January 12, 2025 • 38 mins
In the wake of the worst disaster in Los Angeles' history, host Michael Monks takes you into the heart of a city forever changed. Reflecting on the devastating fires that have reshaped neighborhoods and altered the city's future, Michael shares his personal experiences and grapples with the profound emotional and historical impacts of the tragedy.
Join the conversation as Michael opens the phone lines to hear raw, real stories from listeners living through this moment. From grappling with partisan blame to envisioning the monumental task of rebuilding iconic areas like the Palisades and Alta Dena, this episode explores how one disaster can transform public policy, the physical landscape, and the spirit of a city.
Join the conversation as Michael opens the phone lines to hear raw, real stories from listeners living through this moment. From grappling with partisan blame to envisioning the monumental task of rebuilding iconic areas like the Palisades and Alta Dena, this episode explores how one disaster can transform public policy, the physical landscape, and the spirit of a city.
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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 (00:05):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News. We're going to be
with you tonight until ten o'clock. You've heard us here
on KFI and a lot of our fellow media outlets
across Greater LA telling the story of these fires all week. Tonight,
for the next three hours, I want to turn to
you to help tell this story. We want you to
(00:28):
call in, share your first hand accounts of what you experienced,
share your concerns, your questions about what has transpired over
this past week. Let us know how you're feeling, let
us know if you have some ideas on how to help.
Our lines are going to be open tonight for the
next three hours, and LA will be talking to LA
(00:50):
about what's going on in La. This is a city
on fire, just shocking. How else can we describe what
we're looking at. We've been looking at this for several
days now, and there are no additional words to add.
This is the worst disaster ever in this city, one
(01:13):
of our worst national disasters, a shocking amount of destruction.
And here's the worst part We're still in the midst
of it. This isn't over yet. We see right now
changes of evacuation orders that are coming in very rapidly,
(01:36):
then being lifted as firefighters try to get a handle
on what's going on near the Palisades. And then in
the forecast we've got more wins. There's some red flag
warnings out there in the coming days. And then what
happens next week when some additional heavy winds blow in.
What does that do to the effort to fight these fires?
(01:58):
What does it do on behalf of the fires. So
many of us who live near these flames are not
out of the woods yet, and already so many of
our neighbors have lost everything, and it has spared no
one in its line of destruction. You can be a
(02:22):
wealthy person who owns a mansion in the Palisades. You
can be someone who works as a maid there. The
fire is relentless, it is unforgiving, It is taking everything
in its path. And I've been down there. I've been
down to the Palisades. I've been on the streets of
Altadena this week. When you see these aerial shots on
(02:46):
your television or computer or phone screens, that's breathtaking, but
when you see it up close, it is scarring. These
are images that will not leave your mind for a
very long time. And it's so bizarre to think that
(03:09):
just on Monday, we were all just living in LA
and those neighborhoods existed, and families woke up in the morning,
parents went to work, kids went to school. Businesses turned
on their lights and opened their doors, just like they
had done for years. And now they have been erased
(03:32):
from the map. And we haven't started the grieving process
yet because it's not over. We don't know what to
grieve yet. There's so much but we're all still fighting
this right now. This is something that has changed the
(03:56):
course of history for the city of Los Angeles. That's
the magnitude of this, and we have not had a
moment to stop and think about that. This is going
to change public policy, This might change who makes public policy.
This is going to change housing. It has already changed
(04:19):
the face of the city. This place does not look
the same anymore. It never will again. And just days ago,
on Monday, we were all just living in LA. You know,
there is no city possibly on earth that can break
(04:43):
your heart like Los Angeles. It has so many unique
ways of crushing your dreams, of crushing your spirits. But
when it is good here, it is so good. There
is nothing like La. This heartbreak, we're all feeling it together.
(05:05):
I hope that we can find a way to process
that together. But there are gonna be a lot of
question There's gonna be a lot of anger, finger pointing,
and there'd better be some answers, not just to the
policy failures that may exist out there, but for the
people who have lost everything, for the neighborhoods that are gone.
What will those places look like in the future. We're
(05:28):
not going to know that for a long time. This
is a story that will dominate our lives here in
LA for the foreseeable future. I don't really know what
a comparison that would make sense to say, but it
(05:48):
almost feels a bit like COVID in some respects simple ways.
When I think about driving on the freeways on a
weekday and there's not the traffic that we're used to,
you're seeing a lot of people in mask and you're
already aware of a certain amount of destruction that's been
caused by it, and now it's here and you don't
(06:09):
know what's coming next. Those are the feelings that I
have had personally about this as we've been covering it
here at KFI. Like I said, I've been to the Palisades,
I've been to Altadna, I've seen the destruction. I know
many of you have experienced the destruction, and so many
(06:32):
of you across LA are glued to this because what
else can you do. We're in the midst of it.
It is not over. There is more bad stuff happening
outside right now. The city is on fire, and we
(06:55):
shouldn't look away. You barely can for a moment. You
can't catch your breath. The air is rough to breathe everywhere.
But I want to talk to you tonight, La, every
corner of LA. I want to hear your experiences. I
(07:16):
want to know instances of good that maybe you've witnessed.
I want to hear your questions you have for policy makers.
And if you just have something you want to let out,
We're going to do that tonight. So you can call
us one eight hundred five to zero one KFI one
(07:37):
eight hundred five to zero one KFI one eight hundred
five to zero, one five three four. We're here till
ten o'clock tonight. Let's talk it out. Let's talk about this.
We'll keep the updates flowing about what's happening. It is
still a very fluid situation. Lots of changes happening as
we speak, but we're going to bring the latest as
(07:58):
it happens, and let's have a conversation about what we
have all experienced here together in Los Angeles over the
past several days. One eight hundred five to two zero
one five three four one eight hundred five to two
zero one KFI. I'm Michael Monks from KFI News with
you till ten o'clock tonight.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
You're listening to KFI Am six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
This is Michael Monks. We're all coping with the stress
of the fires as well as even people working here
are watching as these flames move perilously close to their
own homes or they've already been evacuated. And it's I
don't have to tell anybody listening what the situation is.
It's we are all experiencing this together. That's why I
just keep emphasizing this is unprecedented. But we're talking to
(08:44):
you tonight our number to talk about what you're feeling,
what your questions are how we can cope together tonight
one eight hundred five to two zero one KFI one eight
hundred five two zero one five three four will also
take your voice messages through the talkback on the iHeartRadio app.
Just pull that up, press the red button, leave your message,
and we're going to play those. We've got three hours
(09:04):
together till ten o'clock tonight. Quick update on the situation
involving the four big fires. The Palisades fires up to
twenty three thousand, six hundred and fifty four acres at
last report, only eleven percent contained. Twenty three thousand, six
hundred acres. You know, this fire has grown so much
that the number is just mind boggling. How do we
comprehend that? If you're lucky to own a home somewhere
(09:27):
in LA and you have two acres, how do you
multiply that enough in your mind to grasp what twenty
three thousand acres looks like? Sixteen people confirmed dead across
all the fires here, countless structures, hundreds of homes, maybe more.
