Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty wake Up Call
Speaker 1: with me Amy King on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: When fires strikes southern California. KFI News is on it.
Speaker 3: KFI and KOST HD two Los Angeles, Orange County.
Speaker 4: It's time for your morning wake up call.
Speaker 3: Here's Amy King.
Speaker 4: Good morning. It is five four. This is your wake
Speaker 4: up call for Wednesday, January eighth. I'm Amy King. What
Speaker 4: a day to come back. This is an event like
Speaker 4: we have not seen. We have fires, they burn, they
Speaker 4: burn homes, but as you heard Neil Savadra saying, this
Speaker 4: one is affecting almost all of us. And I know that.
Speaker 4: I was thinking that last night. Last night was the
Speaker 4: first time I've really been wor read. Even though the
Speaker 4: fire is the fires are miles from my home, I
Speaker 4: was worried, and I was like, Okay, what happens. What
Speaker 4: happens if do I need to go? If I need
Speaker 4: to go, I've got my two cats, plus I'm house
Speaker 4: sitting or babysitting another cat. I was like, how am
Speaker 4: I going to carry three cats out? If I have
Speaker 4: to get the heck out? But I mean, it's making
Speaker 4: us reevaluate everything because this is affecting so many people,
Speaker 4: even though the fires aren't as Neil has been telling
Speaker 4: you if you've been listening, they're not huge. We've got
Speaker 4: the three fires burning, the first one in Pacific Palisades
Speaker 4: that started around ten thirty yesterday afternoon. Then there's also
Speaker 4: the one in Altadena that started at about six thirty
Speaker 4: last night. It spread to a thousand acres, and those numbers,
Speaker 4: quite honestly, are going to change when we have a
Speaker 4: press conference. We're waiting for any kind of updates. We
Speaker 4: haven't had updated numbers since last night. The Cellmar fire
Speaker 4: that's burning north of the two ten and just east
Speaker 4: of the five Freeway near that fourteen five interchange, that
Speaker 4: is now about five hundred acres. We've got evacuation orders
Speaker 4: for thirty thousand residents in Pacific Palisades, and we just
Speaker 4: got new numbers on the evacuation orders for the Eton fire,
Speaker 4: which is the fire burning in Altadena. Fifty two thousand
Speaker 4: residents have been ordered to leave their homes. More than
Speaker 4: twenty thousand homes and businesses are threatened the evacuation warnings,
Speaker 4: which is a step down forty almost forty seven thousand
Speaker 4: residents and eighteen thousand businesses and homes and schools and churches.
Speaker 4: These fires are big and they are devastating. Let's do
Speaker 4: a quick little update and then we're going to check
Speaker 4: in again with Neil. We've got Gary Hoffman who was
Speaker 4: getting evacuation warnings overnight, so he came in early. But
Speaker 4: let's get started with some of the stories coming out
Speaker 4: of the KFI twenty four hour news. The fire burning
Speaker 4: out of control in the hills above Altadena has burned
Speaker 4: about a thousand acres at last update. Some homes have
Speaker 4: burned as neighbors use water hoses and anything else they
Speaker 4: can find try to protect the homes.
Speaker 5: Hoses, buckets, uh.
Speaker 6: We went, there's a pool at one of the neighbors
Speaker 6: who're just taking buckets and hoses to get their fire out.
Speaker 7: And that's that's all we were doing.
Speaker 4: The fire and Eaton Canyon was reported just before six
Speaker 4: thirty last night, and by midnight it had grown to
Speaker 4: about a thousand acres and again those evacuation orders have
Speaker 4: been updated. More than fifty two thousand residents told to
Speaker 4: get out, and evacuation shelter has been set up at
Speaker 4: the Pasadena Convention Center. Schools in Pasadena Burbank, and Glendale
Speaker 4: are all closed today. About thirty thousand people under mandatory
Speaker 4: evacuation orders because of the wind driven wildfire in Pacific Palisades.
Speaker 4: It had at last check burned nearly three thousand acres
Speaker 4: at least city fires. Margaret Stuart's's the wind speeds and
Speaker 4: dry conditions have created the ultimate fire storm.
Speaker 8: The fire as large as it is now, it starts
Speaker 8: to kind of create its own weather, and the winds
Speaker 8: will swirl and the ember cast can travel a mile
Speaker 8: downwind and start a spot fire.
Speaker 4: Several homes and buildings have burned since the fire started yesterday.
Speaker 4: Evacuation orders have been extended into Malibu and Santa Monica.
