January 20, 2025 • 35 mins
Chris Merrill begins the show with updates on the wildfire crisis as Southern California braces for another round of Santa Ana winds, bringing renewed fire danger. He explores how these conditions are impacting recovery efforts, from the search for missing persons in the Palisades and Eaton fire areas to the strain on communities trying to rebuild. Chris also delves into the political side of the disaster, examining discussions about tying wildfire aid to a debt limit increase, adding another layer of complexity to the wildfire crisis.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Good after Chris Merril CAFI AM six forty more stimulating
talk it is. I know it feels sometimes frustrating with pallisates.
Fire is what fifty two percent contained and lean that's
the latest, right, fifty two percent, So yeah, fifty two
percent not I mean, we'd rather have that up at
(00:25):
eighty percent, but it is what it is. The weather
has been somewhat cooperative here for the last few days.
Looks like that's gonna stop.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
The last couple of days, we've seen great relative humidity numbers,
I mean right now, said oh Man.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I hope he goes into the details of relative humidity numbers.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
And include the seventy percent downtown La, eighty eight percent Anaheim,
ninety one percent near the fires. I mean Malibu is
close to one hundred percent relative humidity there all that
moisture in the air towards Pasadena to eighty seven percent.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Oh Man, I love it when he talks percentage of
relative humidity.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Woo.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
It tickles my geek bone.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Now, come tomorrow and into Tuesday, these numbers are going
to plummet back towards extreme dryness in the single digits
as far as that relative humidity is concerned. Also with
that comes some high winds, So we have a high
wind watch starting tomorrow afternoon going into Tuesday at noon.
And so that's the golden color here. Forty five to
sixty five mile per hour gus for our coasts and
(01:23):
valley areas, sixty to eighty mile per hour gusts through
the foothills in the mountains.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Can I just hope that the estimates are not as significant,
is what they're saying. You know, the reality doesn't meet
the forecast, which kind of happened last weekend. But still
there's going to be more win whether it hits sixty
to eighty mile an hour GUS, no, hope.
Speaker 5 (01:44):
Not number like last time.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
There's hurricane force winds that could be coming with this
system that's coming through with all these winds, and so
that's something that could be dangerous, especially for our foothill areas.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Red flag warning on.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Top of it all because of that dryness actually the
extremely dry brush, the fuel that's out there, and the
strong winds plus the fires that we already have out there.
So this is a warning to everybody from Monday morning
through Tuesday night, possibly even extended beyond that, to take
every precaution you can to make sure fires don't start.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Thanks sad that we need the reminder, but I guess
we do.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Whether it's an accident or whether it's somebody that's doing
this on purpose.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
Will you want me to put my cigarette out in
my car?
Speaker 3 (02:33):
No, Most of these fires, of course, are human caused,
So take all of that. With all that in mind, though,
there could be some issues that come along with all this.
Down trees like we've been seeing the last couple of
weeks because of how strong these winds are, power lines
coming down, needing more power outages. You should probably get
some batteries, and I hope.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
That the power is out before the power lines come down.
I hope that that happens, because when it doesn't happen,
that's how we have down power lines started new fires
see eating fire.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
You should probably get some batteries and make sure your
phones are charged.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Oh this is all big battery man, Big batteries behind
all this.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
In the next couple of days before power goes out,
high profile vehicles could tip over with this those big rigs,
especially along like the Cahoon Pass and the I five
corridor and then more evacuations are possible because of those
strong winds and the fire danger.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
That does not make me feel better, thank you, It's
ABC seven. Did not feel better about That's kind of
like getting word that well, the bombings will start Monday morning, right,
I mean, imagine you're in a war zone. You to go, well,
you know, the ceasefire ends. Oh man, here it comes,
here it comes. Meanwhile, some places are trying to get
back to business, including the schools. A number of kids
(03:50):
have had some time off. Now they have to go
back to learning. Oh I love it when we start
with the sound effects.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
Do it again? Oh that was so great.
Speaker 6 (04:00):
That were closed due to the Palisades fire are expected
to reopen Tuesday. The Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District
says it's four schools are in good condition and we're
not damaged. District officials will meet today to finalize plans
for the reopening.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
Hey, what happens to the kids whose schools did burn down?
Do we know they? Do they have plans?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Are they being immediately transferred to another school right away?
Or do they get the rest of the year off?
Speaker 7 (04:26):
How do some of them have found other locations they
did temporary locations.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yeah, okay, do you know I mean, if there's like
a concerted effort for any particular schools, everyone from this
school will go to this one now or is it
just kind of all for your everyone for themselves.
Speaker 7 (04:41):
I'm not sure that. I think they're just going wherever
they can at this point, right, all.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
Right, very good. Now.
Speaker 6 (04:46):
The district has had to clean considerable debris from the
strong winds, as well as ash and soot. Campuses had
to be cleaned outside and inside. The schools include Webster Elementary,
Malibu Elementary, Malibu Middle School, in Malibu High and a.
Speaker 8 (05:02):
Roller Coaster for those schools because they were closed during
the Franklin fire and afterwards in one of them actually
was damaged in that fire. So just one of the
other aspects of the impact to daily life for everybody
in these areas.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, man, man, even if it's your See, this is
what I think a lot of people around the country
don't get.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
They take a look at the fires.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Well they did, then TikTok shut down, and all of
a sudden the fires became a second or third page story.
But nationwide they oh my goodness, there's natural disaster of fires.
Oh my god, the houses have burned down, it's terrible.
Oh goodness, the schools. Some of these schools have been destroyed, churches,
community centers, this sort of thing. And I think there's
a lot of sympathy from many people in the country.
(05:44):
Ignore the internet. The Internet is full of horrible people.
But what I don't think people understand is the ripple
effect of all of it, and that is that you've
got kids whose schools have been burned down. They have
to go somewhere else. You've got schools that have to
go through a bunch of clean up. They weren't even
affected necessarily by the fires, but they've got to clean
up from all the ash, the debris and all that
(06:05):
other crap, right, and then they have to make room
for more students that are coming in. And then there's
this awkward time where the students who are coming in
from other schools may be slightly ahead and sub subjects
slightly behind on other subjects, and it creates a tremendous
amount of turmoil and chaos. So not only that, but
you have parents who used to get the kids off
(06:27):
to school and drop them off and go to work.
Now the parents get off. You know, now the parents
have to figure out what school they're taking their kids to.
Now that could add a significant amount of time to
their day. And of course it's the trying to figure
out where my kids.
Speaker 5 (06:39):
Have to go to school. It's just chaos.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
And I don't think people realize all of the little
things that happen when a natural disaster like this strikes.
I think for some parts of the country, they're accustomed
to short term inconveniences. And I'll give you an example.
I'd lived in Kansas and we would have tornadoes would
come through. Right, So tornado comes through, it would wipe
(07:02):
out a few farms here and there. We do some fundraisers,
we try to help the farmer back on their feet.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
That kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
You'd have a prediction of. An ice storm is coming through.
An ice storm is coming through. Everybody goes to the
store and they stock up on bread, milk, and eggs.
They don't eat them, but they stock up on them
because that's what their grandparents did. And then storm comes through,
ice storm, blizzard, whatever it is. A couple days later,
the plows have been out, everything melts, everything's fine. Everybody
(07:29):
goes back to their every day. When you have disasters
like the fire or hurricanes, you have widespread, long lasting
damage that I think the vast majority of the country
doesn't comprehend. Even people in hurricane prone areas may not
comprehend what's going on in La whether it's Pasadena, Altadena, Palisades,
(07:51):
that sort of thing, they may not even understand. To
be fair to them, it's not that they're ignorant, they
just don't have firsthand experience sympathize, but they can't necessarily
empathize with what we're going through in the same way
that we don't necessarily understand what they go through when
there's flooding that comes through and it takes them years
to recover from the flooding and the disaster that happens there.
