January 23, 2025 • 33 mins
ICYMI: Hour ONE of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – Ongoing Coverages of the SoCal wildfires with updates on the ‘Hughes Fire’…PLUS - KFI Reporter Michael Monks joins the program with an in-depth look at how Los Angeles County officials are dealing with the overwhelming impact of the wildfires plaguing the Southland - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I AM sixty Kelly Here, We're live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app. And today is just one of those days
in which I just got to ask the question out loud,
why can't La catch a break? Why can't Southern California
catch a break? It seemed for a moment that we
had started turning the corner, that we had most of
(00:29):
the major fires with a high percentage of containment, and
then all of a sudden, at least in the grand
scheme of things, all of a sudden, ten forty five
am this morning, the Hughes Fire broke out near Casteak
Lake off Lake Hughes Road, just north of cast Steak
Reservoir Road. And now it has grown to more than
(00:52):
ninety four hundred acres, And depending on the outlet or
information source that you may read, it will show anywhere
from no containment to five percent containment. But the bottom
line is it's burning out of control at this point.
If there is any semblance of good news, I have
(01:13):
not seen any information which says that structures have been
damaged or loss of life. But given that it is
burning out of control. We can't guarantee that that's going
to be the case throughout the night. And speaking of
throughout the night, we're going to have to deal with
another high wind advisory through Thursday. And I don't think
(01:34):
it's going to be as gusty in the terms of
the winds that we've seen in the previous week and
a half, but still the winds are going to increase
throughout the night. And I was listening to Mark Ronner
during the newscast talking about the prospect of rain, which
should get here, not soon enough. Unfortunately, rain is supposed
to be coming maybe on Friday, and will carry through
(01:57):
the better part of the weekend, but Lay seemingly just
cannot catch a break. And if you're on the five
Freeway right now, you may be pleased to know that,
depending on where you are, you might have been concerned
about whether it was going to be reopened in both directions,
but the Five Freeway through the Grapevine has been reopened
(02:21):
despite the fires, the Hues fire. The southbound side reopened
around five pm and the northbound side reopened around six pm,
and the California Highway Patrol reopened the freeway after smoke
was no longer causing visibility concerns on the roadway. And
I'm relatively familiar with that corridor. I've driven through Santa Clarita,
(02:43):
going through Valencia, going to up and into the Palmdale area.
I've driven through a number of times. Then, if you
have any knowledge of that area, there's just a lot
of dry brush on both sides of the freeway. And
the good news, as I said earlier, no reports of
structures destroyed. The bad news is it seems like this
(03:05):
fire can just burn in perpetuity. There's really nothing to
slow it down, and if the wind should increase, it
can become even more problematic. We're going to keep our
eye on the Hues fire for the rest of the evening.
In fact, I'll be with you until midnight. Yes, we're
taking it all the way to midnight, as we did
for the better part of the fires before. We'll have
(03:28):
Michael Monks, who's going to join us at the bottom
of the hour with some updated information and also some
other information regarding the Palisades fire. Some of the numbers
are coming in as far as how much that is
going to cost the City of Los Angeles. Just in
case you didn't know. Pacific Palisades is part of incorporated
Los Angeles, so that falls squarely under the purview of
(03:51):
the City of Los Angeles. And we'll see how much
that's going to cost, and where that money might come from,
and how much help we will get from the federal
government regarding the Palisades fire. Also, and if you have
lived in southern California for any length of time, there
used to be this consistent cycle. We would have fires,
(04:14):
and then we would have a little bit of rain,
and then we'd have mud slides. And unfortunately all three
may happen in the next week and a half. We
might get the rain this weekend, but Altadena they're already
preparing for possible mud slides on the other side. And
if you don't know, just in case you don't know,
(04:35):
because you have the fires and it burns out the brush,
you have this loose soil at this point, there's nothing
holding these hillsides in place. And then you get the rain,
and these hillsides literally just starts sliding down and unfortunately
sometimes take out houses in their wake. We're going to
talk about that, and also we'll give you the updated
(04:57):
evacuation orders and also location of evacuation shelters for you,
for pets, anyone else who may be impacted. And already
multiple schools have announced Thursday closures due to fire. Will
tell you about that as well. But it's not all
bad news. It's not completely all bad news, as LA
has already approved funds relief for the Altadena area LA County.
(05:23):
That is so there is a bit of good news.
And there's also LA has approved relief funds for the
San Fernando Valley residents who also have been impacted. So
much going on in southern California. Let me just say
hello to the guys who are going to be helping
me out all night long. Mark Roner, you ready to
do this one more time? Oh it's not just going
(05:43):
to be one more time. I'm not looking at you,
but you are so right on. Because it can. LA
can Southern California catch or break No.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
No, And based on everything we know, we can look
forward to more of this in our lives.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Now. We don't know at this point as far as
the what was the precipitating act or what started the fire,
but we know that there could be another huge fire tomorrow.
To Mark's point, where the Hues fire doesn't seem special
in that regard. These fires can happen anywhere, anytime, for
just about any reason, because the conditions in which these
(06:22):
fires are starting have not changed. Is just as dry,
it's just as arid, it's just as windy, so we
might as well expect more fires, unfortunately, until we get.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
This rain at least. Yeah, the parapet praise the old
airplane movie A. I think I picked the wrong month
to go off as annex.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Oh, I was gonna ready to say pick the wrong
month to stop drinking, but that's also no. No, I haven't
stopped that.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
We need more of that than ever at this point,
more so than water drinking. Never mind, never mind, Hey Stefan,
how you doing tonight? All things considered, yes, and we're
working feverishly to get you the most recent information on
the Hughes fire and more. We're sifting through all of it.
We want to make sure all of it's accurate before
(07:04):
we pass it on to you. But keep it right
here on KFI AM six forty will be with you
all evening, well into the night, all the way to midnight.
So let's do this again. You know, the drill as
they say no pun intended. It's mo Kelly, caf I
AM six forty. We are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
And when we come back, we're gonna listen back to
the press conference which was around five pm, so you
(07:27):
can get some of the latest information not only about
the fire, but what law enforcement is doing to prepare
to keep the bad actors out of the area, making
sure that you listen to the mandatory evacuation orders and
what they're putting in place, and so much more.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
You're listening to later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Kfim O'Kelly. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app and
as we continue to follow the events and cast take
the Hughes Fire, which has burned more than ninety four
hundred acres and is listed between zero and five percent contained.