Speaker 4: Air tankers and water dropping helicopters were making drops throughout
Speaker 4: the day yesterday, but by evening all air resources were
Speaker 4: grounded because of the high winds. Evacuation orders also in
Speaker 4: effect in Silmar, where a wind driven fire has burned
Speaker 4: about five hundred acres. It started around ten thirty last night,
Speaker 4: close to where the five and the fourteen freeways meet,
Speaker 4: just north of the two ten. Evacuation centers have been
Speaker 4: opened in north Ridge and Panorama City. CalFire says Evacuation
Speaker 4: warnings are in effect for parts of Santa Clarita along
Speaker 4: Colgrove Boulevard and the New Hall Pass, Wildwood and Eternal Valley.
Speaker 4: So cal Edison has worn The power could be turned
Speaker 4: off because of high fire danger in southern California. See
Speaker 4: says as many as four high hundred thousand homes and
Speaker 4: businesses could experience precautionary shutoffs. At last check the power
Speaker 4: outages in southern California affecting about three hundred thousand people.
Speaker 4: The National Weather Surface has issued that red flag warning.
Speaker 4: It started yesterday morning and will continue through at least
Speaker 4: Thursday night. Wind Gusts of up to one hundred miles
Speaker 4: per hour in some areas have been clocked. Neil was
Speaker 4: just talking about a wind gust in acton one hundred
Speaker 4: and fifteen miles per hour. Will was just mentioning the
Speaker 4: semi trucks that are affected by those high winds. I
Speaker 4: mean we're talking hurricane force winds that can blow over
Speaker 4: semi trucks. And Kno said that he got to experience
Speaker 4: that on his way and he was coming in on
Speaker 4: the two ten. So you got to drive by the
Speaker 4: fire burning in Alsadina.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So I go through you know, Fontana, ra Chicukumonga
Speaker 5: through Zuza, so the two ten west all the way
Speaker 5: to the one thirty four. So yeah, saw probably seven
Speaker 5: down overturned. I'm not just talking like they pulled over
Speaker 5: to the side, so they were flipped, Yeah, flipped over
Speaker 5: on their sides correct. And then I mean you almost
Speaker 5: see like a line of semi trucks pulling over like
Speaker 5: they know that they can't do it. But it's it's
Speaker 5: pretty much the entire freeway at least through Fontana, rect
Speaker 5: Cuckamonga area, and then yeah, getting closer to Burbank and
Speaker 5: going through a Zuza, you can see I believe it's
Speaker 5: a Silmar fire that's right above the two ten that it's.
Speaker 4: Oh you could see two fires, I think, is that, Well,
Speaker 4: there's the one in Altadena and then there's the one
Speaker 4: in Silmar, which is the two ten and the five r.
Speaker 5: R it's no, okay on the one thirty four. Yeah,
Speaker 5: you can just see like an entire mountain off the
Speaker 5: two ten. Just it looks like armageddon pretty much.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's crazy and it's just burning out of control.
Speaker 4: Because like I was just mentioning a couple of minutes ago.
Speaker 4: They can't attack this fire from the air right now
Speaker 4: because the winds are so strong and it's just too
Speaker 4: dangerous for the for the aircraft of overnight. So that's
Speaker 4: you coming in on the two ten. And then Gary Hoffman,
Speaker 4: who normally you wouldn't be talking to until nine o'clock,
Speaker 4: got an early morning start today because he was getting
Speaker 4: evacuation warnings up in the Santa Clarita area, so he
Speaker 4: came in and Gary, what was your drive in like
Speaker 4: on the five?
Speaker 2: It was very similar. I mean I saw the fires
Speaker 2: in the reverse Ordervncono did, though I saw the Silmar
Speaker 2: fire first, I mean almost immediately when I got out
Speaker 2: of the house and made a left turn, right turn,
Speaker 2: go down the hill, and you can see it coming
Speaker 2: over the crest of that hill right through the New
Speaker 2: Hall Pass as you go farther down I five. The
Speaker 2: only thing that's really closed on I five, at least
Speaker 2: the southbound area if you're coming in from the Santa
Speaker 2: Clarita Valley or parts north of there, is the truck
Speaker 2: lanes the truck tunnel that goes through there. That's and
Speaker 2: the old road. You can't take the shortcut and go
Speaker 2: through the old road. But I five is open through
Speaker 2: that area. And then once you get just past the
Speaker 2: connector to the fourteen, you see that telltale glow of
Speaker 2: just around the corner there's going to be massive flame.