(09:49):
The Eaten Fire an Altadena Pasadena area fourteen thousand, one
hundred seventeen acres fifteen percent contained now They've made a
lot of progress on the smaller fires. The Kenneth fire
that broke out on Thursday that hit over one thousand acres,
but it's now ninety percent contained. The Hearst fire, which
(10:11):
broke out on Tuesday, also is at seven hundred ninety
nine acres, but that one is seventy six percent contained.
The Palisides fire is creeping towards Encino and Tarzana right now.
This thing is not over. We are living in the
midst of this destruction and still awaiting further possible destruction.
(10:33):
And that's what's so difficult to deal with. I don't
know how we even start to talk about it, because
the magnitude of this situation is such that I don't
think we're equipped to comprehend the worst disaster in LA
history ongoing. We're living in it right now. We're taking
(10:56):
your calls tonight, all night long that you will join
us either on the phone lines or in the iHeartRadio
app talk back. I also want to let you know
that iHeartMedia is working to collect some donations for folks
who are in need. You can go to KFI AM
six forty dot com slash donate. We've partnered with the
(11:18):
Dreams Center LA for donations. There are also a lot
of other great resources out there for you to turn
to to either seek donations or to offer up your help.
We're going to take some calls now. We're doing that
all night long, and I want to start with in
just a moment, I think we're just having a quick
(11:39):
technical Araul, Can you let me know in my ear
what I need to do in here to get these
folks on the air so that we can start taking
these phone calls. Do I just call out the names
and you're going to take care of it, all right.
That makes it very easy for me. Thanks for hanging
in there with us. Well, we sort this out. We
got a lot of callers we want to hear from
(11:59):
you too. Let's go to Neil in Santa Monica. Neil,
good evening to you.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
He Oh there, Yes, I'm really mad. I'm very upset
about this whole thing. You know of one of my
best my wife's best friend, her husband owns a house
in the Palisades. The beautiful house is burnt down. And
he was out of town and he came back and
(12:26):
you know, his house is burnt down. But he didn't
know that something was going to happen to his house,
so he lost all of his His man's a physicist
and he had like important documents, paperwork like everybody else,
but i mean, he lost everything. I mean, it's just
it's just horrible, and it just really gets me. I'm
just so angry that Bass cut back the funds on
(12:48):
the fire department by eighteen million and planned to cut
back one hundred more million dollars well. At the same time,
they flushed billions of dollars down the on the homeless
and those bogus homeless charities, and the money is not
going to the homeless, it just goes into the pockets
of these bogus charities. When they investigated, they said they
(13:12):
couldn't figure out where the money went. And even Governor
Newsom said he couldn't figure out where twenty four billion
dollars went for the homeless. They don't have the records.
Isn't that convenient? That's how corrupt these fools are.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Neil, thank you.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
I am wat the homeless started thirteen thousand fires in
one year. These people should be treated as terrorists and
be removed off the street and under surveillance. In other words,
these our current government is obviously working with the cartels.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Neil.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I appreciate the call. Your frustration is felt by so
many folks. And what I said at the beginning of
this hour is that this fire, in addition to dealing
with the destruction it's left behind, I think it will
change a lot for LA and the way that policy
is dealt with, and maybe even in a lot of
ways the people who make policy, because this is going
(14:08):
to be the number one priority now nothing else will matter,
not even the Olympics that somehow this city has to
get ready for in twenty twenty eight. This is now
priority number one, and we are still in the midst
of it. We do not yet know the scope of
what this destruction fully is yet. Let's go to JP
in North Hollywood, JP. Good Saturday evening to.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
You, sing mm be one and only Michael.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Monks, Yes, sir, mm.
Speaker 6 (14:37):
What the what?
Speaker 2 (14:38):
What the what?
Speaker 5 (14:40):
On all seriousness? Michael Monks, it's day five, I ask you.
It's never been done before. Military action has never been
done before. But why shouldn't it happen? It's day five.
This is treacherous, sir. This is a treacherous situation. This
is serious.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
This is very serious, no doubt about it.
Speaker 7 (15:02):
Man.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
This is just again, we haven't seen the full scope
of this yet. We don't know what this looks like.
We're not on the other side of it yet, we're
in the midst of it. And and you're right. I
mean all of the firefighters who are out there busting
their tails. My god, I've seen them up close. What
a job, What a job they're doing. Even when we
tell you it's only eight percent contained, that doesn't mean
(15:23):
that they're not out there just facing death in the
face to do what they can right now. It's it's scary,
but I don't know how to know. If we are
doing everything that we can right now, why isn't the
global community together dropping stuff on these flames? I don't know.
(15:46):
There are so many questions that we are all going
to have that you can't even get answers for right now,
not just because politicians can be evasive. The answers probably
don't even exist yet. But in the months and years
to come, when we finally look like we've recovered from this,
(16:06):
you can bet that we're all gonna have our answers.
We got more calls ahead. We're talking to you all
night long until ten o'clock here on KFI AM six
forty one eight hundred five to zero one, KFI one
eight hundred five to zero, one five three four.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
KFI AM six forty. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News. I'm with you tonight
till ten o'clock and we're doing some old school, old
fashioned talk radio. The phone lines are open at KFI
and that's because you've listened to us and our other colleagues,
our friends at other media outlets across LA tell this
(16:47):
story all week long, this ongoing story. We want to
hear you tell the story too. What have you seen?
What have you experienced? What are you feeling? What are
your concerns? What are your questions? One hundred five to zero,
one five three four. That's one, eight hundred five to
zero one. K F I will also take your messages
(17:07):
through the iHeartRadio app. Just click on that talk back
button and we're going to play some of those throughout
the evening as well. Let's get back to the phones now.
We've got Donald on the line. Donald, good evening, to.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
You this story always.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
If you don't mind, Donald, just turn your radio down
and then we will be able to take you. This
is really old school public radio when you got to
tell somebody to turn the radio down. Donald, are you
with us?
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Tell you what?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Put them back on hold. We'll go to John stand
by for John. John good evening to you.
Speaker 7 (17:40):
Hello, how are you doing.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 8 (17:42):
How are you very good?
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Now?
Speaker 8 (17:45):
I think the homeless is a big part of this equation.
Everywhere you go. You can remember about a year ago
they just about burnt down one of the major bridge
buttresses under I think it was a ten freeway that
had a homeless camp it. You know, damage and crack
some of the concrete. But any place they can find
the camel up and get them behind brush, you know,
(18:10):
so they're left alone. They don't want to be bothered
like the rest of us. But they have to cook
and heat with a campfire. Now Newsome is outlawed disposable
proteine bottles, so they you know, now they're gonna have
to have a bona fide campfire if they're gonna do
any of that, because they're not gonna be able to
have a little stove The other thing is you know
(18:32):
Loo Gooda Hills, they've put goats out in there. They
had a terrible fire there, I don't know twenty years ago,
but now they run goats up in their hillside. And
Catalina Island, the damn Nature Conservancy eradicated twenty thousand plus goats,
let them rot because they weren't natives. And then shortly
thereafter the place went up like an inferno because vegetation
(18:54):
grew up so bad. They need to go through and
get a goat program. And all our the Chaparralle area
is adjacent to these towns, and yeah, do some sort
of a natural uh you know, control for some of
this brush, and they get into some of these control
burns that nobody likes.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
John, I appreciate that. I think that's a perspective that's
worth sharing. You know, I moved here from Kentucky, and
my city and Kentucky had a goat program and it
was pretty successful. Not only was it successful at keeping
the grass and the brush cut near the highway, it
was a tourist attraction. People loved these goats and they
came to see There gonna be a lot of questions
about how California works to prevent these wildfires. I know
(19:39):
there are a lot of accusations out there. There are
reporting that indicates, yes, we were bad at it, No,
we were good at it. Very much needs to be
cleared up and will be. But again, I'm going to
say this throughout this evening. This isn't you know, this
isn't a post mortem because we're not in the post yet.