There was a major news conference earlier today. It was
about five PM, and you had well, I thought it
(08:21):
was interesting because they showed the overlap of the agencies
which are fighting this fire. You had the Forest Service,
you had obviously La County Fire Department, you had the
Santa Clarita mayor who was speaking today. There was a
lot going on, and some of that information is very
(08:43):
important for you to hear, so we want to listen
back to make sure you have it. The first voice
you're going to hear is LA Fire Department Chief and
this is for the County Anthony Morony.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
So good evening on behalf of Board chair and fifth
District Supervisor, Catherine Barger. We're holding a press conference to
give important information to the community of Santa Clarita and
the Castaic area. I am Anthony Moroney, Chief of the
Los Angeles County Fire Department. The Hughes Fire is now
(09:15):
estimated to be over nine thousand, four hundred acres with
zero percent containment, with no structures reported damaged or destroyed.
We have over four thousand firefighting personnel assigned to the incident,
and we had a very robust ground and air response
(09:37):
to the incident that you see behind me. The La
County Fire Department is in unified command with the Angelus
National Forest and we are getting assistants from our.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
State partners at CalFire.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
I wanted to give a weather update because the weather
is what's predominantly driving this fire and it's spread right now.
National Weather Service has extended the red flag warning through
ten am on Friday for most of Los Angeles and
Ventura Counties. Like Tomorderate Santa Anna Wins will continue tonight
(10:16):
and into Thursday.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
A situation.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
The situation remains dynamic and the fire remains a difficult
fire to contain, although we are getting the upper hand.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
That was La County Fire Chief Anthony Moroney, and you
might have heard that he acknowledged Elie County Board of
Supervisor's chair Catherine Barger. This falls within her supervisor district.
We tried to get her on the show this evening.
Her office said that she may be available tomorrow evening,
(10:50):
pending obviously the pressers and she will probably hopefully come
on tomorrow evening sometime in the show to give us
the latest in the way that the La County Board
of Supervisors have been very responsive over the past few weeks,
actually all the time, they've been very accommodating as far
as coming on the show, coming on KFI, and giving
(11:11):
us the latest information. So we have hope to have
on Supervisor Barger tomorrow evening. But also if you're listening
to Chief Maroni, he was talking about the different agencies
involved CalFire, the US Forest Service, and how they all
have to work together, hand in hand to make sure
that this situation does not become worse than it is
(11:33):
or imperil other areas beyond right where it is beyond
just the ninety four one hundred acres which have been
burned so far. So with that in mind, here is
cal Fire Director and Chief Joe Tyler.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
Normally my office is located in Sacramento, but I have
found the need over the last two weeks to spend
my time here in a greater Los Angeles area. We
have been impacted significantly over the last two weeks, as
we all know, related to the Palisades Fire, the Eton Fire,
the Hurst Fire, the Lydia Fire, and as we continue
(12:09):
through these weather conditions, we recognize that it's not over yet.
We recognize that we still have a couple of days
to go. So the State of California brings its full
force of the women and men of CalFire, supporting the
Los Angeles County Fire Department, our local fire agencies, the
(12:30):
ANGELUS National Force, and the Forest Service abroad, as well
as our law enforcement partners who are doing so much
to respond to all of these emergencies. Together CALLOS has
utilized funds to bring together prepositioned resources across southern California,
and the California National Guard has located aircraft, both rotor
(12:55):
wing helicopters and fixed wings mobile modular mass units to
be able to supplement the air tankers that we have
here available locally. Have a robust response today and as
you can see behind us, the responders are doing great
(13:18):
work to try to contain this fire. Certainly, we are
not out of the woods yet. It is important to
take heed and caution and follow the directions of local
law enforcement, your first responders, as they are asking you
to evacuate the area. Doing that will allow our fire
(13:39):
resources to be able to conduct perimeter control and extinguish
the flaming front of this fire. Many times we find
ourselves trying to rescue evacuees, but today the community heated
that lesson and many evacuated the area, allowing them to
fight the fire. We will continue to be here to
(14:02):
support not only now, but as we move into the
next phase with the potential of rains coming forward and
trying to mitigate the landscape to avoid debris flows and flooding.
We will be here for you that was.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Cow Fire Director in Chief Joe Tyler. Before that, you
heard LA Fire Department, LA County Chief Anthony Moroney. And
this is US four Service Chief Robert Garcia, and it
gives you a broad overview of these agencies who have
all come together to work on not just this fire,
but also the surrounding fires. And this is Robert Garcia,
(14:40):
US for Service Chief.
Speaker 6 (14:42):
This one to first say thank you to Sheriff Luna.
And this isn't a mutual threat zone. So Los Angeles
County Fire Department, the Angels National Forest entered into unified
command right away. I also want to say how extremely
proud I am of the way our responders moved into
this area and established command, really establish some incident objectives
working together. The conditions that we're under aren't as severe
(15:06):
as what we've been facing over the last week or two,
but what you saw today is indicative of the conditions
that we're in in terms.
Speaker 7 (15:13):
Of the vegetation.
Speaker 6 (15:15):
So although we're not under particularly dangerous situation in terms
of the wind, our wildland fire condition is critical. Absent wind,
the fire is going to move through the vegetation like
you saw today with the slope and chasing fuel very
dangerous conditions as to what led to the US Forest
(15:35):
Service closing all of the Angelus National Forests. And this
is exactly an example why the other thing I want
to offer in terms of resources, I hope that all
the citizens here in the area are proud of the
prepositioning and the robust response. This area always sees a
robust response in the mutual threat zone, but our incidents
(15:56):
between the EAT and the Palisades, our local mobilization center,
our preposition resources put us in a position for multiple
waves of surge resources, both engine crews on the ground,
hand crews, bulldozers, and aircraft. And so the response you
see as a result of the local cooperation and the
local pre planning and the geographic area not only within
(16:16):
the LA area, but also with our partners in the
state of California to ensure that we are prepared for
what we're now.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Facing when we come back. We'll hear from kfi's own
Michael Monks, as he has been following the events in
Castake with this Hughes fire and also what's been going
on more especially in Los Angeles with the Pacific Palisades fire.
We know more about what that's going to cost the
city of Los Angeles and how that might all filter out.
(16:46):
I AM six forty we are live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
KFI Mo Kelly here, We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
And as we continue our fire coverage, the Hughes fire
is still listed at ninety four hundred acres burned between
zero and five percent containment depending on your information source.
There's the Acacia fire that we're also following, which is
in Ventura County and now that has burned two acres.
(17:37):
Still relatively small, but it's something that we are going
to watch throughout the evening. And joining us right now
is kfi's own Michael Monks to give us some sense of,
you know, perspective context. Michael, I don't know what to say.
I started off the show tonight asking the question can
La Southern California catch a break? And I don't think
(17:59):
it can.