(08:13):
Because what we see is what's on the TV for
the week or two that it's happening, and then the
next big story like TikTok shutting down takes over the
news cycle, The cameras leave the disaster areas, and we
move on with our lives, and I think we're starting
to see some of that. It is it was still
it was still a big enough story that it got
(08:34):
a decent amount of play last night in New York
when Saturday Night Live discuss the fires, just a little
bit I want to share with you, if you missed it,
some of the brilliants of Dave Chappelle and also some
of where I think Dave Chappelle continues to miss the
mark that is coming up here in just a few moments.
Do you want to remind you that there are dozens
(08:57):
of people still missing reported by the Elle Kinnt of
Sheriff's Department for both the Palisades and the Eton fire areas.
We've posted their photographs or information whatever we've got.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
Names, photos, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
We put it up at KFI AM six forty dot
com slash missing, and as we find out about more
names or photos will continue to add those again. Kfi
AM six forty dot com slash missing. How SNL tackled
the fires. That's next, Chris Merril, KFI AM six forty.
We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Chris Merril, KFI AM six forty more stimulating at pleasure
being with you, Raoul.
Speaker 5 (09:36):
You shot me the update on the some of the schools.
So lausd Senior.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
This is this was updated what almost a week ago
earlier this week, right, it was updated. So Marquez Charter
Elementary School relocated to Noris Sterry Elementary School, Palisades Charter
relocated to Brentwood Science Magnet. I see, all right, And
we've got another a number of other resources that are
out there, the parent Portals, the LA Unified Division of
(10:05):
Special Education, red Cross, all that stuff. All right, So
I guess we've got a bunch of that information. LAUSD
has put out to all that information as well. So
there you go. If your kids have been displaced, then
check out what LAUSD has for plans and maybe get
them into another school. What do you what do you
think they stick them in those modular things like back
(10:26):
in our day?
Speaker 5 (10:26):
You think they do that? I don't know, man, are
they doing those? Yeah? Oh I remember that's a really
good Yeah. We had those. Yeah. I had health class
in one of those. Is creepy and it creaked.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Yeah, But I grew up in Michigan too, so we
had we'd have those things. Always had ramps, you know,
to make them eighty A compliant yep. But the ramps
were made out of like wood decking and so you'd
have a cold day in January in northern Michigan where
you had a little bit of snow that would come
down on wouldn't even have to be that cold, if
it were, say like thirty degrees, then the snow would
(10:59):
come down at hit that wood, it would melt, but
of course it wouldn't dry, and then more snow would
fall on top of it, and eventually you had a
layer of ice covered by snow. And those ramps, I
am telling you they were slicker than a water slide.
I don't know how any now in the classes I had,
we didn't have everybody that was in a wheelchair. I
don't even know how somebody in a wheelchair would get
up and down those ramps in the winter time. No idea,
(11:21):
no idea, But they didn't care. They just had to
make sure they had ramps that then they could say
that they were eighty eight compliant. In the meantime, the
fires continue to rage on a little over eighty percent
containment on the Eating Fire fifty two of the Palisades fire.
Winds expected to kick up again tomorrow and Tuesday. That's
no fun, which means not only do we have the
threat of these fires, breaking containment, which let's.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Hope that they don't. Then you've got the threat of
new fires.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
And I think if we've learned something over the last
few weeks, it's just how many pyros there are out there.
I mean there's we constantly have stories of homeless guy
arrested with flat If you're homeless and you can find
a flame thrower, how do you acquire said flamethrower? And
(12:07):
once you have flamethrower, go sell it to somebody and
use that money for something you need, like booze, keep
the flamethrower. It's the matter with you anyway. Dave Chappelle
was on Saturday Night Live and he was addressing the
fires in his opening monologue.
Speaker 9 (12:22):
You know what's crazy about it is this one is
close to home.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
Now. I don't live in La.
Speaker 9 (12:26):
I've never been like a big fan of LA, but
I've built many many memories there and I have great
friends there and a lot of them lost.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
Wait a minute, did he just pull a I have
a lot of black friends. Did he just do that?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Like, I'm not in LA, but I have a lot
of LA friends. Oh okay, then you're not an LAist.
Speaker 9 (12:47):
And a lot of them lost their homes Kerry Elways,
when I started Robin Hood minute tice with this house
burnt to the ground man Live, who was on Saturday
Night Live with me last time I was here, his
house burnt to the ground. So many people go on
and on my first move I did with Dennis Quay.
I saw him evacuating his house on the news with
tears in his eyes.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
And it broke my heart.
Speaker 9 (13:08):
And then I go on the internet and I watched
these fire videos and I read the comments sections, and
everyone's like, yeah, it serves these celebrities, right, I hope
the house is burned down.
Speaker 5 (13:19):
You see that? That right there. That's why I.
Speaker 10 (13:24):
Hate poor people, because they can't see past their own pain.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
See, that's the part I think that makes Chappelle genius.
You all knew that the setup was going on. You
knew when he was about to hit the punchline. You
didn't know what the punchline was going to be. But
then he drops the poor people, right, which is funny.
But then this is the part that I think makes
Chappelle genius. It's this little part that is commentary.
Speaker 10 (13:52):
This because they can't see past their own pain.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
They can't see past their own pain.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Now, how many times do you find people on the
internets that are happy to criticize someone else?
Speaker 5 (14:04):
And we always say, why do they do it? Because
it makes themselves feel better? Why do we would like
to watch Springer because it made us feel better about
our own crap lives? We can't see past our own pain.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
That's the brilliance of Chappelle the day.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
On the news.
Speaker 9 (14:30):
The other day on the news, they said these fires
were the most expensive tragedy that ever have natural disaster.
They say, the most expensive natural disaster. It's never happened
in the United States history. And you want to know
why I think that is?
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Okay, you're feeling it set up. You're about to hit
the punchline.
Speaker 9 (14:47):
Because people in La have nice stuff. I could burn
forty thousand eights in Mississippi for like six to seven
hundred dollars.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
It's not wrong.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
And now, but it's true, right, I mean, part of
the reason this is so expensive is because it's high
dollar value homes that are burning, all right, So he's
right about that. And then obviously the commentary in the punchline.
Speaker 9 (15:21):
And then when we watched the news or talk to
my friends, they all have these conspiracy theories what started
these fires.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
Now they say it's arsonists.
Speaker 9 (15:29):
I've heard the story, and I'm sure there were some arsonists,
But there were a lot of elements that came together
to make this fire.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
The catastrophe that was.
Speaker 9 (15:37):
The winds were one hundred miles an hour, La was
as dry as a bone, and the levees and it
was just too many factors. If you were a rational
thinking person, you have to at least consider the possibility
that God.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
Hates these people.
Speaker 9 (16:02):
And that's not true because because Wes Hollywood was unscathed,
all right, because how can you burn what is already flaming?
Speaker 5 (16:15):
So this is where I think Chappelle is so smart.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
And then he goes and starts punching down, like why Dave,
you were crushing it? And then you went really low,
like there's there's no value to that joke other than
Wes Hollywood's gay. Everybody ha flaming and there's fires ha ha.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
That that wouldn't have made the cut. That should not
have made the cut.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
It's just punching down, and for what the other stuff
was so brilliant, it was such great commentary. And then
Chappelle punches down and he doesn't need any more controversy,
and he doesn't need to upset anybody in the LGBTQ
community any more than he already has.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
I don't know why he went there.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
We'll hit LA law, the lawmakers, the law breaker, the
times that there ought to be a law, and of
course plenty of legal considerations around these fires, as well
as some other shenanigans happening around southern California.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
That's next. Chris Merril KFI AM six forty live everywhere
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand. Why
am I.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Doing such a good mood?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
You might ask, Chris Merrill KFI AM six forty Why
am I in such a good mood?
Speaker 5 (17:25):
It's because of a Detroit.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Lions fan, and I am in a wonderful state of
denial as my number one team Super Bowl favorites got
walloped their first round of the playoffs, so.