Speaker 2: And sure enough, as you go farther down the freeway
Speaker 2: and you kind of look off to the left, you
Speaker 2: can see that entire hillside up above the two ten
Speaker 2: that was on fire. And then as you get farther
Speaker 2: down into the valley San Fernando Valley, I did not
Speaker 2: expect to see the Altadena fire, but you could see
Speaker 2: some of the active flame from that one as well.
Speaker 4: Because it's glowing so brightly in the night sky, it
Speaker 4: is sort of surreal, apocalyptic, or the words that come
Speaker 4: to mind. But I mean, what other words do you
Speaker 4: describe that when you see a whole hillside on fire
Speaker 4: like that, and you know that like in the Altadena area, now,
Speaker 4: fifty two thousand people are under evacuation warnings, twenty thousand
Speaker 4: structures are threatened in the Palisades, thirty thousand evacuated, and
Speaker 4: more than ten thousand homes are threatened. We know that
Speaker 4: lots have burned. We don't have any kind of numbers yet.
Speaker 4: Fire officials were saying, we can't go in and assess
Speaker 4: the damage right now because the damage is still happening.
Speaker 4: The fires are still burning, the winds are still blowing.
Speaker 4: Neil Savedra and I don't live too far apart. I
Speaker 4: came out of my house this morning and there was
Speaker 4: no wind, but I walked out and I could smell smoke.
Speaker 4: And there have been lots of fires burning around southern
Speaker 4: California over the years. I've never smelled smoke like that,
Speaker 4: so you know that it's lingering even though the fires
Speaker 4: are miles away. But just a few miles away from
Speaker 4: where I was walking out of my door with very
Speaker 4: calm winds, Neil was getting blown across the street.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a lot of wind this morning. I
Speaker 2: was actually quite surprised that it was still going full force.
Speaker 2: And you know, I talk about this, Sorry, this is
Speaker 2: going to sound like a plug and it's not. But
Speaker 2: I talk about my American vision windows because we have
Speaker 2: replacement windows in certain areas of the house and not
Speaker 2: in others. And the because it's a you know, one
Speaker 2: hundred and twelve year old house or whatever it is,
Speaker 2: and the windows they do this weird sucking in the
Speaker 2: knocking sound of the ones that have not been replaced,
Speaker 2: and it was still going in the morning, and you know,
Speaker 2: it's dark. I don't want to wake anybody up. And
Speaker 2: it kept freaking me out because it sounded like it's
Speaker 2: in the kitchen and it sounded like the dishwasher was
Speaker 2: going to explode or something weird.
Speaker 3: It was like this weird.
Speaker 2: So I'm doing that and then I'm like, wow, the
Speaker 2: winds still are going. And then I go to to
Speaker 2: go out the door and just this rush of wind.
Speaker 2: I could see that plants had been knocked off the
Speaker 2: we have a like a fire pit outside on our
Speaker 2: front porch, and the plants in pots, in heavy pots
Speaker 2: had been blown off and onto the floor and broken.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, ah, I can't deal with that right now.
Speaker 2: And then parts of trees were in our front yard,
Speaker 2: and of course the palm fronds that lined the beautiful
Speaker 2: streets of Los Angeles all over the place. So I
Speaker 2: was quite surprised. And that was the first thing. The
Speaker 2: second thing, amy was, as we hear every now and
Speaker 2: again in our area, the sirens that were going off everywhere,
Speaker 2: so a lot of acting like car alarm sirens or
Speaker 2: police sirens. Police sirens and yeah, and.
Speaker 4: On the drive in you mentioned palm fronds and that
Speaker 4: kind of thing on the freeways. Mostly we're clear for
Speaker 4: at least for my drive. I know Cono had overturned
Speaker 4: big rigs, but as far as like branches and down
Speaker 4: those kinds of things, down trees, we hit the surface
Speaker 4: streets in Burbank and there was debris everywhere. So when
Speaker 4: you're driving around, if you need to drive around this morning,
Speaker 4: whether you're in the actual fire zones or not, just
Speaker 4: be careful because there's a lot of stuff on the roadways.
Speaker 2: And the tumbleweeds might be a homeless person, so be
Speaker 2: very careful.