Speaker 7 (18:00):
It really can't. Mow, and good evening to you. It's
another fire night here in Southern California. I mean it's
a lot.
Speaker 8 (18:07):
It's just been a lot because it's only been two
and a half weeks since the fires erupted in the
Palisades and around Alta Dina, and those were terrible and destructive,
and we have not been able to get to a
point to where we feel like, Okay, we're past the incident.
Let's begin the morning, let's begin the rebuilding. We haven't
(18:28):
gotten there yet. Those are still active fire areas. And
now we have this fire erupting in the north country.
And let me tell you about the little fire that
you mentioned in Ventura, this thing burning near Castaic, this
massive one that started as a little guy too. And
that's what's so scary about these things. You know, over
the past few days, we've had little flare ups, We've
had little brush fires pop up along some freeways and
(18:52):
out in the wilderness, and we're all so anxious right
now that we're watching them like hawks because we know
how rapidly and destructively they can spread.
Speaker 7 (19:02):
And this thing in Caustaic was fast.
Speaker 8 (19:06):
It started with the initial reports, it's like forty to
fifty acres and that's a lot of space. I mean,
who has an acre yard in La Proper? You know,
that's a lot of space.
Speaker 7 (19:16):
And then it blew up.
Speaker 8 (19:17):
Really fast five hundred acres, two thousand acres, five thousand acres,
and now here it is rapidly approaching ten thousand acres.
Tens of thousands of people evacuated, tens of thousands more
waiting for a mandatory evacuation warning. We're fortunate nobody's been hurt,
nobody's lost their home. But this is so scary and
so scarring, and it's just when, like you said, can
(19:40):
we get a break?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
I wonder whether we just moved from one tragedy of
disaster to another. Before I talked to you, I made
mention of how we may get some rain this weekend,
that's the good news. But also look out. The mud
slides might be coming right behind the rain. It's almost
like we're damned if we do and if we don't,
no question about it.
Speaker 8 (20:01):
I talked to meteorologists from the National Weather Service just
yesterday about this, and some of the language that was
used was the weather we're getting this weekend is almost
the opposite of these Santa Ana wind conditions that we've
been dealing with. This is something we've been needing a
little bit of moisture in the air, humidity that's not
dangerous for us, and goodness knows, we could use some
water falling out of the sky. But now we have
(20:23):
these burn scars in the Palisades and an Altadena and
that could lead to some significant trouble. So now these
emergency workers who have already been busting their tails for
a week and a half addressing the fires have to
make sure they're still on the scene and bolstering the
areas around it to protect it from the mud slides
that might come from this. So we're finally getting the
(20:44):
thing that we need, and it's bringing with it more
potential destruction.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
You make mention of something that I've been thinking about,
and that's first responder fatigue. The shifts are already fourteen
sixteen eighteen to twenty two, twenty four hours in length,
no exaggeration, and we've been calling in first responders from
different states, different counties. There has to be an accumulative
fatigue in all of these fires. I don't know if
(21:12):
we'll be able to have the resources in the short
term to keep dealing with these natural and sometimes unnatural
man made disasters.
Speaker 8 (21:22):
They're going to have to figure that out because it
is massive, and when you are calling in firefighters from
Mexico and from people from two states away to come
down and help us out then, you know, and also
knowing that it may only get worse as far as
the climate goes and the conditions go. And it could
also only get worse if La La County and the
(21:43):
rest of the area is not better prepared to address
these things. I've seen the firefighters out in the field.
I've seen them on their breaks from this thing. As
they cycle in and cycle out, they get a little
bit of breathing room, and it is some serious exhaustion. Look,
this is the job they sign up for. They know
what they're getting themselves into, and they are strong and brave, courageous,
and they can get it done. But it is a lot,
(22:06):
a lot of work. Here we are in the media
kind of feeling fatigue.
Speaker 7 (22:11):
You know, it's a lot of talk about this, and
we're not hauling that equipment around.
Speaker 8 (22:15):
We're not getting the flames up in our face, not
at the level that these guys are.
Speaker 7 (22:18):
I mean, it's a smoke.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I mean, just the horrible air quality that they're dealing
with in those conditions.
Speaker 8 (22:24):
You know, that's it too, because the air around the palisades,
the air around Alta Dina was so bad you really
did need to wear a mask. And then even though
the scene was still destructive, just several days later, you
could walk around without your mask on and not feel
too bad. I think they want you to wear a
mask or don't take my advice on that. But I
was reporting and didn't have a mask on. I thought
the air feels kind of good almost, And now we've
(22:46):
got another mass of fire that this is one of
the reasons that you might not see people go back
home very soon in the North Country because of this.
You know, the air quality could be such that it's
disruptive for their lives for a little longer than they want,
even if the flames don't make it to their home.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
As we're getting further into the story, and what I
mean by that is we've had more time to at
least deal with the Pacific Palisades fire. Do we know
at this point or do we have any strong evidence
to lead us in a direction of what started the fire.
Speaker 8 (23:18):
I think there's a lot of conversation about it, and
we should probably withhold until you know, there's some official
analysis that is presented. But this is going to be
the number one question I think people one answered even
beyond how do I get my insurance to be more affordable,
how do I rebuild my home? How do I rebuild
my live is who did this? If somebody did it,
(23:40):
who did this?
Speaker 7 (23:41):
Why? How?
Speaker 8 (23:42):
And what were the circumstances? That's question number one for
a lot of people. And we do live in an
age of instant conspiracies. Yes, unfortunate, So as soon as
the fire popped up in Castak, you'd see social media
posts questioning the orgin of it, and you know they
may be right, but you know the fact that so
(24:04):
many people's minds go there can either speak to a
number of crazy people living among us or just people
who are fed up with the answers that we've gotten
over the years for things like this. But that's where
a lot of people's heads are right now.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
One of the answers which is coming into focus is
their preliminary, excuse me, preliminary cost of the Pacific Palisades fire.
And there's a new discussion what I want to get
into on the other side of the break, this new
discussion of how much it is going to cost, who's
going to pay for it, and how the hell are
we going to pay for it? Can we do that next?
(24:38):
Michael Monks, be my pleasure. I am six forty I'm
Mo Kelly. As we continue our coverage of the mini
fires across southern California. Will have more with Michael Monks
in just a moment.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
KFI Much Kelly Live Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. We're
continuing to watch the Hughes fire, which has burned more
than ninety four hundred acres five percent containment. That is
a cautious estimate, a reasonable one, and also the Acacia fire.
I'm right in the middle of a conversation with Michael Monks,
kfi's own Michael Monks, and we had segued back over
(25:26):
to Pacific Palisades and how that fire even though it's
it's not even in the rear view, there's still work
to be done on the fire itself. The conversation now
has moved forward to the cost and the rebuilding effort.