Speaker 5 (17:42):
I'm comfortably numb. As they would say.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Let's talk about the lawmakers, the law breakers, and the time.
Oh I'm sorry Rams fans too, Sorry about all the
Rams fans. You guys give it a good go today too.
I thought you had that lawmakers, law breakers, times that
there ought to be a law off we go.
Speaker 5 (18:04):
All right. There are all kinds of stories around the.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Fires, right, including looters that are breaking into homes, and
fortunately some of them have been caught, not all of them,
some of them. We've got some DA's that say, or
you got the DA excuse me? It says we're going
to prosecute everybody we find. Okay, I mean that's kind
of your job. But I'm glad you're doing it. That's great.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
All right? What about this hold up?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Somebody went ahead and turned all of his volume down
while he was fading the music.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
All right, let's try it here and.
Speaker 11 (18:39):
See me valley tonight. Because officials with it from maybe
seven Power company have cut electricity to this entire area
because they are concerned about the possibility of the high
winds here sparking yet another fire. Well in Los Angeles today,
officials there announced charges and arrests against ten people for
fire related crimes, nine of them for looting, one for arson,
(19:01):
and investigators there say it was some home security video
that helped them in some of those arrests.
Speaker 5 (19:06):
Why are we arresting people for arson?
Speaker 9 (19:09):
No?
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I mean, I'm glad we're arresting people for arsen Why
are what is I don't understand the arson thing. What
I mean these at this point? If somebody is starting fires,
is that mental illness? Is that somebody who has a
like a pyromania condition, because why else would you start
(19:30):
a fire right now unless you're coming up another crime?
But I mean just a general arsonist, that's got to
be a mental condition, right.
Speaker 11 (19:37):
Police release this surveillance video showing the moments prosecutors say
a team of looters rated a Mandeville Canyon home, running
up the stairs searching for items to steal. Its residents
had fled under emergency evacuation orders.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
They stall over two hundred thousand dollars. Has been a
leg Wow, why they charging documents?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
You think that there will be people who go back
to their homes and then claim that they had stuff
stolen even though they didn't. In other words, do you
think there's gonna be some insurance for aught out of this?
I'm gonna go ahead and put that at about one
hundred percent.
Speaker 11 (20:14):
Quick tips quickly let investigators to a second location, trying
to thwart the thieves before they tried again.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Tracked mister Peeples and mister Bell to an apartment in Koreatown.
When they attempted to leave, they were then apprehended. A
number of these stolen items from that residence was found
with mister Peoples and mister Bell.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
And do you know this?
Speaker 5 (20:37):
In other words, you got the guys.
Speaker 11 (20:39):
This team, says. Investigators quickly short circuited another ring.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Among the property that you'll see that was stolen in
that particular incident was actually the Emmy award of the
resident who lived there.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
That's that's bad. Well, I mean, what are you gonna
do with the Emmy award?
Speaker 2 (20:58):
You steal it? And then what you'll put on your
own mantle? Nobody's gonna believe you've got an Emmy.
Speaker 11 (21:02):
Cell phone video from Azusa?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Is there somebody that buys stolen Emmys? I genuinely don't know.
I suppose there's a market for it, I don't know who.
Speaker 11 (21:12):
Cell phone video from Azusa shows police handcuffing and accused
arsonist as a small brush fire blaze they say he
lit still burned in front of them.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, they literally have this fire and I'm going to
say it's about ten feet in diameter, and the cops
are cuffing the guy while the fire's burning right there now.
Fortunately there weren't a lot of high winds. It wasn't
like that fire was taking off and it was it
was dous.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
But what is I don't why would you do that?
What is it that says starting a fire now is
a good idea? I don't even want to go out
and start a little backyard fire to have a drink
and wine down at the end of the night. What
makes people think, Ah, I gotta say this burn.
Speaker 11 (21:54):
FBI investigators are still trying to track down the operator
of a drone that punctured and grounded this super scooper
during critical hours of a firefight.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
Oh, they still haven't gotten the drone guy yet. Huh.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
I'm assuming guy. Don't mean to be. I don't mean
to be, uh feeding into the patriarchy, So my apologies.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
I leen. They still haven't gotten the drone gal yet? Huh? Huh?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Are they gonna be able to you know what they
You know that they were live streaming something on TikTok?
Nowother good reason to take TikTok down?
Speaker 11 (22:28):
Live streamers all while uninhabitable areas remain cordoned off, right
part to keep criminals at bay.
Speaker 12 (22:35):
Yeah, we're gonna get you. Do not make this worse
than it already is. This is we're gonna get you.
We're gonna get you. We're gonna get you. We're gonna
get you, We're gonna get you.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
Whatever.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Then I was saying we've got the price gougers that
are out there, and Newsom says that he's gonna stop
the price gougers. You're not gonna get away with a
price gougers. Forget about it. It's not gonna happen because
we're gonna get you, gonna get you.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
The LA homeowners.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Let me see LA homeowners face price gouging after wildfires.
This from Reuters, and I guess in some cases thirty
percent price hike. A Beverly Hills rental home had been
listed for fourteen thousand dollars a month. It's now up
to eighteen thousand dollars. Massive price hike. They say it's
supplying demand.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
That's it. Supply and demand.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
There are others who smell an opportunity to profit, and
that's what people are encountering throughout the region. Thousands of
people have been displaced by the wildfires. They're encountering sticker shock. Well,
first of all, you're gonna get sticker shocked anytime you
go looking for a new place, whether it's price gouging
or not. If you go looking for a new rental,
sticker shock it is painful. Beyond that, yeah, of course
(23:57):
there's opportunists. And I'm guessing that somebody that's renting a
place for fourteen thousand dollars a month while to get
up to eighteen thousand doesn't think they're really limiting their
prospects a whole lot, because if you have.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
An extra what does that add up to? Guys, If
you have an extra.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
One hundred and seventy thousand dollars a year to rent,
then they're probably figuring you have an extra two.
Speaker 7 (24:19):
Twenty And the insurance companies are picking up part of
the tab at least for I think.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
For two years. Oh they are.
Speaker 7 (24:28):
I do real estate when I'm not here. I've done
a lot. I've done a lot of fire wonderful.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
Okay, yeah, all right.
Speaker 7 (24:37):
So, and there are a lot of watchdogs out there
right now that are keeping there's up. There's a Google
list circulating right now that shows people are turning in
price gougers.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
Is it the price gougers?
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I feel like they're more likely to get busted if
they're collecting money from people who are taking insurance paths,
because I feel like the insurance companies will be more
zealous in finding people who are screwing them over. And
the insurance companies have the resources and they've got the
investigative teams and blah blah blah that they have to
try to not pay out generally anyway, but certainly to
(25:12):
make sure that they're not getting hosed in the process.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
Is it worse.
Speaker 7 (25:16):
It's so wrong and so many people are watching out
for it that I think people will eventually, look, we've
got a new DA. I think they're going to start
cracking down.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Well, he certainly wants to have an impact here. You know,
his first few months in office and now he does
not want the reputations the guy that allowed looting and
gouging to go on, right, So he's going to do
everything you can to get out in front of it
and make sure that at least in front of the
cameras he's telling people he's putting a stop to all
of this stuff. Meanwhile, Eileen, I saw another It's funny
you have something in common with a friend of mine.
(25:47):
She's a real estate agent, and also she's a television reporter.
But she was answering some of these questions about do
I have to pay my mortgage, which, of course you
know the answer to, Yeah.
Speaker 7 (25:57):
Well there are some you do, There are are some.
I think there are five different banks that are letting
people get away with not paying for a while.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
Yes, that's the story I got from KETLA.