We are still in the midst of it. Right now,
we are watching the fire that is all already destroyed.
(20:00):
Pacific Palisades appear hungrier tonight, marching towards other areas. So
it's not over. You still need to be glued to
the alerts, paying attention, hacked, and ready to go in
so many different parts of town in case this thing
continues to worsen. Sixteen people have died, thousands of structures destroyed,
(20:23):
including many homes. This thing is just not over yet.
The statement that John made about homelessness, you know, a
lot of people's minds have gone there, and it's not
because you're conspiratorial or crazy or inhumane. There is a
long track record of fires set by homeless folks in
(20:45):
downtown LA buildings under a freeway. We know this stuff happens.
I live in the Fashion district. I live in a
part of the Fashion District that if you were a
bad real estate agent, you might describe my apartment building
as skid row near. I can look out my window
and see rows of tents and fires set up on
the sidewalk. That's not safe. And we know how ineffective
(21:07):
homeless programs have been, how costly, and how little of
a return on that investment we're getting. I don't think
you're inhumane to have those types of questions. This is
a type of event that is going to change not
just the geography of Los Angeles. This is going to
change a lot of the ways that the government approaches policy,
(21:30):
and I think it's going to change a lot of
the ways that the electric decides who's in the government
to direct that policy. We're taking phone calls until ten
o'clock tonight right here on KFI one eight hundred five
to zero one, KFI one eight hundred five to zero one, five,
three four. Let's go to Jerry. Jerry is on the line.
Good evening to you, Jerry.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Oh. Yes, First of all, I like to think KFI
for our turn are. It's the best where talk. Thank you.
First of all, government's job is to protect the people.
It's the most important thing. And secondly, they get good money.
They should be on this thing right professionally instead of
sitting back getting big pages. Yeah, I think if they've
(22:14):
not just cowboy for the fellow and afford more materials,
think for a lot more equipment for fighting as far
as and they should do it in a more efficient manner,
not just old fashioned ways. You know, they need a
lot more. Playing the helicopters and scooping from the ocean
ain't bad because they might say to our environmental, but
(22:37):
environmental is going to be a story if it's not
put out where so it's all think I hurt that much.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Good points, Jerry. We do appreciate you listening and thank
you for the call. You know, I was on with
our own Tim Conway earlier this week and we were
talking about, you know, the ocean's right there, why can't
we use that? And there are apparently scientific concerns about
what makes up the ocean, specifically the salt and the
lasting impact that it can have on the earth and
(23:06):
the you know, the species that live amongst it. So
you look at a situation like a twenty three thousand
acre fire and the threat that it has made to
even more homes and more acres, And you wonder, how
do you balance this, you know, should we go ahead
and use that vast resource that's right next to this
fire and say the hell with the soil? I don't know.
(23:30):
These are going to be the questions that are going
to linger for a long time. This thing's not over yet.
We're in the midst of it. Taking calls at one
eight hundred five to zero, one five, three four. Let's
go now to Donald. I think we've got Donald back
on the line. Donald, good evening to you.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
Hi there.
Speaker 6 (23:47):
I live in Rancho, Santa Margarita, Orange County, and I've
been out here in California since the late seventies. And
I grew up in basically was in the Silicon Valley,
worked at Apple Computer in the very early days with
Steve jobs in Bosniak, and spent my whole life living
(24:08):
here in California. And I've seen such a huge change
between what happened in the seventh late seventies to where
we are today. And I'm living in southern California, South
Orange County, Rancho Santamargarita Rancho Santamargeda dot com if you
want to go there but that you'll find me. And
all I have to say is, I cannot believe that
(24:30):
the how the Democratic Party has really truly destroyed not
only the political party, but the California dream, you know,
the California dream that we all grew up to believe
in everything. When I grew up back in Ohio, we
thought everything started here in California. Everything began here and
(24:54):
went back east. But I just cannot believe what where
we've been, where we've gone, Governor Newsom and his trickle
down theory of economics, and all the way down to
pointing the singer at Bath in the Orange in Los
Angeles County. I just want to say that I'm ashamed
(25:17):
of all of you who've voted with Public Democratic and
we're going to see a huge change in the new
elections that'll be coming up. That's all I have to say.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Thank you, Donald, thanks so much for the call. Look,
I'm with the KFI news department here, so I'm not
going to get into partisan blame. We see enough of that,
and you know, there are people who are really good
at it, people who can blame conservatives, people who can
blame liberals. You can listen Monday through Friday one to four.
Our very own John coblt is quite talented at laying
(25:50):
down the law as he sees it. But we're seeing
blame amongst the leaders here in this state already. It's
sometimes subtle, sometimes a little more direct, whether it's Gavin
Newsom saying he wasn't getting straight answers from local leaders,
whether it's this weird squabbling between the mayor of Los Angeles,
Karen Bass, and the fire chief when there was a
(26:12):
report in I believe the Daily Mail yesterday that the
fire chief had been fired, and then some local media
outlets who are on the ground and didn't just parachute
in had to say, no, that's not true. And then
the two had to appear together at a press conference
this morning, and that was awkward. In the midst of
the worst disaster to ever hit Los Angeles, We're dealing
(26:35):
with political squabbling. That's just the nature of this country
right now. There's going to be plenty of blame to
go around at some point, hopefully done through a lot
of honest reflection about the way policy is made, in
the way that we allow it. Whether one party is
better at managing fires in California, I can't tell you that.
(26:56):
But we're going to be listening more closely on this
issue now. This is now the number one issue in
Los Angeles and probably in California. No other major issue
will surpass this for the foreseeable future. This is what
will be on the agenda at City Council. This is
what will be on the agenda at the Board of Supervisors,
this is what will be on the agenda in the
(27:17):
General Assembly in Sacramento. This is now the number one issue.
So who will lead us through this and what does
it mean to lead us through it? That's what we
want to hear you talk about as well. You know
you're gonna hear from us all week, and we're grateful
that you tune in to listen to us present the
facts on the ground. I've been to the Palisades this
(27:39):
week reporting. I've been in Altadena this week reporting. It's
terrifying what you see. It's I said it at the beginning.
I don't think a city in the world breaks your
heart like Los Angeles can. If you come here with
the dream, but if you make it, or if you're
just here on a really good day. There's no place
better to have a good day, so it's worth fighting for.