Where is the money going to come from? You know
who is responsible? Michael Monks, What do we know about
(25:50):
Pacific Palisades as far as the cost to the city.
Speaker 8 (25:54):
I would say, don't be surprised to see mier Bass
put up a GoFundMe page at some point, because the
city was already broke before this disaster. We've been talking
about it a lot. I mean, I sit through a
lot of city council meetings and I'm surprised that it
doesn't get more attention, really because they're broke, that the
(26:15):
second largest city in America is completely broken, not a
little bit broke.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Let me jump in there. There's no piggy bank, and
I'm this is a real question. There's no piggyback piggybank
for a rainy day or a fire, a flood, an earthquake,
any type of extreme emergency, or is it always dependent
upon the state or the federal government to come in
and intervene.
Speaker 8 (26:39):
I'm glad you asked, because in municipal budgeting, it's responsible
to have what is called a rainy day fund, right
or events just like this, or just simply a reserve fund,
and the city certainly has that, and they like to
keep it at five percent of the total of the
general fund. So you know, you're talking about a seven
billion dollar budget in this is so they like to
(26:59):
keep a certain amount in their reserve, but if it
should fall below their stated goal to below three two
and a half percent, then they are in a fiscal emergency,
and that's when they have to start having ten out
of fifteen members of city Council vote in favor of
spending any more of their money, basically, and that's almost
(27:20):
where they are right now. They didn't have as much
revenue coming in last year as they had budgeted and
announced and prepared to have. And the on the worst
part of it is they're getting sued all the time,
and they're settling these lawsuits for massive amounts of money,
and it has cost them so much.
Speaker 7 (27:41):
They're overspent.
Speaker 8 (27:41):
They've overspent this year by about three hundred million dollars already,
and a good chunk of that total is from lawsuit settlements,
maybe involving the police department, maybe involving injuries people suffered
due to the infrastructure. And the irony there is that
the city during the creation of the current budget didn't
have enough money fund the positions that could better improve
(28:02):
the infrastructure, the street lighting, the potholes, the sidewalks and
that sort of thing. So they're already in trouble before
the fires hit they were talking about and have now
done the steps necessary to borrow money to pay for lawsuits,
not to borrow money to fix the sidewalks, to put
the street lights back in action, but to pay for
(28:22):
the more lawsuits that they know are coming down the line.
And today the city administrator had to go before the
City Council per their demand last week to get an
update on how much this Palisades fire was going to cost,
and he said within the first few days they were
able to calculate that it's probably going to cost at
least three hundred and eighty five million dollars.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
I remember Mayor bas talking about and actually celebrating the
fact that the Biden administration had pledged like one hundred percent.
I don't know if it was matching funds or just
full just making La Hole again. Do you remember that?
Do you understand what was that about?
Speaker 7 (29:02):
I do.
Speaker 8 (29:02):
And even the city administrator said, we hope that most
or all of these costs can be reimbursed these six
month or one hundred and eighty days that President Biden,
then President Biden gave as an assurance to the city
was that the federal government was going to cover everything.
Speaker 7 (29:18):
But what that means is it's supposed.
Speaker 8 (29:20):
To cover the cost of the workforce and the cost
of the debris removal. The rest of the cost incurred
by the city will have to go through the governmental process, right,
they have to fill out applications, just like the individuals
who have lost their homes are now waiting in lines
and filling out forms and navigating that tangled web of bureaucracy.
(29:42):
The city has to do that as well. So in
the short term, the city will have to front these costs.
And those costs mounted pretty quickly, you know how fast
that Palisades fire burned and some of that property belonged
to the city. They lost twelve city parks to rec centers.
They say that costs them about one hundred and fifty
five million dollars in damages. The Palisades Library is gone.
(30:05):
They chalk that up to about fifty five million dollars.
We had seventy five and a seventy five point eight
million dollars of LEDWP property damaged or destroyed by this fire.
We saw fifty five million dollars in damages to sewers
and street lights. So I mean it's a lot of
money that they're going to have to address, probably with
(30:27):
their own cash for now until they can get reimbursed.
And as I mentioned, they're already scrounging around the couch
cushions looking for any change they can get.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Okay, we mentioned the previous Biden administration. We know the
President Trump administration former present. Excuse me, President Trump is
going to be here Friday, if I'm not mistaken, touring
this disaster area. How much, or should say, how concerned
should the City of Los Angeles be that President Trump
(30:59):
take this disaster relief in a different direction than what
President Biden had originally promised.
Speaker 8 (31:04):
Well, there have been rumblings that maybe there will be
some conditions on future federal aid for LA because of
the very strong position local officials have taken on immigration,
for example, and we haven't seen that come to fruition yet.
We do expect a visit from President Trump very soon,
so maybe we'll see a photo op with Governor Newsom
(31:25):
and President Trump, Mayor Bass and President Trump, and let's
hear from them directly. We know that President Trump doesn't
really hold back. He doesn't have much of a filter,
so he'll share how he feels about the situation and
we'll see how the local officials respond because it was
just a couple of months ago that they were scrambling
at city Hall to put in place this sanctuary city
(31:45):
ordinance to offer what they see as protections to illegal
immigrants here in Los Angeles from President Trump's promised mass deportation.
So that was a bit of an affront to the
now president. And then, of course Governor Newsom has flat
out called the special session in Sacramento an attempt to Trump.
Speaker 7 (32:03):
Proof this state.
Speaker 8 (32:05):
And now Trump is going to have to come here,
and the folks on the ground in California, you're gonna
have put their hands out because they're going to need
money from President Trump's administration.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
And that's assuming we have no other fires between now
and five minutes from now or five days from now,
which could complicate this whole issue.
Speaker 7 (32:22):
You really don't know.
Speaker 8 (32:23):
I was, you know, nobody hopes for fires, and we
were certainly hoping that maybe maybe we would skate past
this week Santa Ana wind event the way that we
pretty much did last week. Right, we had another forecast
for Santa Ana wins. It didn't produce too much. We
felt the winds, but no major fires. And here we
are as this forecast is finally supposed to lighten up
from the winds, and God is at the buzzer, and
(32:45):
so we've got this massive thing. And by the way,
I mean the worst of those wins for today are
supposed to be happening tonight and tomorrow morning, so that
fire and castaic. I hope the firefighters are taking the
breaks that they need in between, that their their rounds
out there because they've they've got a long night ahead.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Thank you, Michael Monks, appreciate all your reporting.