Speaker 4: The strongest winds of the Santa Anna wind event technically
Speaker 4: have ended. They were expected overnight last night from ten
Speaker 4: pm until five am, but that doesn't mean that we
Speaker 4: are out of danger because the red flag warnings remain
Speaker 4: in place. They're going to be in place until at
Speaker 4: least tomorrow evening. For La and Ventura County, including the
Speaker 4: San Gabriel Mountains, the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys,
Speaker 4: especially in the Foothills, Beverly and Hollywood Hills coastal areas
Speaker 4: near the Supulvita Pass, The Santa Monica Mountains, the Santa
Speaker 4: Susanna Mountains, Malibu, eastern Ventura County, mainly near Simi Valley
Speaker 4: in moor Park, the San Bernardino County Mountains, the Inland Empire,
Speaker 4: Santa Anna Mountains, and for coastal and inland Orange County.
Speaker 4: So this wind event is not over by a long shot.
Speaker 4: We've got Santa Ana winds blowing through the area that
Speaker 4: are whipping up the flames and just making situations and
Speaker 4: then conditions treacherous. The Pacific Palisades fire has burned at
Speaker 4: last count about three thousand and eight in Altadena. The
Speaker 4: fire that started last night near Pasadena is up over
Speaker 4: one thousand acres. And then there's the fire in Silmar
Speaker 4: that has grown to five hundred acres, which is north
Speaker 4: of the two ten and east of the five Freeway,
Speaker 4: and the whole health side is on fire and lots
Speaker 4: of people are in harm's way. We want to get
Speaker 4: an update on the fires and some of the things
Speaker 4: that you can do to make sure that you stay
Speaker 4: safe with LA Fire. Captain Kelliher, good morning, Captain.
Speaker 3: Good morning. Thank you for having us.
Speaker 4: All right, thank you so much for coming on. We
Speaker 4: know that it's so important that we get the information
Speaker 4: out as people are waking up, even if they're not
Speaker 4: in a fire zone. But let's first just give a
Speaker 4: quick recap of what the conditions of the fires are
Speaker 4: that we know at this moment.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 9: So I have been on the Palisades fire all night
Speaker 9: while we're there, from the beginning until just now, and
Speaker 9: I am really amazed at the wind. And they said
Speaker 9: it was going to peak last night from ten till
Speaker 9: six this morning, and they were not lying.
Speaker 3: It got just horrendous, you know, just insane wind conditions
Speaker 3: that have driven this fire. The topography is treacherous over
Speaker 3: there in the Palisades, and it's just made for the
Speaker 3: perfect storm. Unfortunately, the Eaton Canyon, which is the one
Speaker 3: you were talking about over by Pasadena, is facing some
Speaker 3: of the similar conditions. In both these situations, structures have
Speaker 3: been lost. We don't have a total count on what
Speaker 3: the damage is yet. That'll come with the damage assessment.
Speaker 3: But I think the biggest message I can give to
Speaker 3: the folks is really listen to the warnings that are
Speaker 3: coming out. Pay attention to what your evacuation is a
Speaker 3: warning in order if it's a warning, get ready, get
Speaker 3: your stuff together, get ready to get out. Don't underestimate this.
Speaker 3: We have winds until late tonight.
Speaker 4: And we also hear that the red flag warnings have
Speaker 4: been extended even though the winds are going to start
Speaker 4: dying down. The red flag warnings for high fire danger
Speaker 4: possibility are extended through tomorrow as well. Captain kellerher, I'm
Speaker 4: curious as to the direction that the fires are blowing.
Speaker 4: We know that one saving grace of the Palisades fire
Speaker 4: is that it was blowing last night toward the ocean.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and most of these fires, the way these winds
Speaker 3: are blowing, they're blowing in a southwest kind of direction,
Speaker 3: but they are you know, it's interesting because they start
Speaker 3: to swirl and they become intermittent, and that just causes
Speaker 3: like those you know, big almost little mini tornadoes in
Speaker 3: the fire. So it is very tricky out there. And yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, the fact that it did blow to the
Speaker 3: ocean that that definitely helps. But the other fires are
Speaker 3: blowing the same way, kind of a southwesterly path.
Speaker 4: Which is not great news for the fire, the Altadena
Speaker 4: fire because south of yeah, where it's burning is the
Speaker 4: two ten Freeway and huge, you know, huge population centers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's the case, and that's what we're working
Speaker 3: so incredibly hard on. And hopefully when the sun comes up,
Speaker 3: we'll see if those helicopters and our fixed wings can
Speaker 3: get up and fly. But they weren't able to fly
Speaker 3: because of the wind last night. So that really takes
Speaker 3: a big piece of arsenal out of our firepower when
Speaker 3: we can't get up in the air.
Speaker 4: Right, So the Palisades fire. For a while yesterday there
Speaker 4: were air dropping helicopters and the Super Scooper planes making drops,
Speaker 4: but that had to stop. And then because the fire,
Speaker 4: the Eaton Canyon fire started so late in the day,
Speaker 4: that never got any aerial attention, did.