(28:01):
Join our conversation one eight hundred five to zero one
KFI one eight hundred five to zero, one, five, three four.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News. We'll continue with more.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News. We're with you till
ten o'clock tonight, and we're doing something a little different,
something old school, something classic talk radio. We've opened up
the phone lines because here's the deal. For the past
several days, you've listened to us tell the story. We've
done our best and tell you the story. We're going
to continue giving the facts on the ground from these
(28:37):
fires destroying our city as we speak, but we also
want to hear from you, and I think we've been
going through this for enough days now where you've had
some thoughts, you've had some experiences, you've got some questions,
and I may not be able to answer those questions,
but let's put them out there. Let's share them together,
because we're not even at a point where we can
(28:59):
fully die, just what we have experienced, because we're still
experiencing it. Evacuations have grown since yesterday. The threat to
some other areas has have grown since yesterday. So we're
all still processing. So let's talk about it. Join is
on the iHeartRadio app. You can click the talkback button.
(29:21):
We'll play some of those messages coming up, and then
old school call us one eight hundred five to zero
one KFI one eight hundred five two zero one five
three four. Let's go back to the phone lines. Now
Eric is on the line. Let's go to Eric.
Speaker 7 (29:36):
Hi, Eric, Hello, Yeah, I was just listening to the
guy who said he came out here and okay, down
to southern California in nineteen in the late seventies.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
Right.
Speaker 7 (29:48):
Well, I'm seventy one years old, and I came here
in nineteen seventy one after graduating high school and after
visiting in nineteen sixty nine for the California Dream.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
And I lived it.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Man, I I can tell by your voice you lived
in California Dream.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (30:12):
So I came and my father already had lived out
here in Yorba, and then I stayed with him for
a couple of months, and then you know, I got
a house with a bunch of other guys, you know,
most of the getting ombts, and you know, most of
the Vietnam bets, you know. And and I got one job,
(30:35):
and and that company had a problem with their product
where they had to recall everything, and they were going
to say, yeah, well you can stay, and we're going
to keep this other guy. And this other guy, I said, Nahn,
you know, I've been coming here with my friends, and
I'm going from a minimum wage to like a dollar
seventy five to like three bucks an hour there because
(30:56):
I just, you know, I'm like a production genius, said,
I figured out how to do something.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Well, let me ask Eric, I mean, do you do
you think that that California dream that you had is gone?
Speaker 4 (31:07):
Now?
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (31:09):
It's uh, it's dead. And I think the Democratic Party
is uh uh basically the dead party. You know, it's
it's it's going to have somebody's going to have to
come up with a new party that that is premier
and technocratic, because that's what we really need, and that's
(31:31):
what we're getting between you on Musk and Yeah, the
other guy, I always forget his thing.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yeah, I understand and and and you know, Eric, I
appreciate the call very much. I hope that your California
dream lives on. However, and look, this is a state
and a city that is predominantly Democratic at this point,
so that is the party that's going to face the
bulk of the eyre here. It may offer some political
(32:02):
growth for Republicans statewide, maybe even here locally, but again,
I think an experience like this is not going to
be We're not gonna come out of this taking cheap
word salad from folks. I don't think this is something
where you can just say, well, that was a Democrat
in charge when the fires happened. I'm a Republican because
(32:24):
this is the worst thing to ever happen to LA.
So if you are a Republican looking to take the
seat of a Democrat, I think a lot of folks
are going to want to know, how will we stop
this from ever happening again, How will we recover from this?
How will these parts of LA be put back together.
Let's go back to the phone lines. Now, we've got
(32:44):
Kimberly on the line. Good Saturday evening to you, Kimberly.
Speaker 9 (32:49):
Good Saturday evening, to you too, and thank you for
all your hard work this last week. Thank you guys
have really been in the battle and in the trenches.
Speaker 7 (32:58):
I'm well.
Speaker 9 (33:00):
It was a long time Californian. I'm sixty four. I
moved to Georgia when I was sixty one. I lived
in southern California. Like the other guy that called about
the goats in Laguna Beach, I've lived underneath where some
of those fires were, and I wish that the government
(33:20):
would look at the progress and the value and the virtue.
I don't think if they had all the goats doing
what they were to do, I don't know if we'd
lose as much as we have. My question I have
for you, though, Michael. I listen on the iHeartRadio that
KFI is my home. This is how I keep in
(33:41):
touch with you guys back there. But do they have
any idea how these fires have started? Because on the
cable news, I'm not seeing anything.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
I think right now, Kimberly, and we do appreciate you listening,
even on the East coast. That's very very kind of you.
And then lets us know what KFI has meant to
people who were here and are now somewhere else, Thank
you so much for listening. Shortly, the answer is no,
and that's going to be something that we're going to
want to know. There's a lot of speculation out there,
but any finality to those answers has not been arrived
(34:11):
to yet. We are obviously attuned to that, and we
will be watching very closely for some answers. Did they
all start the same way? I don't know. What we
do know is that there was a little bit of
warning in advance that there were conditions favorable to serious fires,
between the winds and the dryness and the low humidity,
that we could have faced a pretty significant problem. I
(34:34):
don't know that anyone had braced for something like this,
because nothing like this has ever happened before. So the
origin of these fires may be questioned number one, and
it may take the longest to answer. In the meantime,
a lot of those other questions, what could we have
done better? What will we do better? How do we
(34:55):
rebuild lives homes? What are we going to do? Those
are going to be questions that will be ongoing not
just in the coming days, weeks, and months, but for years.
How many years did it take to build the Palisades?
How many years did it take to build Alta Dina?
Because we have to do it all over again. We'll
(35:16):
get one more call in before a quick break. Let's
go down to Sam. Good Saturday evening to you, Sam.
Speaker 10 (35:23):
How you doing?
Speaker 4 (35:25):
Hello?
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Hi?
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Sam? Go right ahead.
Speaker 4 (35:28):
Okay.
Speaker 10 (35:29):
I'm a little discouraged that there are a lot of people,
including our next president, who get on and start attacking
our management of our government and our state when they
have no knowledge of anything. And if this is the
guy who caused the inflation we are suffering with, caused
(35:50):
the pandemic and has failed our country, and these people
actually re elected him to serve another four years of
this aster on our state. And this is ridiculous for
them to get online and talk about California like they
live here and know how to fight a fire.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
In our hurricane.
Speaker 10 (36:13):
It's crazy saying we need to stop. They need to
take a breath and start having a little compassion for
all the people who lost their homes, and you know,
start acting like Americans. I'm seventy years old and I've
never seen what I see these days, and it's people
(36:34):
who are me, me, me, and let's trash anybody who
doesn't agree with me, and I'm tired of it. I'm
ready to leave America now. It's gotten to the point
of where it's the way people drive, it's the way
they it's in their lives. They're all Trump pansies.
Speaker 4 (36:54):
Sam.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
If you want to talk about the way people drive,
you found the Saturday Night Show for you. I can
tell you that that's one of my favorite top we
talk about usually every Saturday, with obviously a different set
of circumstances tonight. I appreciate your call, and I think
the point that you've raised is so serious because again,
I'm not trying to assign blame ideologically. I don't care
(37:15):
what party you're in, right, I'm a journalist here. I'm
gonna have questions for you. Regardless of that. I hope
that we collectively can seek the answers to these important,
critical questions to move forward seriously without worrying about what
letter is next to these folks name or what organizations
they're a part of. It's not about the sport of
(37:38):
politics anymore. That's not how we will recover from this.