Speaker 7 (33:06):
Always a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
MO KF I am six forty. We're live everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (33:10):
When fire starts, KFI doesn't stop. KFI and KOs T HD.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
Two Los Angeles, Orange Downy live
Speaker 7 (33:20):
Everywhere on the Ihart Radio app.
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I AM sixty Kelly Here, We're live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app. And today is just one of those days
in which I just got to ask the question out loud,
why can't La catch a break? Why can't Southern California
catch a break? It seemed for a moment that we
had started turning the corner, that we had most of
(00:29):
the major fires with a high percentage of containment, and
then all of a sudden, at least in the grand
scheme of things, all of a sudden, ten forty five
am this morning, the Hughes Fire broke out near Casteak
Lake off Lake Hughes Road, just north of cast Steak
Reservoir Road. And now it has grown to more than
(00:52):
ninety four hundred acres, And depending on the outlet or
information source that you may read, it will show anywhere
from no containment to five percent containment. But the bottom
line is it's burning out of control at this point.
If there is any semblance of good news, I have
(01:13):
not seen any information which says that structures have been
damaged or loss of life. But given that it is
burning out of control. We can't guarantee that that's going
to be the case throughout the night. And speaking of
throughout the night, we're going to have to deal with
another high wind advisory through Thursday. And I don't think
(01:34):
it's going to be as gusty in the terms of
the winds that we've seen in the previous week and
a half, but still the winds are going to increase
throughout the night. And I was listening to Mark Ronner
during the newscast talking about the prospect of rain, which
should get here, not soon enough. Unfortunately, rain is supposed
to be coming maybe on Friday, and will carry through
(01:57):
the better part of the weekend, but Lay seemingly just
cannot catch a break. And if you're on the five
Freeway right now, you may be pleased to know that,
depending on where you are, you might have been concerned
about whether it was going to be reopened in both directions,
but the Five Freeway through the Grapevine has been reopened
(02:21):
despite the fires, the Hues fire. The southbound side reopened
around five pm and the northbound side reopened around six pm,
and the California Highway Patrol reopened the freeway after smoke
was no longer causing visibility concerns on the roadway. And
I'm relatively familiar with that corridor. I've driven through Santa Clarita,
(02:43):
going through Valencia, going to up and into the Palmdale area.
I've driven through a number of times. Then, if you
have any knowledge of that area, there's just a lot
of dry brush on both sides of the freeway. And
the good news, as I said earlier, no reports of
structures destroyed. The bad news is it seems like this
(03:05):
fire can just burn in perpetuity. There's really nothing to
slow it down, and if the wind should increase, it
can become even more problematic. We're going to keep our
eye on the Hues fire for the rest of the evening.
In fact, I'll be with you until midnight. Yes, we're
taking it all the way to midnight, as we did
for the better part of the fires before. We'll have
(03:28):
Michael Monks, who's going to join us at the bottom
of the hour with some updated information and also some
other information regarding the Palisades fire. Some of the numbers
are coming in as far as how much that is
going to cost the City of Los Angeles. Just in
case you didn't know. Pacific Palisades is part of incorporated
Los Angeles, so that falls squarely under the purview of
(03:51):
the City of Los Angeles. And we'll see how much
that's going to cost, and where that money might come from,
and how much help we will get from the federal
government regarding the Palisades fire. Also, and if you have
lived in southern California for any length of time, there
used to be this consistent cycle. We would have fires,
(04:14):
and then we would have a little bit of rain,
and then we'd have mud slides. And unfortunately all three
may happen in the next week and a half. We
might get the rain this weekend, but Altadena they're already
preparing for possible mud slides on the other side. And
if you don't know, just in case you don't know,
(04:35):
because you have the fires and it burns out the brush,
you have this loose soil at this point, there's nothing
holding these hillsides in place. And then you get the rain,
and these hillsides literally just starts sliding down and unfortunately
sometimes take out houses in their wake. We're going to
talk about that, and also we'll give you the updated
(04:57):
evacuation orders and also location of evacuation shelters for you,
for pets, anyone else who may be impacted. And already
multiple schools have announced Thursday closures due to fire. Will
tell you about that as well. But it's not all
bad news. It's not completely all bad news, as LA
has already approved funds relief for the Altadena area LA County.
(05:23):
That is so there is a bit of good news.
And there's also LA has approved relief funds for the
San Fernando Valley residents who also have been impacted. So
much going on in southern California. Let me just say
hello to the guys who are going to be helping
me out all night long. Mark Roner, you ready to
do this one more time? Oh it's not just going
(05:43):
to be one more time. I'm not looking at you,
but you are so right on. Because it can. LA
can Southern California catch or break No.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
No, And based on everything we know, we can look
forward to more of this in our lives.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Now. We don't know at this point as far as
the what was the precipitating act or what started the fire,
but we know that there could be another huge fire tomorrow.
To Mark's point, where the Hues fire doesn't seem special
in that regard. These fires can happen anywhere, anytime, for
just about any reason, because the conditions in which these
(06:22):
fires are starting have not changed. Is just as dry,
it's just as arid, it's just as windy, so we
might as well expect more fires, unfortunately, until we get.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
This rain at least. Yeah, the parapet praise the old
airplane movie A. I think I picked the wrong month
to go off as annex.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Oh, I was gonna ready to say pick the wrong
month to stop drinking, but that's also no. No, I haven't
stopped that.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
We need more of that than ever at this point,
more so than water drinking. Never mind, never mind, Hey Stefan,
how you doing tonight? All things considered, yes, and we're
working feverishly to get you the most recent information on
the Hughes fire and more. We're sifting through all of it.
We want to make sure all of it's accurate before
(07:04):
we pass it on to you. But keep it right
here on KFI AM six forty will be with you
all evening, well into the night, all the way to midnight.
So let's do this again. You know, the drill as
they say no pun intended. It's mo Kelly, caf I
AM six forty. We are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
And when we come back, we're gonna listen back to
the press conference which was around five pm, so you
(07:27):
can get some of the latest information not only about
the fire, but what law enforcement is doing to prepare
to keep the bad actors out of the area, making
sure that you listen to the mandatory evacuation orders and
what they're putting in place, and so much more.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
You're listening to later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Kfim O'Kelly. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app and
as we continue to follow the events and cast take
the Hughes Fire, which has burned more than ninety four
hundred acres and is listed between zero and five percent contained.