Speaker 13 (26:08):
Actually, Governor Devin Newsom announcing he has secured commitments now
from five major financial institutions that will offer mortgage relief
for property owners affected by the wildfires. Bank of America City, JP,
Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and US Bank will offer impacted
homeowners a ninety day moratorium on their mortgages without reporting
(26:32):
it to credit agencies. In addition, payment plans will be
offered to homeowners to satisfy the deferred amounts. Qualified homeowners
must reside in the wildfire affected areas and they should
contact their mortgage company to enroll in that program.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
I feel like, even if you don't have one of
those five, you should be contacting your mortgage company right now. Anyway,
contact your mortgage company. Obviously, you're contacting your insurance company.
Even if you don't have fire insurance. If you have
insurance that covers something else that may have been lost,
contact your insurance company.
Speaker 5 (27:01):
I don't know who's gonna work with what, but make contact.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
And then there's other services you've got to make sure
you're canceling or you're gonna keep paying for it. Now,
some of the utilities got shut off anyway, so you
wouldn't have any additional bills there.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
But if you're still paying for internet, cancel your internet.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
If you lost your place or if you can't get
back into your place for a while, cancel your internet.
No need for you to be paying for that stuff.
That's just money that you could be using towards something else.
Other services that you have to go through. And then
you know, get on the phone. You're gonna have to
work the phones. And I'm gonna guess that you're gonna
be on hold for a while because everybody's trying to
work the phones right now. But by God, keep working
the phones. Keep working those phones, all right? Anything else
(27:39):
I want to add here, No, we're laid on this,
so why don't I shut the hell up? Good plan?
Speaker 5 (27:44):
How about this? When it comes to your insurance company,
there may be some challenges in navigating what you have
to provide for them, what is covered, what isn't covered,
blah blah blah.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
If only there were someone there to help. Oh, look
there is. You'll find out who next. Chris Merril I
AM six forty WeLive everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Other Chris Merril KFI AM six forty more stimulating talk.
Trying to figure out what to do with your pets?
Are trying to figure out how you can help people that.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
Have pets in the wildfire.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
We will get the load out on that right after
Eileen's five o'clock news. That is coming straight up. And
then obviously the biggest news story in America is TikTok
because evidently thousands of people displaced, tens of thousands of
homes lost. That's old news now, but my god, a
(28:38):
number of fifteen year olds don't know how they're gonna
make the whole world watch them dance in sweatpants, stop
the presses. So that's coming up the next hour as well.
So you are trying to figure out what do I
do with my insurance? Now, Fortunately there are some people
who are stepping up and trying to help a little bit.
ABC seven was talking about the insurance workshops.
Speaker 14 (28:57):
One of the efforts to help people navigate after these
devastating fires is an insurance workshop that's happening today here
in Santa Monica and it's already being set up. You
can see here behind me there are one on one
sessions which really gives people the opportunity.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
I can't see behind you because radio just.
Speaker 14 (29:14):
Navigate this process with somebody who can guide them through it.
And so these are completely free. Anybody is welcome, starting
at ten o'clock this morning, and this is all being
made possible.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
It's well past ten o'clock. You're not gonna make it,
but it's not the last one.
Speaker 14 (29:27):
Sources available the free insurance support to make sure that
people have the information they need about available resources for
rebuilding and recovery. This weekend the workshops will take place.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
We don't care about that. Move ahead, helping people walk
through their insurance policy, understand what they're covered for. The
goal here is to get.
Speaker 11 (29:42):
Answers for people and so they understand what they need
to do and get started on that recovery plan.
Speaker 14 (29:48):
Now next weekend there will now here's.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
The important stuff. Because you obviously can't make it to
this weekends, they're done now.
Speaker 14 (29:53):
Next weekend there will be another two workshops taking place
over in Pasadena at the Pasadena City College.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Comes out all the way over there unless you're in
pastating and you would say here.
Speaker 5 (30:03):
But that's fine.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
That's a pet peeve of mine in media, you guys,
ever hear somebody say out in well out in Huntington Beach, Like,
unless I'm in Huntington Beach, then it's here. Nobody ever
says out in downtown. But the majority of people don't
live downtown. It's just that that's the center of media thinking.
Speaker 5 (30:24):
Right, Oh, I hate that.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
I know it sounds trivial, doesn't it. Just our job
is to relate to people, relate to people where they are.
It's just media, one on one. Don't make people feel
like they're out there. Got to hate that, all right,
I digress.
Speaker 14 (30:40):
This comes as thousands of families are standing by hoping
to get the green light to finally go back home.
Today we know some people have been cleared to return home,
with many repopulating the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood. Yesterday more evacuation
orders are expected to be lifted or downgraded in the
coming days. So when that does happen, remember you must
provide a photo ID proof of residency and you must
(31:02):
know your evacuation zone.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Now back out here live.
Speaker 14 (31:05):
Remember these insurance workshops are starting at ten o'clock.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Now they're already done, all right, So there you go.
There's some insurance workshops that are going on. So there's
gonna be an opportunity if you did have fire insurance
and you're not exactly sure what's going on, get a
hold of your insurance. Here's where things are gonna get
really ugly for all of us, not just people in
the evacuate evacuation areas, not just people in the burn
scar zone.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
It's gonna get ugly for everybody.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
We already know that a number of companies have pulled
out right, a lot of controversy around State Farm having
pulled out from some of the policies that they had.
They did it last summer. People were scrambling trying to
figure out how am I going to insure my home?
They wanted to make sure they had fire insurance, and
the cost is exponential if they can even find a
private insurer. The cost is outrageous, so many people end
(31:52):
up going to the state system, the Fair program. The
problem is the Fair program doesn't have the money. NBC
was following one person who tried to turn in acclaim
with her her Fair insurance program, and this is where
(32:13):
it got ugly. Her insurance sent her a check for
about eleven hundred dollars to repair her home that had
an estimate in excess of fifty thousand dollars, and then
she spent months arguing with them and then trying to
get the money. More than thirty six hundred policy owners
in Altadena, Pacific Palisades and other parts of the Greater
Los Angeles area have submitted claims to the Fair Plan
(32:35):
to try to recover some of what they've lost. And
according to those that have dealt with Fair before, they say,
get ready for a fight. Not only that, even if
you don't have this program, get this. It's so incredibly
expensive and it was set up as kind of an
alternative to private insurers who were canceling plans. So it's
(32:57):
become so stupid expense that the insurance companies went to
Ricardo Laura, who's the insurance commissioner, and they said, bro.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
I'm assuming that's what they said. That's how they talk.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
They went, bro, what can we we We're gonna go
broke on this. We we understand you want to insure people.
We'd like to ensure people too, but we can't go broke.
So they struck a deal, the insurance companies and the
insurance Commissioner. They came together in a deal, and it
allows for the insurers to collect money from policy holders
(33:30):
to recoup half of any assessed losses up to two
billion dollars as a way to modernize and stabilize the operation.
In other words, all Fair Plan policy holders, not just
those affected by the recent wildfires, are going to pay
for some of the damage that they assumed the insurer
(33:51):
should shoulder.
Speaker 5 (33:52):
That's from NBC News. You're going to see your insurance
go up.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Even if your home hasn't experienced even if you're not
in a fire prone area, even if you haven't had
any brush with any of the chaos that we've seen
for the last two weeks. If you have the fair insurance,
it's about to get more expensive. I'm telling you this.
If there's anything that leads to the CAW exit, as
(34:18):
much as as much as your twenty four seven news
channels want to say it has to do with our politics,
it's not. It's about the cost, and along with that cost,
it's about just the threat the cost of living here
beyond just taxes, beyond everything else. But can't even afford insurance.
It's going to start affecting us. And people are gonna say,
(34:39):
forget it. I'm out. I'll go to Nevada, forget it.
I'm going to Utah, forget it. I'll go to Idaho.
Speaker 5 (34:46):
Now they're not going to go to Texas or Florida
because they're gonna have the same problems because of the hurricanes.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
But they're just gonna say forget it. I'm just not
gonna deal with this anymore. Now, if you are dealing
with pets, maybe you have a pet that you've lost,
me you've got a pet that is in a kennel
right now part of the evacuation, or maybe you want
to help out with people who are dealing with lost pets.