Some very serious conversations ahead, and we'll continue to have
conversations with you tonight on AM six forty KFI. You
can join our conversation one eight hundred five two zero
one KFI one eight hundred five to two zero one
five three four, or hit us up on the iHeartRadio
(37:59):
app talkback button. We're going to place some of those
Speaker 1 (38:01):
K f I a M six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News. We're going to be
with you tonight until ten o'clock. You've heard us here
on KFI and a lot of our fellow media outlets
across Greater LA telling the story of these fires all week. Tonight,
for the next three hours, I want to turn to
you to help tell this story. We want you to
(00:28):
call in, share your first hand accounts of what you experienced,
share your concerns, your questions about what has transpired over
this past week. Let us know how you're feeling, let
us know if you have some ideas on how to help.
Our lines are going to be open tonight for the
next three hours, and LA will be talking to LA
(00:50):
about what's going on in La. This is a city
on fire, just shocking. How else can we describe what
we're looking at. We've been looking at this for several
days now, and there are no additional words to add.
This is the worst disaster ever in this city, one
(01:13):
of our worst national disasters, a shocking amount of destruction.
And here's the worst part We're still in the midst
of it. This isn't over yet. We see right now
changes of evacuation orders that are coming in very rapidly,
(01:36):
then being lifted as firefighters try to get a handle
on what's going on near the Palisades. And then in
the forecast we've got more wins. There's some red flag
warnings out there in the coming days. And then what
happens next week when some additional heavy winds blow in.
What does that do to the effort to fight these fires?
(01:58):
What does it do on behalf of the fires. So
many of us who live near these flames are not
out of the woods yet, and already so many of
our neighbors have lost everything, and it has spared no
one in its line of destruction. You can be a
(02:22):
wealthy person who owns a mansion in the Palisades. You
can be someone who works as a maid there. The
fire is relentless, it is unforgiving, It is taking everything
in its path. And I've been down there. I've been
down to the Palisades. I've been on the streets of
Altadena this week. When you see these aerial shots on
(02:46):
your television or computer or phone screens, that's breathtaking, but
when you see it up close, it is scarring. These
are images that will not leave your mind for a
very long time. And it's so bizarre to think that
(03:09):
just on Monday, we were all just living in LA
and those neighborhoods existed, and families woke up in the morning,
parents went to work, kids went to school. Businesses turned
on their lights and opened their doors, just like they
had done for years. And now they have been erased
(03:32):
from the map. And we haven't started the grieving process
yet because it's not over. We don't know what to
grieve yet. There's so much but we're all still fighting
this right now. This is something that has changed the
(03:56):
course of history for the city of Los Angeles. That's
the magnitude of this, and we have not had a
moment to stop and think about that. This is going
to change public policy, This might change who makes public policy.
This is going to change housing. It has already changed
(04:19):
the face of the city. This place does not look
the same anymore. It never will again. And just days ago,
on Monday, we were all just living in LA. You know,
there is no city possibly on earth that can break
(04:43):
your heart like Los Angeles. It has so many unique
ways of crushing your dreams, of crushing your spirits. But
when it is good here, it is so good. There
is nothing like La. This heartbreak, we're all feeling it together.
(05:05):
I hope that we can find a way to process
that together. But there are gonna be a lot of
question There's gonna be a lot of anger, finger pointing,
and there'd better be some answers, not just to the
policy failures that may exist out there, but for the
people who have lost everything, for the neighborhoods that are gone.
What will those places look like in the future. We're
(05:28):
not going to know that for a long time. This
is a story that will dominate our lives here in
LA for the foreseeable future. I don't really know what
a comparison that would make sense to say, but it
(05:48):
almost feels a bit like COVID in some respects simple ways.
When I think about driving on the freeways on a
weekday and there's not the traffic that we're used to,
you're seeing a lot of people in mask and you're
already aware of a certain amount of destruction that's been
caused by it, and now it's here and you don't
(06:09):
know what's coming next. Those are the feelings that I
have had personally about this as we've been covering it
here at KFI. Like I said, I've been to the Palisades,
I've been to Altadna, I've seen the destruction. I know
many of you have experienced the destruction, and so many
(06:32):
of you across LA are glued to this because what
else can you do. We're in the midst of it.
It is not over. There is more bad stuff happening
outside right now. The city is on fire, and we
(06:55):
shouldn't look away. You barely can for a moment. You
can't catch your breath. The air is rough to breathe everywhere.
But I want to talk to you tonight, La, every
corner of LA. I want to hear your experiences. I
(07:16):
want to know instances of good that maybe you've witnessed.
I want to hear your questions you have for policy makers.
And if you just have something you want to let out,
We're going to do that tonight. So you can call
us one eight hundred five to zero one KFI one
(07:37):
eight hundred five to zero one KFI one eight hundred
five to zero, one five three four. We're here till
ten o'clock tonight. Let's talk it out. Let's talk about this.
We'll keep the updates flowing about what's happening. It is
still a very fluid situation. Lots of changes happening as
we speak, but we're going to bring the latest as
(07:58):
it happens, and let's have a conversation about what we
have all experienced here together in Los Angeles over the
past several days. One eight hundred five to two zero
one five three four one eight hundred five to two
zero one KFI. I'm Michael Monks from KFI News with
you till ten o'clock tonight.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
You're listening to KFI Am six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
This is Michael Monks. We're all coping with the stress
of the fires as well as even people working here
are watching as these flames move perilously close to their
own homes or they've already been evacuated. And it's I
don't have to tell anybody listening what the situation is.
It's we are all experiencing this together. That's why I
just keep emphasizing this is unprecedented. But we're talking to
(08:44):
you tonight our number to talk about what you're feeling,
what your questions are how we can cope together tonight
one eight hundred five to two zero one KFI one eight
hundred five two zero one five three four will also
take your voice messages through the talkback on the iHeartRadio app.
Just pull that up, press the red button, leave your message,
and we're going to play those. We've got three hours
(09:04):
together till ten o'clock tonight. Quick update on the situation
involving the four big fires. The Palisades fires up to
twenty three thousand, six hundred and fifty four acres at
last report, only eleven percent contained. Twenty three thousand, six
hundred acres. You know, this fire has grown so much
that the number is just mind boggling. How do we
comprehend that? If you're lucky to own a home somewhere
(09:27):
in LA and you have two acres, how do you
multiply that enough in your mind to grasp what twenty
three thousand acres looks like? Sixteen people confirmed dead across
all the fires here, countless structures, hundreds of homes, maybe more.
(09:49):
The Eaten Fire an Altadena Pasadena area fourteen thousand, one
hundred seventeen acres fifteen percent contained now They've made a
lot of progress on the smaller fires. The Kenneth fire
that broke out on Thursday that hit over one thousand acres,
but it's now ninety percent contained. The Hearst fire, which
(10:11):
broke out on Tuesday, also is at seven hundred ninety
nine acres, but that one is seventy six percent contained.
The Palisides fire is creeping towards Encino and Tarzana right now.
This thing is not over. We are living in the
midst of this destruction and still awaiting further possible destruction.