There was a major news conference earlier today. It was
about five PM, and you had well, I thought it
(08:21):
was interesting because they showed the overlap of the agencies
which are fighting this fire. You had the Forest Service,
you had obviously La County Fire Department, you had the
Santa Clarita mayor who was speaking today. There was a
lot going on, and some of that information is very
(08:43):
important for you to hear, so we want to listen
back to make sure you have it. The first voice
you're going to hear is LA Fire Department Chief and
this is for the County Anthony Morony.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
So good evening on behalf of Board chair and fifth
District Supervisor, Catherine Barger. We're holding a press conference to
give important information to the community of Santa Clarita and
the Castaic area. I am Anthony Moroney, Chief of the
Los Angeles County Fire Department. The Hughes Fire is now
(09:15):
estimated to be over nine thousand, four hundred acres with
zero percent containment, with no structures reported damaged or destroyed.
We have over four thousand firefighting personnel assigned to the incident,
and we had a very robust ground and air response
(09:37):
to the incident that you see behind me. The La
County Fire Department is in unified command with the Angelus
National Forest and we are getting assistants from our.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
State partners at CalFire.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
I wanted to give a weather update because the weather
is what's predominantly driving this fire and it's spread right now.
National Weather Service has extended the red flag warning through
ten am on Friday for most of Los Angeles and
Ventura Counties. Like Tomorderate Santa Anna Wins will continue tonight
(10:16):
and into Thursday.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
A situation.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
The situation remains dynamic and the fire remains a difficult
fire to contain, although we are getting the upper hand.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
That was La County Fire Chief Anthony Moroney, and you
might have heard that he acknowledged Elie County Board of
Supervisor's chair Catherine Barger. This falls within her supervisor district.
We tried to get her on the show this evening.
Her office said that she may be available tomorrow evening,
(10:50):
pending obviously the pressers and she will probably hopefully come
on tomorrow evening sometime in the show to give us
the latest in the way that the La County Board
of Supervisors have been very responsive over the past few weeks,
actually all the time, they've been very accommodating as far
as coming on the show, coming on KFI, and giving
(11:11):
us the latest information. So we have hope to have
on Supervisor Barger tomorrow evening. But also if you're listening
to Chief Maroni, he was talking about the different agencies
involved CalFire, the US Forest Service, and how they all
have to work together, hand in hand to make sure
that this situation does not become worse than it is
(11:33):
or imperil other areas beyond right where it is beyond
just the ninety four one hundred acres which have been
burned so far. So with that in mind, here is
cal Fire Director and Chief Joe Tyler.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
Normally my office is located in Sacramento, but I have
found the need over the last two weeks to spend
my time here in a greater Los Angeles area. We
have been impacted significantly over the last two weeks, as
we all know, related to the Palisades Fire, the Eton Fire,
the Hurst Fire, the Lydia Fire, and as we continue
(12:09):
through these weather conditions, we recognize that it's not over yet.
We recognize that we still have a couple of days
to go. So the State of California brings its full
force of the women and men of CalFire, supporting the
Los Angeles County Fire Department, our local fire agencies, the
(12:30):
ANGELUS National Force, and the Forest Service abroad, as well
as our law enforcement partners who are doing so much
to respond to all of these emergencies. Together CALLOS has
utilized funds to bring together prepositioned resources across southern California,
and the California National Guard has located aircraft, both rotor
(12:55):
wing helicopters and fixed wings mobile modular mass units to
be able to supplement the air tankers that we have
here available locally. Have a robust response today and as
you can see behind us, the responders are doing great
(13:18):
work to try to contain this fire. Certainly, we are
not out of the woods yet. It is important to
take heed and caution and follow the directions of local
law enforcement, your first responders, as they are asking you
to evacuate the area. Doing that will allow our fire
(13:39):
resources to be able to conduct perimeter control and extinguish
the flaming front of this fire. Many times we find
ourselves trying to rescue evacuees, but today the community heated
that lesson and many evacuated the area, allowing them to
fight the fire. We will continue to be here to
(14:02):
support not only now, but as we move into the
next phase with the potential of rains coming forward and
trying to mitigate the landscape to avoid debris flows and flooding.
We will be here for you that was.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Cow Fire Director in Chief Joe Tyler. Before that, you
heard LA Fire Department, LA County Chief Anthony Moroney. And
this is US four Service Chief Robert Garcia, and it
gives you a broad overview of these agencies who have
all come together to work on not just this fire,
but also the surrounding fires. And this is Robert Garcia,
(14:40):
US for Service Chief.
Speaker 6 (14:42):
This one to first say thank you to Sheriff Luna.
And this isn't a mutual threat zone. So Los Angeles
County Fire Department, the Angels National Forest entered into unified
command right away. I also want to say how extremely
proud I am of the way our responders moved into
this area and established command, really establish some incident objectives
working together. The conditions that we're under aren't as severe
(15:06):
as what we've been facing over the last week or two,
but what you saw today is indicative of the conditions
that we're in in terms.
Speaker 7 (15:13):
Of the vegetation.
Speaker 6 (15:15):
So although we're not under particularly dangerous situation in terms
of the wind, our wildland fire condition is critical. Absent wind,
the fire is going to move through the vegetation like
you saw today with the slope and chasing fuel very
dangerous conditions as to what led to the US Forest
(15:35):
Service closing all of the Angelus National Forests. And this
is exactly an example why the other thing I want
to offer in terms of resources, I hope that all
the citizens here in the area are proud of the
prepositioning and the robust response. This area always sees a
robust response in the mutual threat zone, but our incidents
(15:56):
between the EAT and the Palisades, our local mobilization center,
our preposition resources put us in a position for multiple
waves of surge resources, both engine crews on the ground,
hand crews, bulldozers, and aircraft. And so the response you
see as a result of the local cooperation and the
local pre planning and the geographic area not only within
(16:16):
the LA area, but also with our partners in the
state of California to ensure that we are prepared for
what we're now.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Facing when we come back. We'll hear from kfi's own
Michael Monks, as he has been following the events in
Castake with this Hughes fire and also what's been going
on more especially in Los Angeles with the Pacific Palisades fire.
We know more about what that's going to cost the
city of Los Angeles and how that might all filter out.
(16:46):
I AM six forty we are live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
KFI Mo Kelly here, We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
And as we continue our fire coverage, the Hughes fire
is still listed at ninety four hundred acres burned between
zero and five percent containment depending on your information source.
There's the Acacia fire that we're also following, which is
in Ventura County and now that has burned two acres.
(17:37):
Still relatively small, but it's something that we are going
to watch throughout the evening. And joining us right now
is kfi's own Michael Monks to give us some sense of,
you know, perspective context. Michael, I don't know what to say.
I started off the show tonight asking the question can
La Southern California catch a break? And I don't think
(17:59):
it can.
Speaker 7 (18:00):
It really can't. Mow, and good evening to you. It's
another fire night here in Southern California. I mean it's
a lot.