Speaker 5 (35:08):
We got answers for you on that. It's next. Chris
Merril kf I AM six forty live everywhere in the
iHeartRadio
Speaker 1 (35:14):
App, KFI AM six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Good after Chris Merril CAFI AM six forty more stimulating
talk it is. I know it feels sometimes frustrating with pallisates.
Fire is what fifty two percent contained and lean that's
the latest, right, fifty two percent, So yeah, fifty two
percent not I mean, we'd rather have that up at
(00:25):
eighty percent, but it is what it is. The weather
has been somewhat cooperative here for the last few days.
Looks like that's gonna stop.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
The last couple of days, we've seen great relative humidity numbers,
I mean right now, said oh Man.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I hope he goes into the details of relative humidity numbers.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
And include the seventy percent downtown La, eighty eight percent Anaheim,
ninety one percent near the fires. I mean Malibu is
close to one hundred percent relative humidity there all that
moisture in the air towards Pasadena to eighty seven percent.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Oh Man, I love it when he talks percentage of
relative humidity.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Woo.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
It tickles my geek bone.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Now, come tomorrow and into Tuesday, these numbers are going
to plummet back towards extreme dryness in the single digits
as far as that relative humidity is concerned. Also with
that comes some high winds, So we have a high
wind watch starting tomorrow afternoon going into Tuesday at noon.
And so that's the golden color here. Forty five to
sixty five mile per hour gus for our coasts and
(01:23):
valley areas, sixty to eighty mile per hour gusts through
the foothills in the mountains.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Can I just hope that the estimates are not as significant,
is what they're saying. You know, the reality doesn't meet
the forecast, which kind of happened last weekend. But still
there's going to be more win whether it hits sixty
to eighty mile an hour GUS, no, hope.
Speaker 5 (01:44):
Not number like last time.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
There's hurricane force winds that could be coming with this
system that's coming through with all these winds, and so
that's something that could be dangerous, especially for our foothill areas.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Red flag warning on.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Top of it all because of that dryness actually the
extremely dry brush, the fuel that's out there, and the
strong winds plus the fires that we already have out there.
So this is a warning to everybody from Monday morning
through Tuesday night, possibly even extended beyond that, to take
every precaution you can to make sure fires don't start.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Thanks sad that we need the reminder, but I guess
we do.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Whether it's an accident or whether it's somebody that's doing
this on purpose.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
Will you want me to put my cigarette out in
my car?
Speaker 3 (02:33):
No, Most of these fires, of course, are human caused,
So take all of that. With all that in mind, though,
there could be some issues that come along with all this.
Down trees like we've been seeing the last couple of
weeks because of how strong these winds are, power lines
coming down, needing more power outages. You should probably get
some batteries, and I hope.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
That the power is out before the power lines come down.
I hope that that happens, because when it doesn't happen,
that's how we have down power lines started new fires
see eating fire.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
You should probably get some batteries and make sure your
phones are charged.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Oh this is all big battery man, Big batteries behind
all this.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
In the next couple of days before power goes out,
high profile vehicles could tip over with this those big rigs,
especially along like the Cahoon Pass and the I five
corridor and then more evacuations are possible because of those
strong winds and the fire danger.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
That does not make me feel better, thank you, It's
ABC seven. Did not feel better about That's kind of
like getting word that well, the bombings will start Monday morning, right,
I mean, imagine you're in a war zone. You to go, well,
you know, the ceasefire ends. Oh man, here it comes,
here it comes. Meanwhile, some places are trying to get
back to business, including the schools. A number of kids
(03:50):
have had some time off. Now they have to go
back to learning. Oh I love it when we start
with the sound effects.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
Do it again? Oh that was so great.
Speaker 6 (04:00):
That were closed due to the Palisades fire are expected
to reopen Tuesday. The Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District
says it's four schools are in good condition and we're
not damaged. District officials will meet today to finalize plans
for the reopening.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
Hey, what happens to the kids whose schools did burn down?
Do we know they? Do they have plans?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Are they being immediately transferred to another school right away?
Or do they get the rest of the year off?
Speaker 7 (04:26):
How do some of them have found other locations they
did temporary locations.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yeah, okay, do you know I mean, if there's like
a concerted effort for any particular schools, everyone from this
school will go to this one now or is it
just kind of all for your everyone for themselves.
Speaker 7 (04:41):
I'm not sure that. I think they're just going wherever
they can at this point, right, all.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
Right, very good. Now.
Speaker 6 (04:46):
The district has had to clean considerable debris from the
strong winds, as well as ash and soot. Campuses had
to be cleaned outside and inside. The schools include Webster Elementary,
Malibu Elementary, Malibu Middle School, in Malibu High and a.
Speaker 8 (05:02):
Roller Coaster for those schools because they were closed during
the Franklin fire and afterwards in one of them actually
was damaged in that fire. So just one of the
other aspects of the impact to daily life for everybody
in these areas.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, man, man, even if it's your See, this is
what I think a lot of people around the country
don't get.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
They take a look at the fires.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Well they did, then TikTok shut down, and all of
a sudden the fires became a second or third page story.
But nationwide they oh my goodness, there's natural disaster of fires.
Oh my god, the houses have burned down, it's terrible.
Oh goodness, the schools. Some of these schools have been destroyed, churches,
community centers, this sort of thing. And I think there's
a lot of sympathy from many people in the country.
(05:44):
Ignore the internet. The Internet is full of horrible people.
But what I don't think people understand is the ripple
effect of all of it, and that is that you've
got kids whose schools have been burned down. They have
to go somewhere else. You've got schools that have to
go through a bunch of clean up. They weren't even
affected necessarily by the fires, but they've got to clean
up from all the ash, the debris and all that
(06:05):
other crap, right, and then they have to make room
for more students that are coming in. And then there's
this awkward time where the students who are coming in
from other schools may be slightly ahead and sub subjects
slightly behind on other subjects, and it creates a tremendous
amount of turmoil and chaos. So not only that, but
you have parents who used to get the kids off
(06:27):
to school and drop them off and go to work.
Now the parents get off. You know, now the parents
have to figure out what school they're taking their kids to.
Now that could add a significant amount of time to
their day. And of course it's the trying to figure
out where my kids.
Speaker 5 (06:39):
Have to go to school. It's just chaos.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
And I don't think people realize all of the little
things that happen when a natural disaster like this strikes.
I think for some parts of the country, they're accustomed
to short term inconveniences. And I'll give you an example.
I'd lived in Kansas and we would have tornadoes would
come through. Right, So tornado comes through, it would wipe
(07:02):
out a few farms here and there. We do some fundraisers,
we try to help the farmer back on their feet.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
That kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
You'd have a prediction of. An ice storm is coming through.
An ice storm is coming through. Everybody goes to the
store and they stock up on bread, milk, and eggs.
They don't eat them, but they stock up on them
because that's what their grandparents did. And then storm comes through,
ice storm, blizzard, whatever it is. A couple days later,
the plows have been out, everything melts, everything's fine. Everybody
(07:29):
goes back to their every day. When you have disasters
like the fire or hurricanes, you have widespread, long lasting
damage that I think the vast majority of the country
doesn't comprehend. Even people in hurricane prone areas may not
comprehend what's going on in La whether it's Pasadena, Altadena, Palisades,
(07:51):
that sort of thing, they may not even understand. To
be fair to them, it's not that they're ignorant, they
just don't have firsthand experience sympathize, but they can't necessarily
empathize with what we're going through in the same way
that we don't necessarily understand what they go through when
there's flooding that comes through and it takes them years
to recover from the flooding and the disaster that happens there.
(08:13):
Because what we see is what's on the TV for
the week or two that it's happening, and then the
next big story like TikTok shutting down takes over the
news cycle, The cameras leave the disaster areas, and we
move on with our lives, and I think we're starting
to see some of that. It is it was still
it was still a big enough story that it got
(08:34):
a decent amount of play last night in New York
when Saturday Night Live discuss the fires, just a little
bit I want to share with you, if you missed it,
some of the brilliants of Dave Chappelle and also some
of where I think Dave Chappelle continues to miss the
mark that is coming up here in just a few moments.