(10:33):
And that's what's so difficult to deal with. I don't
know how we even start to talk about it, because
the magnitude of this situation is such that I don't
think we're equipped to comprehend the worst disaster in LA
history ongoing. We're living in it right now. We're taking
(10:56):
your calls tonight, all night long that you will join
us either on the phone lines or in the iHeartRadio
app talk back. I also want to let you know
that iHeartMedia is working to collect some donations for folks
who are in need. You can go to KFI AM
six forty dot com slash donate. We've partnered with the
(11:18):
Dreams Center LA for donations. There are also a lot
of other great resources out there for you to turn
to to either seek donations or to offer up your help.
We're going to take some calls now. We're doing that
all night long, and I want to start with in
just a moment, I think we're just having a quick
(11:39):
technical Araul, Can you let me know in my ear
what I need to do in here to get these
folks on the air so that we can start taking
these phone calls. Do I just call out the names
and you're going to take care of it, all right.
That makes it very easy for me. Thanks for hanging
in there with us. Well, we sort this out. We
got a lot of callers we want to hear from
(11:59):
you too. Let's go to Neil in Santa Monica. Neil,
good evening to you.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
He Oh there, Yes, I'm really mad. I'm very upset
about this whole thing. You know of one of my
best my wife's best friend, her husband owns a house
in the Palisades. The beautiful house is burnt down. And
he was out of town and he came back and
(12:26):
you know, his house is burnt down. But he didn't
know that something was going to happen to his house,
so he lost all of his His man's a physicist
and he had like important documents, paperwork like everybody else,
but i mean, he lost everything. I mean, it's just
it's just horrible, and it just really gets me. I'm
just so angry that Bass cut back the funds on
(12:48):
the fire department by eighteen million and planned to cut
back one hundred more million dollars well. At the same time,
they flushed billions of dollars down the on the homeless
and those bogus homeless charities, and the money is not
going to the homeless, it just goes into the pockets
of these bogus charities. When they investigated, they said they
(13:12):
couldn't figure out where the money went. And even Governor
Newsom said he couldn't figure out where twenty four billion
dollars went for the homeless. They don't have the records.
Isn't that convenient? That's how corrupt these fools are.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Neil, thank you.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
I am wat the homeless started thirteen thousand fires in
one year. These people should be treated as terrorists and
be removed off the street and under surveillance. In other words,
these our current government is obviously working with the cartels.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Neil.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I appreciate the call. Your frustration is felt by so
many folks. And what I said at the beginning of
this hour is that this fire, in addition to dealing
with the destruction it's left behind, I think it will
change a lot for LA and the way that policy
is dealt with, and maybe even in a lot of
ways the people who make policy, because this is going
(14:08):
to be the number one priority now nothing else will matter,
not even the Olympics that somehow this city has to
get ready for in twenty twenty eight. This is now
priority number one, and we are still in the midst
of it. We do not yet know the scope of
what this destruction fully is yet. Let's go to JP
in North Hollywood, JP. Good Saturday evening to.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
You, sing mm be one and only Michael.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Monks, Yes, sir, mm.
Speaker 6 (14:37):
What the what?
Speaker 2 (14:38):
What the what?
Speaker 5 (14:40):
On all seriousness? Michael Monks, it's day five, I ask you.
It's never been done before. Military action has never been
done before. But why shouldn't it happen? It's day five.
This is treacherous, sir. This is a treacherous situation. This
is serious.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
This is very serious, no doubt about it.
Speaker 7 (15:02):
Man.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
This is just again, we haven't seen the full scope
of this yet. We don't know what this looks like.
We're not on the other side of it yet, we're
in the midst of it. And and you're right. I
mean all of the firefighters who are out there busting
their tails. My god, I've seen them up close. What
a job, What a job they're doing. Even when we
tell you it's only eight percent contained, that doesn't mean
(15:23):
that they're not out there just facing death in the
face to do what they can right now. It's it's scary,
but I don't know how to know. If we are
doing everything that we can right now, why isn't the
global community together dropping stuff on these flames? I don't know.
(15:46):
There are so many questions that we are all going
to have that you can't even get answers for right now,
not just because politicians can be evasive. The answers probably
don't even exist yet. But in the months and years
to come, when we finally look like we've recovered from this,
(16:06):
you can bet that we're all gonna have our answers.
We got more calls ahead. We're talking to you all
night long until ten o'clock here on KFI AM six
forty one eight hundred five to zero one, KFI one
eight hundred five to zero, one five three four.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
KFI AM six forty. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News. I'm with you tonight
till ten o'clock and we're doing some old school, old
fashioned talk radio. The phone lines are open at KFI
and that's because you've listened to us and our other colleagues,
our friends at other media outlets across LA tell this
(16:47):
story all week long, this ongoing story. We want to
hear you tell the story too. What have you seen?
What have you experienced? What are you feeling? What are
your concerns? What are your questions? One hundred five to zero,
one five three four. That's one, eight hundred five to
zero one. K F I will also take your messages
(17:07):
through the iHeartRadio app. Just click on that talk back
button and we're going to play some of those throughout
the evening as well. Let's get back to the phones now.
We've got Donald on the line. Donald, good evening, to.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
You this story always.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
If you don't mind, Donald, just turn your radio down
and then we will be able to take you. This
is really old school public radio when you got to
tell somebody to turn the radio down. Donald, are you
with us?
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Tell you what?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Put them back on hold. We'll go to John stand
by for John. John good evening to you.
Speaker 7 (17:40):
Hello, how are you doing.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 8 (17:42):
How are you very good?
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Now?
Speaker 8 (17:45):
I think the homeless is a big part of this equation.
Everywhere you go. You can remember about a year ago
they just about burnt down one of the major bridge
buttresses under I think it was a ten freeway that
had a homeless camp it. You know, damage and crack
some of the concrete. But any place they can find
the camel up and get them behind brush, you know,
(18:10):
so they're left alone. They don't want to be bothered
like the rest of us. But they have to cook
and heat with a campfire. Now Newsome is outlawed disposable
proteine bottles, so they you know, now they're gonna have
to have a bona fide campfire if they're gonna do
any of that, because they're not gonna be able to
have a little stove The other thing is you know
(18:32):
Loo Gooda Hills, they've put goats out in there. They
had a terrible fire there, I don't know twenty years ago,
but now they run goats up in their hillside. And
Catalina Island, the damn Nature Conservancy eradicated twenty thousand plus goats,
let them rot because they weren't natives. And then shortly
thereafter the place went up like an inferno because vegetation
(18:54):
grew up so bad. They need to go through and
get a goat program. And all our the Chaparralle area
is adjacent to these towns, and yeah, do some sort
of a natural uh you know, control for some of
this brush, and they get into some of these control
burns that nobody likes.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
John, I appreciate that. I think that's a perspective that's
worth sharing. You know, I moved here from Kentucky, and
my city and Kentucky had a goat program and it
was pretty successful. Not only was it successful at keeping
the grass and the brush cut near the highway, it
was a tourist attraction. People loved these goats and they
came to see There gonna be a lot of questions
about how California works to prevent these wildfires. I know
(19:39):
there are a lot of accusations out there. There are
reporting that indicates, yes, we were bad at it, No,
we were good at it. Very much needs to be
cleared up and will be. But again, I'm going to
say this throughout this evening. This isn't you know, this
isn't a post mortem because we're not in the post yet.