Speaker 8 (18:07):
It's just been a lot because it's only been two
and a half weeks since the fires erupted in the
Palisades and around Alta Dina, and those were terrible and destructive,
and we have not been able to get to a
point to where we feel like, Okay, we're past the incident.
Let's begin the morning, let's begin the rebuilding. We haven't
(18:28):
gotten there yet. Those are still active fire areas. And
now we have this fire erupting in the north country.
And let me tell you about the little fire that
you mentioned in Ventura, this thing burning near Castaic, this
massive one that started as a little guy too. And
that's what's so scary about these things. You know, over
the past few days, we've had little flare ups, We've
had little brush fires pop up along some freeways and
(18:52):
out in the wilderness, and we're all so anxious right
now that we're watching them like hawks because we know
how rapidly and destructively they can spread.
Speaker 7 (19:02):
And this thing in Caustaic was fast.
Speaker 8 (19:06):
It started with the initial reports, it's like forty to
fifty acres and that's a lot of space. I mean,
who has an acre yard in La Proper? You know,
that's a lot of space.
Speaker 7 (19:16):
And then it blew up.
Speaker 8 (19:17):
Really fast five hundred acres, two thousand acres, five thousand acres,
and now here it is rapidly approaching ten thousand acres.
Tens of thousands of people evacuated, tens of thousands more
waiting for a mandatory evacuation warning. We're fortunate nobody's been hurt,
nobody's lost their home. But this is so scary and
so scarring, and it's just when, like you said, can
(19:40):
we get a break?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
I wonder whether we just moved from one tragedy of
disaster to another. Before I talked to you, I made
mention of how we may get some rain this weekend,
that's the good news. But also look out. The mud
slides might be coming right behind the rain. It's almost
like we're damned if we do and if we don't,
no question about it.
Speaker 8 (20:01):
I talked to meteorologists from the National Weather Service just
yesterday about this, and some of the language that was
used was the weather we're getting this weekend is almost
the opposite of these Santa Ana wind conditions that we've
been dealing with. This is something we've been needing a
little bit of moisture in the air, humidity that's not
dangerous for us, and goodness knows, we could use some
water falling out of the sky. But now we have
(20:23):
these burn scars in the Palisades and an Altadena and
that could lead to some significant trouble. So now these
emergency workers who have already been busting their tails for
a week and a half addressing the fires have to
make sure they're still on the scene and bolstering the
areas around it to protect it from the mud slides
that might come from this. So we're finally getting the
(20:44):
thing that we need, and it's bringing with it more
potential destruction.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
You make mention of something that I've been thinking about,
and that's first responder fatigue. The shifts are already fourteen
sixteen eighteen to twenty two, twenty four hours in length,
no exaggeration, and we've been calling in first responders from
different states, different counties. There has to be an accumulative
fatigue in all of these fires. I don't know if
(21:12):
we'll be able to have the resources in the short
term to keep dealing with these natural and sometimes unnatural
man made disasters.
Speaker 8 (21:22):
They're going to have to figure that out because it
is massive, and when you are calling in firefighters from
Mexico and from people from two states away to come
down and help us out then, you know, and also
knowing that it may only get worse as far as
the climate goes and the conditions go. And it could
also only get worse if La La County and the
(21:43):
rest of the area is not better prepared to address
these things. I've seen the firefighters out in the field.
I've seen them on their breaks from this thing. As
they cycle in and cycle out, they get a little
bit of breathing room, and it is some serious exhaustion. Look,
this is the job they sign up for. They know
what they're getting themselves into, and they are strong and brave, courageous,
and they can get it done. But it is a lot,
(22:06):
a lot of work. Here we are in the media
kind of feeling fatigue.
Speaker 7 (22:11):
You know, it's a lot of talk about this, and
we're not hauling that equipment around.
Speaker 8 (22:15):
We're not getting the flames up in our face, not
at the level that these guys are.
Speaker 7 (22:18):
I mean, it's a smoke.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I mean, just the horrible air quality that they're dealing
with in those conditions.
Speaker 8 (22:24):
You know, that's it too, because the air around the palisades,
the air around Alta Dina was so bad you really
did need to wear a mask. And then even though
the scene was still destructive, just several days later, you
could walk around without your mask on and not feel
too bad. I think they want you to wear a
mask or don't take my advice on that. But I
was reporting and didn't have a mask on. I thought
the air feels kind of good almost, And now we've
(22:46):
got another mass of fire that this is one of
the reasons that you might not see people go back
home very soon in the North Country because of this.
You know, the air quality could be such that it's
disruptive for their lives for a little longer than they want,
even if the flames don't make it to their home.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
As we're getting further into the story, and what I
mean by that is we've had more time to at
least deal with the Pacific Palisades fire. Do we know
at this point or do we have any strong evidence
to lead us in a direction of what started the fire.
Speaker 8 (23:18):
I think there's a lot of conversation about it, and
we should probably withhold until you know, there's some official
analysis that is presented. But this is going to be
the number one question I think people one answered even
beyond how do I get my insurance to be more affordable,
how do I rebuild my home? How do I rebuild
my live is who did this? If somebody did it,
(23:40):
who did this?
Speaker 7 (23:41):
Why? How?
Speaker 8 (23:42):
And what were the circumstances? That's question number one for
a lot of people. And we do live in an
age of instant conspiracies. Yes, unfortunate, So as soon as
the fire popped up in Castak, you'd see social media
posts questioning the orgin of it, and you know they
may be right, but you know the fact that so
(24:04):
many people's minds go there can either speak to a
number of crazy people living among us or just people
who are fed up with the answers that we've gotten
over the years for things like this. But that's where
a lot of people's heads are right now.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
One of the answers which is coming into focus is
their preliminary, excuse me, preliminary cost of the Pacific Palisades fire.
And there's a new discussion what I want to get
into on the other side of the break, this new
discussion of how much it is going to cost, who's
going to pay for it, and how the hell are
we going to pay for it? Can we do that next?
(24:38):
Michael Monks, be my pleasure. I am six forty I'm
Mo Kelly. As we continue our coverage of the mini
fires across southern California. Will have more with Michael Monks
in just a moment.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
KFI Much Kelly Live Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. We're
continuing to watch the Hughes fire, which has burned more
than ninety four hundred acres five percent containment. That is
a cautious estimate, a reasonable one, and also the Acacia fire.
I'm right in the middle of a conversation with Michael Monks,
kfi's own Michael Monks, and we had segued back over
(25:26):
to Pacific Palisades and how that fire even though it's
it's not even in the rear view, there's still work
to be done on the fire itself. The conversation now
has moved forward to the cost and the rebuilding effort.
Where is the money going to come from? You know
who is responsible? Michael Monks, What do we know about
(25:50):
Pacific Palisades as far as the cost to the city.