Do you want to remind you that there are dozens
(08:57):
of people still missing reported by the Elle Kinnt of
Sheriff's Department for both the Palisades and the Eton fire areas.
We've posted their photographs or information whatever we've got.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
Names, photos, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
We put it up at KFI AM six forty dot
com slash missing, and as we find out about more
names or photos will continue to add those again. Kfi
AM six forty dot com slash missing. How SNL tackled
the fires. That's next, Chris Merril, KFI AM six forty.
We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Chris Merril, KFI AM six forty more stimulating at pleasure
being with you, Raoul.
Speaker 5 (09:36):
You shot me the update on the some of the schools.
So lausd Senior.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
This is this was updated what almost a week ago
earlier this week, right, it was updated. So Marquez Charter
Elementary School relocated to Noris Sterry Elementary School, Palisades Charter
relocated to Brentwood Science Magnet. I see, all right, And
we've got another a number of other resources that are
out there, the parent Portals, the LA Unified Division of
(10:05):
Special Education, red Cross, all that stuff. All right, So
I guess we've got a bunch of that information. LAUSD
has put out to all that information as well. So
there you go. If your kids have been displaced, then
check out what LAUSD has for plans and maybe get
them into another school. What do you what do you
think they stick them in those modular things like back
(10:26):
in our day?
Speaker 5 (10:26):
You think they do that? I don't know, man, are
they doing those? Yeah? Oh I remember that's a really
good Yeah. We had those. Yeah. I had health class
in one of those. Is creepy and it creaked.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Yeah, But I grew up in Michigan too, so we
had we'd have those things. Always had ramps, you know,
to make them eighty A compliant yep. But the ramps
were made out of like wood decking and so you'd
have a cold day in January in northern Michigan where
you had a little bit of snow that would come
down on wouldn't even have to be that cold, if
it were, say like thirty degrees, then the snow would
(10:59):
come down at hit that wood, it would melt, but
of course it wouldn't dry, and then more snow would
fall on top of it, and eventually you had a
layer of ice covered by snow. And those ramps, I
am telling you they were slicker than a water slide.
I don't know how any now in the classes I had,
we didn't have everybody that was in a wheelchair. I
don't even know how somebody in a wheelchair would get
up and down those ramps in the winter time. No idea,
(11:21):
no idea, But they didn't care. They just had to
make sure they had ramps that then they could say
that they were eighty eight compliant. In the meantime, the
fires continue to rage on a little over eighty percent
containment on the Eating Fire fifty two of the Palisades fire.
Winds expected to kick up again tomorrow and Tuesday. That's
no fun, which means not only do we have the
threat of these fires, breaking containment, which let's.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Hope that they don't. Then you've got the threat of
new fires.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
And I think if we've learned something over the last
few weeks, it's just how many pyros there are out there.
I mean there's we constantly have stories of homeless guy
arrested with flat If you're homeless and you can find
a flame thrower, how do you acquire said flamethrower? And
(12:07):
once you have flamethrower, go sell it to somebody and
use that money for something you need, like booze, keep
the flamethrower. It's the matter with you anyway. Dave Chappelle
was on Saturday Night Live and he was addressing the
fires in his opening monologue.
Speaker 9 (12:22):
You know what's crazy about it is this one is
close to home.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
Now. I don't live in La.
Speaker 9 (12:26):
I've never been like a big fan of LA, but
I've built many many memories there and I have great
friends there and a lot of them lost.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
Wait a minute, did he just pull a I have
a lot of black friends. Did he just do that?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Like, I'm not in LA, but I have a lot
of LA friends. Oh okay, then you're not an LAist.
Speaker 9 (12:47):
And a lot of them lost their homes Kerry Elways,
when I started Robin Hood minute tice with this house
burnt to the ground man Live, who was on Saturday
Night Live with me last time I was here, his
house burnt to the ground. So many people go on
and on my first move I did with Dennis Quay.
I saw him evacuating his house on the news with
tears in his eyes.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
And it broke my heart.
Speaker 9 (13:08):
And then I go on the internet and I watched
these fire videos and I read the comments sections, and
everyone's like, yeah, it serves these celebrities, right, I hope
the house is burned down.
Speaker 5 (13:19):
You see that? That right there. That's why I.
Speaker 10 (13:24):
Hate poor people, because they can't see past their own pain.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
See, that's the part I think that makes Chappelle genius.
You all knew that the setup was going on. You
knew when he was about to hit the punchline. You
didn't know what the punchline was going to be. But
then he drops the poor people, right, which is funny.
But then this is the part that I think makes
Chappelle genius. It's this little part that is commentary.
Speaker 10 (13:52):
This because they can't see past their own pain.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
They can't see past their own pain.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Now, how many times do you find people on the
internets that are happy to criticize someone else?
Speaker 5 (14:04):
And we always say, why do they do it? Because
it makes themselves feel better? Why do we would like
to watch Springer because it made us feel better about
our own crap lives? We can't see past our own pain.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
That's the brilliance of Chappelle the day.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
On the news.
Speaker 9 (14:30):
The other day on the news, they said these fires
were the most expensive tragedy that ever have natural disaster.
They say, the most expensive natural disaster. It's never happened
in the United States history. And you want to know
why I think that is?
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Okay, you're feeling it set up. You're about to hit
the punchline.
Speaker 9 (14:47):
Because people in La have nice stuff. I could burn
forty thousand eights in Mississippi for like six to seven
hundred dollars.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
It's not wrong.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
And now, but it's true, right, I mean, part of
the reason this is so expensive is because it's high
dollar value homes that are burning, all right, So he's
right about that. And then obviously the commentary in the punchline.
Speaker 9 (15:21):
And then when we watched the news or talk to
my friends, they all have these conspiracy theories what started
these fires.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
Now they say it's arsonists.
Speaker 9 (15:29):
I've heard the story, and I'm sure there were some arsonists,
But there were a lot of elements that came together
to make this fire.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
The catastrophe that was.
Speaker 9 (15:37):
The winds were one hundred miles an hour, La was
as dry as a bone, and the levees and it
was just too many factors. If you were a rational
thinking person, you have to at least consider the possibility
that God.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
Hates these people.
Speaker 9 (16:02):
And that's not true because because Wes Hollywood was unscathed,
all right, because how can you burn what is already flaming?
Speaker 5 (16:15):
So this is where I think Chappelle is so smart.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
And then he goes and starts punching down, like why Dave,
you were crushing it? And then you went really low,
like there's there's no value to that joke other than
Wes Hollywood's gay. Everybody ha flaming and there's fires ha ha.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
That that wouldn't have made the cut. That should not
have made the cut.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
It's just punching down, and for what the other stuff
was so brilliant, it was such great commentary. And then
Chappelle punches down and he doesn't need any more controversy,
and he doesn't need to upset anybody in the LGBTQ
community any more than he already has.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
I don't know why he went there.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
We'll hit LA law, the lawmakers, the law breaker, the
times that there ought to be a law, and of
course plenty of legal considerations around these fires, as well
as some other shenanigans happening around southern California.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
That's next. Chris Merril KFI AM six forty live everywhere
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand. Why
am I.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Doing such a good mood?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
You might ask, Chris Merrill KFI AM six forty Why
am I in such a good mood?
Speaker 5 (17:25):
It's because of a Detroit.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Lions fan, and I am in a wonderful state of
denial as my number one team Super Bowl favorites got
walloped their first round of the playoffs, so.
Speaker 5 (17:42):
I'm comfortably numb. As they would say.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Let's talk about the lawmakers, the law breakers, and the time.
Oh I'm sorry Rams fans too, Sorry about all the
Rams fans. You guys give it a good go today too.
