemented a curfew in all burn areas.
(16:46):
And actually let me correct that and say that the
county is looking at a curveview but has not implemented it.
Yet in Los Angeles, we have had evacuation orders in
place in the Palisades, and in those evacuation orders have
the force of a curfew, meaning you must leave and
you cannot come back into the area period twenty four
(17:10):
hours a day. We have to protect the area, especially
from those properties that remain I've joined the sheriff in
inviting the National Guard to take on non emergency rules
and provide us with resources to keep the burn area
secure so that our frontline firefighters and police officers can
(17:30):
focus on saving lives. So let me be clear, there's
going to be zero tolerance, zero tolerance for anybody that
would be I don't even know how to say this,
but that would dare to enter houses or looted property
or anything from the individuals or from structures that remain standing.
(17:52):
I was with DA Hawkman this morning and he made
it very clear that if anybody is involved in looting
or any proper damage, that he is ready to prosecute
to the full extent of the law. So my team
is in coordination with the Adjutant General who heads the
National Guard, and I've spoken with the governor with about
(18:14):
the National Guard to take on specifically non emergency roles
to free up our firefighters and officers to do the
life saving work that they do in the city, so
that we are sure to have enough resources to surge
our first responder so that they can focus on the
life saving work. Third, we're already looking ahead to aggressively
(18:37):
rebuild the city of Los Angeles. Will lead in this
effort in the areas that are impacted by the city.
We are going to clear the red tape and unnecessary
delays and costs and headaches that people experience in ordinary
times so that we can rebuild your homes quickly. We're
going to clear the way to rapidly rebuild our neighborhood infrastructure,
(19:01):
which means roads, sidewalks, street lights, and utilities. We will
clear the way to rebuild and open our small businesses
and provide assistance to make it through these disclosures. This
is a massive effort, but we will be ready and
we will get the job done. By turning away from
the usual city system and moving forward in a new direction.
(19:25):
LA has to be strong united. We will reject those
who seek in this emergency. When lives are at stake
and lives have been lost, we will reject those who
seek to divide us and seek to misinform, because as
evidence by the leadership standing here today, we will be united.
(19:47):
We will rebuild our city, and we will do what
isever it's necessary to get us past this crisis. And
we can do that by being united.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
That was Mayor Karen Bass earlier today from a press
conference which was around five pm RAND about forty five minutes.
Give you an updated information on the Eaten fire. It
has burned thirteen six hundred and ninety acres and it
still sits at zero percent containment. And when we come back,
we hope to have an on the ground report from
(20:19):
the Altadena Pasadena area and what that actually looks like
from inside the evacuation zone, so we can give you
more information. Maybe you're concerned about whether your house is
still there, whether there will be any chance for you
to go back into that area anytime soon. We hope
to get some specific information in the next segment. So
keep it right here.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
You can't find a six forty everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
And right now we want to take you into some
of these evacuation zones to give you a sense of
what it feels like, what it looks like, some updated
a sense of what firefighters are dealing with. And Twalla
(21:17):
Sharp has a very special guest for us city set up.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
For us one of my one of my very good friends,
an individual who I've known close to thirty years now.
He is a Deana native. He is a firefighter, and
he is currently off duty and is taking his time
out to let us know what it is that our
(21:41):
first responders are facing, what they are dealing with, and
what it's like trying to contain these blazes, but also
what it's like as a citizen living in these areas. So,
my man, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
How you feeling, sir, I'm very well, sir. How are
you I'm doing well.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Yes, we're intentionally not giving your last name, and yes
we're not telling people exactly where you work because we're
not trying to get anyone in trouble. So we appreciate
you coming on tonight and giving us a sense of
what is really going on.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Now.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Do I have it correct that you were first deployed
to the Palisades Fire?
Speaker 7 (22:20):
Oh no, that morning when I was on my way
to work. Before I was even up, that's when we
got the emergency evacuation order for Alta.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Dina uh huh uh huh.