We are still in the midst of it. Right now,
we are watching the fire that is all already destroyed.
(20:00):
Pacific Palisades appear hungrier tonight, marching towards other areas. So
it's not over. You still need to be glued to
the alerts, paying attention, hacked, and ready to go in
so many different parts of town in case this thing
continues to worsen. Sixteen people have died, thousands of structures destroyed,
(20:23):
including many homes. This thing is just not over yet.
The statement that John made about homelessness, you know, a
lot of people's minds have gone there, and it's not
because you're conspiratorial or crazy or inhumane. There is a
long track record of fires set by homeless folks in
(20:45):
downtown LA buildings under a freeway. We know this stuff happens.
I live in the Fashion district. I live in a
part of the Fashion District that if you were a
bad real estate agent, you might describe my apartment building
as skid row near. I can look out my window
and see rows of tents and fires set up on
the sidewalk. That's not safe. And we know how ineffective
(21:07):
homeless programs have been, how costly, and how little of
a return on that investment we're getting. I don't think
you're inhumane to have those types of questions. This is
a type of event that is going to change not
just the geography of Los Angeles. This is going to
change a lot of the ways that the government approaches policy,
(21:30):
and I think it's going to change a lot of
the ways that the electric decides who's in the government
to direct that policy. We're taking phone calls until ten
o'clock tonight right here on KFI one eight hundred five
to zero one, KFI one eight hundred five to zero one, five,
three four. Let's go to Jerry. Jerry is on the line.
Good evening to you, Jerry.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Oh. Yes, First of all, I like to think KFI
for our turn are. It's the best where talk. Thank you.
First of all, government's job is to protect the people.
It's the most important thing. And secondly, they get good money.
They should be on this thing right professionally instead of
sitting back getting big pages. Yeah, I think if they've
(22:14):
not just cowboy for the fellow and afford more materials,
think for a lot more equipment for fighting as far
as and they should do it in a more efficient manner,
not just old fashioned ways. You know, they need a
lot more. Playing the helicopters and scooping from the ocean
ain't bad because they might say to our environmental, but
(22:37):
environmental is going to be a story if it's not
put out where so it's all think I hurt that much.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Good points, Jerry. We do appreciate you listening and thank
you for the call. You know, I was on with
our own Tim Conway earlier this week and we were
talking about, you know, the ocean's right there, why can't
we use that? And there are apparently scientific concerns about
what makes up the ocean, specifically the salt and the
lasting impact that it can have on the earth and
(23:06):
the you know, the species that live amongst it. So
you look at a situation like a twenty three thousand
acre fire and the threat that it has made to
even more homes and more acres, And you wonder, how
do you balance this, you know, should we go ahead
and use that vast resource that's right next to this
fire and say the hell with the soil? I don't know.
(23:30):
These are going to be the questions that are going
to linger for a long time. This thing's not over yet.
We're in the midst of it. Taking calls at one
eight hundred five to zero, one five, three four. Let's
go now to Donald. I think we've got Donald back
on the line. Donald, good evening to you.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
Hi there.
Speaker 6 (23:47):
I live in Rancho, Santa Margarita, Orange County, and I've
been out here in California since the late seventies. And
I grew up in basically was in the Silicon Valley,
worked at Apple Computer in the very early days with
Steve jobs in Bosniak, and spent my whole life living
(24:08):
here in California. And I've seen such a huge change
between what happened in the seventh late seventies to where
we are today. And I'm living in southern California, South
Orange County, Rancho Santamargarita Rancho Santamargeda dot com if you
want to go there but that you'll find me. And
all I have to say is, I cannot believe that
(24:30):
the how the Democratic Party has really truly destroyed not
only the political party, but the California dream, you know,
the California dream that we all grew up to believe
in everything. When I grew up back in Ohio, we
thought everything started here in California. Everything began here and
(24:54):
went back east. But I just cannot believe what where
we've been, where we've gone, Governor Newsom and his trickle
down theory of economics, and all the way down to
pointing the singer at Bath in the Orange in Los
Angeles County. I just want to say that I'm ashamed
(25:17):
of all of you who've voted with Public Democratic and
we're going to see a huge change in the new
elections that'll be coming up. That's all I have to say.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Thank you, Donald, thanks so much for the call. Look,
I'm with the KFI news department here, so I'm not
going to get into partisan blame. We see enough of that,
and you know, there are people who are really good
at it, people who can blame conservatives, people who can
blame liberals. You can listen Monday through Friday one to four.
Our very own John coblt is quite talented at laying
(25:50):
down the law as he sees it. But we're seeing
blame amongst the leaders here in this state already. It's
sometimes subtle, sometimes a little more direct, whether it's Gavin
Newsom saying he wasn't getting straight answers from local leaders,
whether it's this weird squabbling between the mayor of Los Angeles,
Karen Bass, and the fire chief when there was a
(26:12):
report in I believe the Daily Mail yesterday that the
fire chief had been fired, and then some local media
outlets who are on the ground and didn't just parachute
in had to say, no, that's not true. And then
the two had to appear together at a press conference
this morning, and that was awkward. In the midst of
the worst disaster to ever hit Los Angeles, We're dealing
(26:35):
with political squabbling. That's just the nature of this country
right now. There's going to be plenty of blame to
go around at some point, hopefully done through a lot
of honest reflection about the way policy is made, in
the way that we allow it. Whether one party is
better at managing fires in California, I can't tell you that.
(26:56):
But we're going to be listening more closely on this
issue now. This is now the number one issue in
Los Angeles and probably in California. No other major issue
will surpass this for the foreseeable future. This is what
will be on the agenda at City Council. This is
what will be on the agenda at the Board of Supervisors,
this is what will be on the agenda in the
(27:17):
General Assembly in Sacramento. This is now the number one issue.
So who will lead us through this and what does
it mean to lead us through it? That's what we
want to hear you talk about as well. You know
you're gonna hear from us all week, and we're grateful
that you tune in to listen to us present the
facts on the ground. I've been to the Palisades this
(27:39):
week reporting. I've been in Altadena this week reporting. It's
terrifying what you see. It's I said it at the beginning.
I don't think a city in the world breaks your
heart like Los Angeles can. If you come here with
the dream, but if you make it, or if you're
just here on a really good day. There's no place
better to have a good day, so it's worth fighting for.
(28:01):
Join our conversation one eight hundred five to zero one
KFI one eight hundred five to zero, one, five, three four.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News. We'll continue with more.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News. We're with you till
ten o'clock tonight, and we're doing something a little different,
something old school, something classic talk radio. We've opened up
the phone lines because here's the deal. For the past
several days, you've listened to us tell the story. We've
done our best and tell you the story. We're going
to continue giving the facts on the ground from these
(28:37):
fires destroying our city as we speak, but we also
want to hear from you, and I think we've been
going through this for enough days now where you've had
some thoughts, you've had some experiences, you've got some questions,
and I may not be able to answer those questions,
but let's put them out there. Let's share them together,
because we're not even at a point where we can
(28:59):
fully die, just what we have experienced, because we're still
experiencing it. Evacuations have grown since yesterday. The threat to
some other areas has have grown since yesterday. So we're
all still processing. So let's talk about it. Join is
on the iHeartRadio app. You can click the talkback button.