I thought you had that lawmakers, law breakers, times that
there ought to be a law off we go.
Speaker 5 (18:04):
All right. There are all kinds of stories around the.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Fires, right, including looters that are breaking into homes, and
fortunately some of them have been caught, not all of them,
some of them. We've got some DA's that say, or
you got the DA excuse me? It says we're going
to prosecute everybody we find. Okay, I mean that's kind
of your job. But I'm glad you're doing it. That's great.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
All right? What about this hold up?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Somebody went ahead and turned all of his volume down
while he was fading the music.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
All right, let's try it here and.
Speaker 11 (18:39):
See me valley tonight. Because officials with it from maybe
seven Power company have cut electricity to this entire area
because they are concerned about the possibility of the high
winds here sparking yet another fire. Well in Los Angeles today,
officials there announced charges and arrests against ten people for
fire related crimes, nine of them for looting, one for arson,
(19:01):
and investigators there say it was some home security video
that helped them in some of those arrests.
Speaker 5 (19:06):
Why are we arresting people for arson?
Speaker 9 (19:09):
No?
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I mean, I'm glad we're arresting people for arsen Why
are what is I don't understand the arson thing. What
I mean these at this point? If somebody is starting fires,
is that mental illness? Is that somebody who has a
like a pyromania condition, because why else would you start
(19:30):
a fire right now unless you're coming up another crime?
But I mean just a general arsonist, that's got to
be a mental condition, right.
Speaker 11 (19:37):
Police release this surveillance video showing the moments prosecutors say
a team of looters rated a Mandeville Canyon home, running
up the stairs searching for items to steal. Its residents
had fled under emergency evacuation orders.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
They stall over two hundred thousand dollars. Has been a
leg Wow, why they charging documents?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
You think that there will be people who go back
to their homes and then claim that they had stuff
stolen even though they didn't. In other words, do you
think there's gonna be some insurance for aught out of this?
I'm gonna go ahead and put that at about one
hundred percent.
Speaker 11 (20:14):
Quick tips quickly let investigators to a second location, trying
to thwart the thieves before they tried again.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Tracked mister Peeples and mister Bell to an apartment in Koreatown.
When they attempted to leave, they were then apprehended. A
number of these stolen items from that residence was found
with mister Peoples and mister Bell.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
And do you know this?
Speaker 5 (20:37):
In other words, you got the guys.
Speaker 11 (20:39):
This team, says. Investigators quickly short circuited another ring.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Among the property that you'll see that was stolen in
that particular incident was actually the Emmy award of the
resident who lived there.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
That's that's bad. Well, I mean, what are you gonna
do with the Emmy award?
Speaker 2 (20:58):
You steal it? And then what you'll put on your
own mantle? Nobody's gonna believe you've got an Emmy.
Speaker 11 (21:02):
Cell phone video from Azusa?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Is there somebody that buys stolen Emmys? I genuinely don't know.
I suppose there's a market for it, I don't know who.
Speaker 11 (21:12):
Cell phone video from Azusa shows police handcuffing and accused
arsonist as a small brush fire blaze they say he
lit still burned in front of them.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, they literally have this fire and I'm going to
say it's about ten feet in diameter, and the cops
are cuffing the guy while the fire's burning right there now.
Fortunately there weren't a lot of high winds. It wasn't
like that fire was taking off and it was it
was dous.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
But what is I don't why would you do that?
What is it that says starting a fire now is
a good idea? I don't even want to go out
and start a little backyard fire to have a drink
and wine down at the end of the night. What
makes people think, Ah, I gotta say this burn.
Speaker 11 (21:54):
FBI investigators are still trying to track down the operator
of a drone that punctured and grounded this super scooper
during critical hours of a firefight.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
Oh, they still haven't gotten the drone guy yet. Huh.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
I'm assuming guy. Don't mean to be. I don't mean
to be, uh feeding into the patriarchy, So my apologies.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
I leen. They still haven't gotten the drone gal yet? Huh? Huh?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Are they gonna be able to you know what they
You know that they were live streaming something on TikTok?
Nowother good reason to take TikTok down?
Speaker 11 (22:28):
Live streamers all while uninhabitable areas remain cordoned off, right
part to keep criminals at bay.
Speaker 12 (22:35):
Yeah, we're gonna get you. Do not make this worse
than it already is. This is we're gonna get you.
We're gonna get you. We're gonna get you. We're gonna
get you, We're gonna get you.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
Whatever.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Then I was saying we've got the price gougers that
are out there, and Newsom says that he's gonna stop
the price gougers. You're not gonna get away with a
price gougers. Forget about it. It's not gonna happen because
we're gonna get you, gonna get you.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
The LA homeowners.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Let me see LA homeowners face price gouging after wildfires.
This from Reuters, and I guess in some cases thirty
percent price hike. A Beverly Hills rental home had been
listed for fourteen thousand dollars a month. It's now up
to eighteen thousand dollars. Massive price hike. They say it's
supplying demand.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
That's it. Supply and demand.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
There are others who smell an opportunity to profit, and
that's what people are encountering throughout the region. Thousands of
people have been displaced by the wildfires. They're encountering sticker shock. Well,
first of all, you're gonna get sticker shocked anytime you
go looking for a new place, whether it's price gouging
or not. If you go looking for a new rental,
sticker shock it is painful. Beyond that, yeah, of course
(23:57):
there's opportunists. And I'm guessing that somebody that's renting a
place for fourteen thousand dollars a month while to get
up to eighteen thousand doesn't think they're really limiting their
prospects a whole lot, because if you have.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
An extra what does that add up to? Guys, If
you have an extra.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
One hundred and seventy thousand dollars a year to rent,
then they're probably figuring you have an extra two.
Speaker 7 (24:19):
Twenty And the insurance companies are picking up part of
the tab at least for I think.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
For two years. Oh they are.
Speaker 7 (24:28):
I do real estate when I'm not here. I've done
a lot. I've done a lot of fire wonderful.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
Okay, yeah, all right.
Speaker 7 (24:37):
So, and there are a lot of watchdogs out there
right now that are keeping there's up. There's a Google
list circulating right now that shows people are turning in
price gougers.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
Is it the price gougers?
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I feel like they're more likely to get busted if
they're collecting money from people who are taking insurance paths,
because I feel like the insurance companies will be more
zealous in finding people who are screwing them over. And
the insurance companies have the resources and they've got the
investigative teams and blah blah blah that they have to
try to not pay out generally anyway, but certainly to
(25:12):
make sure that they're not getting hosed in the process.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
Is it worse.
Speaker 7 (25:16):
It's so wrong and so many people are watching out
for it that I think people will eventually, look, we've
got a new DA. I think they're going to start
cracking down.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Well, he certainly wants to have an impact here. You know,
his first few months in office and now he does
not want the reputations the guy that allowed looting and
gouging to go on, right, So he's going to do
everything you can to get out in front of it
and make sure that at least in front of the
cameras he's telling people he's putting a stop to all
of this stuff. Meanwhile, Eileen, I saw another It's funny
you have something in common with a friend of mine.
(25:47):
She's a real estate agent, and also she's a television reporter.
But she was answering some of these questions about do
I have to pay my mortgage, which, of course you
know the answer to, Yeah.
Speaker 7 (25:57):
Well there are some you do, There are are some.
I think there are five different banks that are letting
people get away with not paying for a while.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
Yes, that's the story I got from KETLA.
Speaker 13 (26:08):
Actually, Governor Devin Newsom announcing he has secured commitments now
from five major financial institutions that will offer mortgage relief
for property owners affected by the wildfires. Bank of America City, JP,
Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and US Bank will offer impacted
homeowners a ninety day moratorium on their mortgages without reporting
(26:32):
it to credit agencies. In addition, payment plans will be
offered to homeowners to satisfy the deferred amounts. Qualified homeowners
must reside in the wildfire affected areas and they should
contact their mortgage company to enroll in that program.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
I feel like, even if you don't have one of
those five, you should be contacting your mortgage company right now. Anyway,
contact your mortgage company. Obviously, you're contacting your insurance company.