Speaker 7 (22:32):
So at that point I got up, made a couple
of phone calls to neighbors see if they got the notice,
got my wife going to her parents' house, and started
knocking on doors. A lot of people in the area.
They didn't know what was going on because about six
pm that earlier that day, all the power went out,
(22:55):
all the internet went out, so a lot of people
weren't aware. So when it happened, things moved fast. So
I was knocking on doors. The neighbors who weren't aware,
helped a couple of people get out of their houses
and went to the station, grabbed my gear, and my
crew kind of knew what was going on in that
(23:17):
Altadena was now on fire, so they actually sent me
home and I came back with my gear and I
started helping over here.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Why do you think people may not have known about
the evacuation order? Was it they weren't listening to or
watching traditional news sources. It was not necessarily an alert
they got on their phone. Why do you think that was.
Speaker 7 (23:39):
Well I think in Altadena a lot of people they
didn't have service. So again, at six pm that night,
all internet, all power went out, so people just weren't
aware they didn't have access. And the Aldena doesn't have
the best signal anyway, so everything was okay, hey, this
(24:05):
is a wind event, and we've seen these before as
will be diligent. But when the fire broke out and
you can see it on the hill, you know that
a lot of people weren't prepared for that, and it
moved very quickly.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
You were knocking on doors where people responsive. Were they
willing to take you at your word? I'm quite sure
they knew that you're a firefighter, But did they believe
you when you were trying to convey the severity of it.
Speaker 7 (24:29):
Yeah, because by that time, if you're living in Pasadena
and you can simply look to the foothills, then you
can see the flame, you can see the wallfire moving,
So everybody knew how serious it was right off.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Back Today is Thursday.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
I'm quite sure Altadena and Pasadena to a certain degree,
looked very different on Tuesday. How would you characterize the
difference in then and now?
Speaker 7 (24:55):
You know, my family's lived in Alcadena for seventy five years,
and it's an absolute wasteland. Altadena is completely white, completely.
There is nobody in Pasadena that doesn't have at least
(25:16):
five friends or five family members who have not lost
their homes. It's it's all gone. The esthetic of Alasadena
is gone. Homes that you grew up in, that you
have memories, Corners that you remember walking on the way
to school are gone. I don't think you know, people's
(25:39):
YouTube videos, facebook videos give it justice. Just the wasteland
and the gravity of what happened. And you know, I
had the chance to drive from the east side of
Alstina all the way over to the west side, and
it's it's it's terrible. It is absolutely terrible.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
The people, the friends, the family that you helped evacuate,
to the best of your knowledge, did they go to shelters,
did they have somewhere to go? What would their circumstances
generally like, I.
Speaker 7 (26:18):
Think people were just in a panic in her to
get out of the immediate area. I think people were
just going to family's home, family members' houses outside of
al To dinner past Dina. I don't think at that
point people were aware of any kind of shelters. At
that point, people were just trying to get out of
immediate danger.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
You, as a firefighter can look at this in a
way that a lay person cannot. Can you, like in
what you've seen in out to dinner with anything that
you've experienced in your professional career.
Speaker 7 (26:52):
I've never seen anything like that. I don't think I
don't think any of us have ever seen something like that.
That was or ninety miles per hour winds, Yes, pushing
the fire. That fire at that point, fire isn't coming,
isn't burning up, It's burning horizontal, and it's just moving.
(27:15):
It's being pushed by the wind. So it's going from
one point to the next, one house to the next,
and the embers are falling three and two blocks over.
So now everything's catching its wave of fire. It's just moving,
it's just sweeping. It covers so much ground so fast.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
You said your company sent you home at the beginning
of that day, knowing where you lived, so you could
help people right where you were.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Have you engaged the fire since?