Speaker 8 (25:54):
I would say, don't be surprised to see mier Bass
put up a GoFundMe page at some point, because the
city was already broke before this disaster. We've been talking
about it a lot. I mean, I sit through a
lot of city council meetings and I'm surprised that it
doesn't get more attention, really because they're broke, that the
(26:15):
second largest city in America is completely broken, not a
little bit broke.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Let me jump in there. There's no piggy bank, and
I'm this is a real question. There's no piggyback piggybank
for a rainy day or a fire, a flood, an earthquake,
any type of extreme emergency, or is it always dependent
upon the state or the federal government to come in
and intervene.
Speaker 8 (26:39):
I'm glad you asked, because in municipal budgeting, it's responsible
to have what is called a rainy day fund, right
or events just like this, or just simply a reserve fund,
and the city certainly has that, and they like to
keep it at five percent of the total of the
general fund. So you know, you're talking about a seven
billion dollar budget in this is so they like to
(26:59):
keep a certain amount in their reserve, but if it
should fall below their stated goal to below three two
and a half percent, then they are in a fiscal emergency,
and that's when they have to start having ten out
of fifteen members of city Council vote in favor of
spending any more of their money, basically, and that's almost
(27:20):
where they are right now. They didn't have as much
revenue coming in last year as they had budgeted and
announced and prepared to have. And the on the worst
part of it is they're getting sued all the time,
and they're settling these lawsuits for massive amounts of money,
and it has cost them so much.
Speaker 7 (27:41):
They're overspent.
Speaker 8 (27:41):
They've overspent this year by about three hundred million dollars already,
and a good chunk of that total is from lawsuit settlements,
maybe involving the police department, maybe involving injuries people suffered
due to the infrastructure. And the irony there is that
the city during the creation of the current budget didn't
have enough money fund the positions that could better improve
(28:02):
the infrastructure, the street lighting, the potholes, the sidewalks and
that sort of thing. So they're already in trouble before
the fires hit they were talking about and have now
done the steps necessary to borrow money to pay for lawsuits,
not to borrow money to fix the sidewalks, to put
the street lights back in action, but to pay for
(28:22):
the more lawsuits that they know are coming down the line.
And today the city administrator had to go before the
City Council per their demand last week to get an
update on how much this Palisades fire was going to cost,
and he said within the first few days they were
able to calculate that it's probably going to cost at
least three hundred and eighty five million dollars.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
I remember Mayor bas talking about and actually celebrating the
fact that the Biden administration had pledged like one hundred percent.
I don't know if it was matching funds or just
full just making La Hole again. Do you remember that?
Do you understand what was that about?
Speaker 7 (29:02):
I do.
Speaker 8 (29:02):
And even the city administrator said, we hope that most
or all of these costs can be reimbursed these six
month or one hundred and eighty days that President Biden,
then President Biden gave as an assurance to the city
was that the federal government was going to cover everything.
Speaker 7 (29:18):
But what that means is it's supposed.
Speaker 8 (29:20):
To cover the cost of the workforce and the cost
of the debris removal. The rest of the cost incurred
by the city will have to go through the governmental process, right,
they have to fill out applications, just like the individuals
who have lost their homes are now waiting in lines
and filling out forms and navigating that tangled web of bureaucracy.
(29:42):
The city has to do that as well. So in
the short term, the city will have to front these costs.
And those costs mounted pretty quickly, you know how fast
that Palisades fire burned and some of that property belonged
to the city. They lost twelve city parks to rec centers.
They say that costs them about one hundred and fifty
five million dollars in damages. The Palisades Library is gone.
(30:05):
They chalk that up to about fifty five million dollars.
We had seventy five and a seventy five point eight
million dollars of LEDWP property damaged or destroyed by this fire.
We saw fifty five million dollars in damages to sewers
and street lights. So I mean it's a lot of
money that they're going to have to address, probably with
(30:27):
their own cash for now until they can get reimbursed.
And as I mentioned, they're already scrounging around the couch
cushions looking for any change they can get.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Okay, we mentioned the previous Biden administration. We know the
President Trump administration former present. Excuse me, President Trump is
going to be here Friday, if I'm not mistaken, touring
this disaster area. How much, or should say, how concerned
should the City of Los Angeles be that President Trump
(30:59):
take this disaster relief in a different direction than what
President Biden had originally promised.
Speaker 8 (31:04):
Well, there have been rumblings that maybe there will be
some conditions on future federal aid for LA because of
the very strong position local officials have taken on immigration,
for example, and we haven't seen that come to fruition yet.
We do expect a visit from President Trump very soon,
so maybe we'll see a photo op with Governor Newsom
(31:25):
and President Trump, Mayor Bass and President Trump, and let's
hear from them directly. We know that President Trump doesn't
really hold back. He doesn't have much of a filter,
so he'll share how he feels about the situation and
we'll see how the local officials respond because it was
just a couple of months ago that they were scrambling
at city Hall to put in place this sanctuary city
(31:45):
ordinance to offer what they see as protections to illegal
immigrants here in Los Angeles from President Trump's promised mass deportation.
So that was a bit of an affront to the
now president. And then, of course Governor Newsom has flat
out called the special session in Sacramento an attempt to Trump.
Speaker 7 (32:03):
Proof this state.
Speaker 8 (32:05):
And now Trump is going to have to come here,
and the folks on the ground in California, you're gonna
have put their hands out because they're going to need
money from President Trump's administration.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
And that's assuming we have no other fires between now
and five minutes from now or five days from now,
which could complicate this whole issue.
Speaker 7 (32:22):
You really don't know.
Speaker 8 (32:23):
I was, you know, nobody hopes for fires, and we
were certainly hoping that maybe maybe we would skate past
this week Santa Ana wind event the way that we
pretty much did last week. Right, we had another forecast
for Santa Ana wins. It didn't produce too much. We
felt the winds, but no major fires. And here we
are as this forecast is finally supposed to lighten up
from the winds, and God is at the buzzer, and
(32:45):
so we've got this massive thing. And by the way,
I mean the worst of those wins for today are
supposed to be happening tonight and tomorrow morning, so that
fire and castaic. I hope the firefighters are taking the
breaks that they need in between, that their their rounds
out there because they've they've got a long night ahead.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Thank you, Michael Monks, appreciate all your reporting.
Speaker 7 (33:06):
Always a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
MO KF I am six forty. We're live everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (33:10):
When fire starts, KFI doesn't stop. KFI and KOs T HD.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
Two Los Angeles, Orange Downy live
Speaker 7 (33:20):
Everywhere on the Ihart Radio app.
Later, with Mo'Kelly News
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