Even if you don't have fire insurance. If you have
insurance that covers something else that may have been lost,
contact your insurance company.
Speaker 5 (27:01):
I don't know who's gonna work with what, but make contact.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
And then there's other services you've got to make sure
you're canceling or you're gonna keep paying for it. Now,
some of the utilities got shut off anyway, so you
wouldn't have any additional bills there.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
But if you're still paying for internet, cancel your internet.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
If you lost your place or if you can't get
back into your place for a while, cancel your internet.
No need for you to be paying for that stuff.
That's just money that you could be using towards something else.
Other services that you have to go through. And then
you know, get on the phone. You're gonna have to
work the phones. And I'm gonna guess that you're gonna
be on hold for a while because everybody's trying to
work the phones right now. But by God, keep working
the phones. Keep working those phones, all right? Anything else
(27:39):
I want to add here, No, we're laid on this,
so why don't I shut the hell up? Good plan?
Speaker 5 (27:44):
How about this? When it comes to your insurance company,
there may be some challenges in navigating what you have
to provide for them, what is covered, what isn't covered,
blah blah blah.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
If only there were someone there to help. Oh, look
there is. You'll find out who next. Chris Merril I
AM six forty WeLive everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Other Chris Merril KFI AM six forty more stimulating talk.
Trying to figure out what to do with your pets?
Are trying to figure out how you can help people that.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
Have pets in the wildfire.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
We will get the load out on that right after
Eileen's five o'clock news. That is coming straight up. And
then obviously the biggest news story in America is TikTok
because evidently thousands of people displaced, tens of thousands of
homes lost. That's old news now, but my god, a
(28:38):
number of fifteen year olds don't know how they're gonna
make the whole world watch them dance in sweatpants, stop
the presses. So that's coming up the next hour as well.
So you are trying to figure out what do I
do with my insurance? Now, Fortunately there are some people
who are stepping up and trying to help a little bit.
ABC seven was talking about the insurance workshops.
Speaker 14 (28:57):
One of the efforts to help people navigate after these
devastating fires is an insurance workshop that's happening today here
in Santa Monica and it's already being set up. You
can see here behind me there are one on one
sessions which really gives people the opportunity.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
I can't see behind you because radio just.
Speaker 14 (29:14):
Navigate this process with somebody who can guide them through it.
And so these are completely free. Anybody is welcome, starting
at ten o'clock this morning, and this is all being
made possible.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
It's well past ten o'clock. You're not gonna make it,
but it's not the last one.
Speaker 14 (29:27):
Sources available the free insurance support to make sure that
people have the information they need about available resources for
rebuilding and recovery. This weekend the workshops will take place.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
We don't care about that. Move ahead, helping people walk
through their insurance policy, understand what they're covered for. The
goal here is to get.
Speaker 11 (29:42):
Answers for people and so they understand what they need
to do and get started on that recovery plan.
Speaker 14 (29:48):
Now next weekend there will now here's.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
The important stuff. Because you obviously can't make it to
this weekends, they're done now.
Speaker 14 (29:53):
Next weekend there will be another two workshops taking place
over in Pasadena at the Pasadena City College.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Comes out all the way over there unless you're in
pastating and you would say here.
Speaker 5 (30:03):
But that's fine.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
That's a pet peeve of mine in media, you guys,
ever hear somebody say out in well out in Huntington Beach, Like,
unless I'm in Huntington Beach, then it's here. Nobody ever
says out in downtown. But the majority of people don't
live downtown. It's just that that's the center of media thinking.
Speaker 5 (30:24):
Right, Oh, I hate that.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
I know it sounds trivial, doesn't it. Just our job
is to relate to people, relate to people where they are.
It's just media, one on one. Don't make people feel
like they're out there. Got to hate that, all right,
I digress.
Speaker 14 (30:40):
This comes as thousands of families are standing by hoping
to get the green light to finally go back home.
Today we know some people have been cleared to return home,
with many repopulating the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood. Yesterday more evacuation
orders are expected to be lifted or downgraded in the
coming days. So when that does happen, remember you must
provide a photo ID proof of residency and you must
(31:02):
know your evacuation zone.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Now back out here live.
Speaker 14 (31:05):
Remember these insurance workshops are starting at ten o'clock.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Now they're already done, all right, So there you go.
There's some insurance workshops that are going on. So there's
gonna be an opportunity if you did have fire insurance
and you're not exactly sure what's going on, get a
hold of your insurance. Here's where things are gonna get
really ugly for all of us, not just people in
the evacuate evacuation areas, not just people in the burn
scar zone.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
It's gonna get ugly for everybody.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
We already know that a number of companies have pulled
out right, a lot of controversy around State Farm having
pulled out from some of the policies that they had.
They did it last summer. People were scrambling trying to
figure out how am I going to insure my home?
They wanted to make sure they had fire insurance, and
the cost is exponential if they can even find a
private insurer. The cost is outrageous, so many people end
(31:52):
up going to the state system, the Fair program. The
problem is the Fair program doesn't have the money. NBC
was following one person who tried to turn in acclaim
with her her Fair insurance program, and this is where
(32:13):
it got ugly. Her insurance sent her a check for
about eleven hundred dollars to repair her home that had
an estimate in excess of fifty thousand dollars, and then
she spent months arguing with them and then trying to
get the money. More than thirty six hundred policy owners
in Altadena, Pacific Palisades and other parts of the Greater
Los Angeles area have submitted claims to the Fair Plan
(32:35):
to try to recover some of what they've lost. And
according to those that have dealt with Fair before, they say,
get ready for a fight. Not only that, even if
you don't have this program, get this. It's so incredibly
expensive and it was set up as kind of an
alternative to private insurers who were canceling plans. So it's
(32:57):
become so stupid expense that the insurance companies went to
Ricardo Laura, who's the insurance commissioner, and they said, bro.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
I'm assuming that's what they said. That's how they talk.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
They went, bro, what can we we We're gonna go
broke on this. We we understand you want to insure people.
We'd like to ensure people too, but we can't go broke.
So they struck a deal, the insurance companies and the
insurance Commissioner. They came together in a deal, and it
allows for the insurers to collect money from policy holders
(33:30):
to recoup half of any assessed losses up to two
billion dollars as a way to modernize and stabilize the operation.
In other words, all Fair Plan policy holders, not just
those affected by the recent wildfires, are going to pay
for some of the damage that they assumed the insurer
(33:51):
should shoulder.
Speaker 5 (33:52):
That's from NBC News. You're going to see your insurance
go up.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Even if your home hasn't experienced even if you're not
in a fire prone area, even if you haven't had
any brush with any of the chaos that we've seen
for the last two weeks. If you have the fair insurance,
it's about to get more expensive. I'm telling you this.
If there's anything that leads to the CAW exit, as
(34:18):
much as as much as your twenty four seven news
channels want to say it has to do with our politics,
it's not. It's about the cost, and along with that cost,
it's about just the threat the cost of living here
beyond just taxes, beyond everything else. But can't even afford insurance.
It's going to start affecting us. And people are gonna say,
(34:39):
forget it. I'm out. I'll go to Nevada, forget it.
I'm going to Utah, forget it. I'll go to Idaho.
Speaker 5 (34:46):
Now they're not going to go to Texas or Florida
because they're gonna have the same problems because of the hurricanes.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
But they're just gonna say forget it. I'm just not
gonna deal with this anymore. Now, if you are dealing
with pets, maybe you have a pet that you've lost,
me you've got a pet that is in a kennel
right now part of the evacuation, or maybe you want
to help out with people who are dealing with lost pets.
Speaker 5 (35:08):
We got answers for you on that. It's next. Chris
Merril kf I AM six forty live everywhere in the
iHeartRadio
Speaker 1 (35:14):
App, KFI AM six forty on demand
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