Speaker 7 (27:50):
Uh, that night I went home, I was able to
help save some houses on my block. I was able
to kind of prep it was the houses that did leave,
and I told them, hey, I want to stay and
I'll take pictures of your houses. If anything changes, i'll
let you know. And you know, me and another neighbor
(28:13):
who we did the best, and you know, we stayed
and we did what we could and we're able to
help some people. But the whole area was dumped. There
was no resources because there are multiple fires going all
over the place.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
If you're just tuning in, I'm speaking with we're intentionally
withholding this last name. He is a firefighter locally. We're
not saying with which department he's with, because obviously I'm
quite sure their p IO wouldn't want him talking to
just but I thought it was important that we get
some on the ground sense of what outitting it specifically
looks like and what the people have dealt with.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
When do you think, well, let me let me put
this another way.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
For as bad as it's been, we have not heard
about a lot high number loss of life. Are you
surprised in any way?
Speaker 7 (29:07):
Well, I think we're still trying to wrap our hands
around the gravity of what's going on. We just got
additional companies into the area, so now you see a
very strong presence of fire companies here. Then you have
to wait for the reports of the missing person's reports
(29:28):
to come in. Hey, we haven't spoke to our grandmother
or our mother in X amount of days, So all
those people who fled the area, then you're gonna get
reports of missing people, and then they have to go
to those areas. They have to search, you know, they
have to call family, wait for somebody to actually start
questioning where they are. So all this is gonna be
(29:49):
a process.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
We know that that area is under a mandatory evacuation order.
We know that that area is under a curfew from
six pm to six am. But we also know that
people are curious about to your point, loved ones who
may not have responded, they're curious about the status of
their homes, if there's anything left, that there's anything they
can save. In a situation like this, despite the destruction,
(30:15):
how long might it take before and all clear could
be given for people to re enter that area?
Speaker 7 (30:22):
The area is they're still activey in the area. There's
still open gas mains in the area. It's not safe.
There's still down power lines in the area. As much
as people want to be up here, it's still not safe.
It's infrastructure that still needs to be built and prepared
for people to be able to function and move around
(30:44):
safely up here. Going to take time.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Keep going with that.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
I'm quite sure people may not have thought about the
other dangers which are associated with a disaster area. You
mentioned gas lines, You may mention you mentioned down power lines.
What other sure types of dangers or threats might there
be for someone who ill advised tries to get into
the evacuation area.
Speaker 7 (31:10):
There are so many different things that can kill you
or injure you, so many different things. Just a chance
or a half burned structure that the integrity is already weak,
and you digging around going inside that house, and a
house could possibly collapse on you. There's so many unknowns.
There's no way to properly answer that question, because pretty
(31:32):
much at this point everything's destroyed, so everything can hurt you,
even the air. The air is terrible. If you don't
have to be in the area, you shouldn't be in
the area. If you have a headache, it's probably because
you have carbon dioxide poisoning. Wear your mask. If you
don't need to be here, you stay away as much
(31:54):
you want to get up there to your property. It's
going to take time.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
What is the priority as best you could glean for firefighters?
Obviously they were trying to put out fires. Are they
trying to protect certain structures? Are they trying to keep
it away from certain houses? What's the thought process as
far as a fire department when they're trying to battle
multiple blazes like these, Well.
Speaker 7 (32:22):
A company can only do the best they can do
with the amount of resources that they have. So if
you have a whole street going and one fire engine,
not much is going to be able to be done
until they get additional resources. So in that area all
about Tadena, with the limited amount of companies that are
(32:44):
in that area, they were immediately overwhelmed immediately. So at
that point you're going to the which you can save
or what's directly in front of you. It's immediately overwhelming
and ultimately the only thing that's going to help is
more resources at that moment. But if a fire is
(33:07):
skipping neighborhoods and streets over, you're racing against the winds,
and the winds we're going eighty miles an hour.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Can a company or multiple companies do anything when the
fire starts skipping they're not chasing the fire, are they.