(29:21):
We'll play some of those messages coming up, and then
old school call us one eight hundred five to zero
one KFI one eight hundred five two zero one five
three four. Let's go back to the phone lines. Now
Eric is on the line. Let's go to Eric.
Speaker 7 (29:36):
Hi, Eric, Hello, Yeah, I was just listening to the
guy who said he came out here and okay, down
to southern California in nineteen in the late seventies.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
Right.
Speaker 7 (29:48):
Well, I'm seventy one years old, and I came here
in nineteen seventy one after graduating high school and after
visiting in nineteen sixty nine for the California Dream.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
And I lived it.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Man, I I can tell by your voice you lived
in California Dream.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (30:12):
So I came and my father already had lived out
here in Yorba, and then I stayed with him for
a couple of months, and then you know, I got
a house with a bunch of other guys, you know,
most of the getting ombts, and you know, most of
the Vietnam bets, you know. And and I got one job,
(30:35):
and and that company had a problem with their product
where they had to recall everything, and they were going
to say, yeah, well you can stay, and we're going
to keep this other guy. And this other guy, I said, Nahn,
you know, I've been coming here with my friends, and
I'm going from a minimum wage to like a dollar
seventy five to like three bucks an hour there because
(30:56):
I just, you know, I'm like a production genius, said,
I figured out how to do something.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Well, let me ask Eric, I mean, do you do
you think that that California dream that you had is gone?
Speaker 4 (31:07):
Now?
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (31:09):
It's uh, it's dead. And I think the Democratic Party
is uh uh basically the dead party. You know, it's
it's it's going to have somebody's going to have to
come up with a new party that that is premier
and technocratic, because that's what we really need, and that's
(31:31):
what we're getting between you on Musk and Yeah, the
other guy, I always forget his thing.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yeah, I understand and and and you know, Eric, I
appreciate the call very much. I hope that your California
dream lives on. However, and look, this is a state
and a city that is predominantly Democratic at this point,
so that is the party that's going to face the
bulk of the eyre here. It may offer some political
(32:02):
growth for Republicans statewide, maybe even here locally, but again,
I think an experience like this is not going to
be We're not gonna come out of this taking cheap
word salad from folks. I don't think this is something
where you can just say, well, that was a Democrat
in charge when the fires happened. I'm a Republican because
(32:24):
this is the worst thing to ever happen to LA.
So if you are a Republican looking to take the
seat of a Democrat, I think a lot of folks
are going to want to know, how will we stop
this from ever happening again, How will we recover from this?
How will these parts of LA be put back together.
Let's go back to the phone lines. Now, we've got
(32:44):
Kimberly on the line. Good Saturday evening to you, Kimberly.
Speaker 9 (32:49):
Good Saturday evening, to you too, and thank you for
all your hard work this last week. Thank you guys
have really been in the battle and in the trenches.
Speaker 7 (32:58):
I'm well.
Speaker 9 (33:00):
It was a long time Californian. I'm sixty four. I
moved to Georgia when I was sixty one. I lived
in southern California. Like the other guy that called about
the goats in Laguna Beach, I've lived underneath where some
of those fires were, and I wish that the government
(33:20):
would look at the progress and the value and the virtue.
I don't think if they had all the goats doing
what they were to do, I don't know if we'd
lose as much as we have. My question I have
for you, though, Michael. I listen on the iHeartRadio that
KFI is my home. This is how I keep in
(33:41):
touch with you guys back there. But do they have
any idea how these fires have started? Because on the
cable news, I'm not seeing anything.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
I think right now, Kimberly, and we do appreciate you listening,
even on the East coast. That's very very kind of you.
And then lets us know what KFI has meant to
people who were here and are now somewhere else, Thank
you so much for listening. Shortly, the answer is no,
and that's going to be something that we're going to
want to know. There's a lot of speculation out there,
but any finality to those answers has not been arrived
(34:11):
to yet. We are obviously attuned to that, and we
will be watching very closely for some answers. Did they
all start the same way? I don't know. What we
do know is that there was a little bit of
warning in advance that there were conditions favorable to serious fires,
between the winds and the dryness and the low humidity,
that we could have faced a pretty significant problem. I
(34:34):
don't know that anyone had braced for something like this,
because nothing like this has ever happened before. So the
origin of these fires may be questioned number one, and
it may take the longest to answer. In the meantime,
a lot of those other questions, what could we have
done better? What will we do better? How do we
(34:55):
rebuild lives homes? What are we going to do? Those
are going to be questions that will be ongoing not
just in the coming days, weeks, and months, but for years.
How many years did it take to build the Palisades?
How many years did it take to build Alta Dina?
Because we have to do it all over again. We'll
(35:16):
get one more call in before a quick break. Let's
go down to Sam. Good Saturday evening to you, Sam.
Speaker 10 (35:23):
How you doing?
Speaker 4 (35:25):
Hello?
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Hi?
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Sam? Go right ahead.
Speaker 4 (35:28):
Okay.
Speaker 10 (35:29):
I'm a little discouraged that there are a lot of people,
including our next president, who get on and start attacking
our management of our government and our state when they
have no knowledge of anything. And if this is the
guy who caused the inflation we are suffering with, caused
(35:50):
the pandemic and has failed our country, and these people
actually re elected him to serve another four years of
this aster on our state. And this is ridiculous for
them to get online and talk about California like they
live here and know how to fight a fire.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
In our hurricane.
Speaker 10 (36:13):
It's crazy saying we need to stop. They need to
take a breath and start having a little compassion for
all the people who lost their homes, and you know,
start acting like Americans. I'm seventy years old and I've
never seen what I see these days, and it's people
(36:34):
who are me, me, me, and let's trash anybody who
doesn't agree with me, and I'm tired of it. I'm
ready to leave America now. It's gotten to the point
of where it's the way people drive, it's the way
they it's in their lives. They're all Trump pansies.
Speaker 4 (36:54):
Sam.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
If you want to talk about the way people drive,
you found the Saturday Night Show for you. I can
tell you that that's one of my favorite top we
talk about usually every Saturday, with obviously a different set
of circumstances tonight. I appreciate your call, and I think
the point that you've raised is so serious because again,
I'm not trying to assign blame ideologically. I don't care
(37:15):
what party you're in, right, I'm a journalist here. I'm
gonna have questions for you. Regardless of that. I hope
that we collectively can seek the answers to these important,
critical questions to move forward seriously without worrying about what
letter is next to these folks name or what organizations
they're a part of. It's not about the sport of
(37:38):
politics anymore. That's not how we will recover from this.
Some very serious conversations ahead, and we'll continue to have
conversations with you tonight on AM six forty KFI. You
can join our conversation one eight hundred five two zero
one KFI one eight hundred five to two zero one
five three four, or hit us up on the iHeartRadio
(37:59):
app talkback button. We're going to place some of those
Speaker 1 (38:01):
K f I a M six forty on demand
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