Speaker 7 (33:23):
And they're trying to put out the fires when they
start in the early stages, put it out so it
doesn't go into a big fire that they can't handle.
That's what they're trying to do.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Since we know that we're all talking about limited resources
to a certain degree, for and give me your best
guests estimate how long are these shifts for these firefighters.
How long are they on the front lines trying to
fight these fires. Are we talking about twelve hours, fourteen hours?
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Longer?
Speaker 7 (33:51):
Definitely longer, definitely longer, especially in the early stages. And again,
different departments, when these fires happen, different protocols fall in line.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Give me an example of just a scenario where because
of circumstances, those protocols might change as best you can.
Speaker 7 (34:11):
If you have an immediate need, immediate threat to life
and property, where you have multiple structures injeopardy, then the
resources that are in that area they're going to go
as long as they possibly can to save life and property.
They're just going to do it. And then as other
(34:32):
resources come in, those resources that we're in the initial
attack are going to be relieved and sent for rehab
and rest.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
I know that we have no business being in the
evacuation zone because it's obviously dangerous to us as civilians
and citizens.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
All we can do is get hurt or get killed.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
But I'm quite sure are there are other reasons why
we shouldn't be there, because it gets in the way
of your efforts to save structures. And also you can't
do certain types of maneuvers if you suspect that someone's
in a house.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Correct.
Speaker 7 (35:06):
Yes, And for the most part, if you're blocking streets
that are already damaged and are blocked by all the debris,
branches and power lines, you're in the way. You're in
the way, and you could limit and slow access to
a fire that might be starting and we might be
able to stop, or somebody who might be trapped.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
I know it's one thing when you're fighting a fire
in some other area of the city. You may not
know anyone connected to the neighborhood, the community, the city,
and you're just doing your job. But what are the
emotions when you are confronting this in your own neighborhood
(35:48):
with people you've known your whole life, and seeing those
houses that you've probably been inside as a kid or
maybe as an adult go up in flames.
Speaker 7 (36:01):
I think that to a certain extent, any first reponder
is going to have some level of PTSD. I think
when it is your family or you are directly affected
by whatever's in front of you, I think it all
comes back. I think it all comes back in that
(36:22):
moment and it's just a swell of emotion that you're
you kind of recognize what's happening, and you're trying to
manage that emotion because you try to be methodical in
your practice how you attack a situation, but it hits
(36:45):
ten times harder because all of the previous trauma and
things you've experienced come back in that moment and you
are you are overwhelmed momentarily.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
Is it fair to say that firefighters across southern California,
regardless of the fire, are probably experiencing similar emotions as
you are. Even though they may not be fighting a
fire in their particular community, they probably know of another
community where they're very they live close to, or they
have close ties to going through the same thing. My
(37:20):
question is, are all these firefighters probably going through these
same types of emotions right now?
Speaker 7 (37:26):
Very much so, very much so, hands down, everybody's feeling it.
It's impossible not to. Southern California's bury.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Is it going to get an better tomorrow with this
wind event or is it looking like that it's probably
going to get be worse.
Speaker 7 (37:43):
Sir, I wish I knew.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
I wish I knew, And all I can say is,
thank you for your service, thank you for your commitment,
thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for you know,
running to the danger instead of running from the danger,
protecting all of these people, you know, during the worst
moments of their lives, with less thought about your own
(38:06):
safety and your life.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Thank you for coming on today.
Speaker 7 (38:10):
Sure, thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
I'm Okelly.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
We're going to continue our coverage of these fires all
around southern California and make sure we give you the
information that you need first and foremost to make sure
you and your family are safe. Kf I AM six forty.
We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
When fires strikes Southern California, KFI.
Speaker 7 (38:33):
News is on it.
Speaker 4 (38:35):
K f IM KOST HD two.
Speaker 7 (38:38):
Los Angeles, Orange County live everywhere on the radio app
Later, with Mo'Kelly News
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