Speaker 3: It, you know, not that I know of. I was
Speaker 3: so so fixated on the palace aide, but I don't
Speaker 3: think so. Those winds were just pretty pretty insane, So
Speaker 3: it's been a challenge, to say the least.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and Keller, have you ever seen fire behavior like this?
Speaker 3: I think the Wolveny was close, but I feel like
Speaker 3: the winds here are are even more dramatic and extreme
Speaker 3: and unpredictable, that's the word I'm looking for. They're unpredictable
Speaker 3: in the way that they shift a little bit, but yeah,
Speaker 3: I think this is by far one of the worst
Speaker 3: ones I've ever been a part of.
Speaker 4: Okay, and the embers that we've been talking about through
Speaker 4: the morning are one of the biggest dangers of the
Speaker 4: fire spreading. So not only do you have the wind
Speaker 4: and the flames, but you've got these embers that are
Speaker 4: throwing little fireballs ahead of the fire.
Speaker 3: You said it, that is exactly what's happening. To give
Speaker 3: you a little bit of perspective. Last night, I was
Speaker 3: sitting at will Rogers Beach, at that parking lot just
Speaker 3: next to the ocean, and right across pH that whole
Speaker 3: hillside was going and those winds kicked up to probably
Speaker 3: seventy miles an hour, maybe a little bit more, and
Speaker 3: it looked like it was raining fire. And that's no seseration.
Speaker 3: It looked like it was hailing fire. I think that's
Speaker 3: a better word because of just what you said. Those
Speaker 3: embers and they're big and you know, tossing, you know,
Speaker 3: pieces of brush and trees just flying by, and they
Speaker 3: get second they actually made it across the pch We
Speaker 3: lost several lifeguard towers if you can imagine that in
Speaker 3: the sand, So those embers can land anywhere. And you know,
Speaker 3: that goes back to what we always talked about harding
Speaker 3: your home. Make sure there's nothing around it where those
Speaker 3: embers can get caught in and get lodged in to
Speaker 3: keep your home safe from this type of wind event.
Speaker 4: And I've heard too that the embers are especially dangerous
Speaker 4: to the homes because they can get up under the eaves.
Speaker 3: Yeah, very much so. And there's so many. I think
Speaker 3: that's that's like, it's just not like one. It's just like,
Speaker 3: like I said, it looks like it's hailing. Yeah.
Speaker 4: So with that, with that knowledge, even if you're not
Speaker 4: in an evacuation, world warning or order zone at this time,
Speaker 4: is there something that homeowners who are possibly near or
Speaker 4: when there's an event like this, is there something that
Speaker 4: they should be doing. Should they be watering down their houses?
Speaker 4: Should they you know, what kind of last minute things
Speaker 4: should they be doing to get ready just in case?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think I think first and foremost, if they can
Speaker 3: download the Genesis app that's Genesis Evacuation that has just
Speaker 3: been incredibly useful, that alerts the residents that are in
Speaker 3: evacuation warnings or orders, that puts up the boundaries and
Speaker 3: the borders, so you know exactly what time to you
Speaker 3: know when you need to go and when you need
Speaker 3: to get out. That that's a pro tip right there.
Speaker 3: Everybody needs to get that app And then when it
Speaker 3: comes to what they can do for their home, you know,
Speaker 3: the biggest thing is think about where those members can
Speaker 3: land and where they can settle. That's why we say,
Speaker 3: you know, get those woodpiles away from your home. Make
Speaker 3: sure there's no tree or brush or leaves or anything
Speaker 3: like that in your gutters. And you know, those are
Speaker 3: the things that you can kind of kind of get
Speaker 3: away from your home. Put your patio furniture a hopefully
Speaker 3: all the Christmas decorations are gone, because all those things
Speaker 3: are gonna be magnets for those embers and just cause
Speaker 3: the situation, and it's just also being aware and paying
Speaker 3: attention to where you're going. That wind is relentless out there.
Speaker 3: I haven't gone to bed yet and I it has
Speaker 3: not slowed down at all, which.
Speaker 4: Again, as we were talking about, southern California is so dynamic.
Speaker 4: There are some areas where you are where the winds
Speaker 4: are just still howling. And at my house it was
Speaker 4: just dead calm this morning.
Speaker 3: Wow you where are you at in the Silver Lake area?
Speaker 9: Oh?
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, well I'll fall through the one on one
Speaker 3: quarter West hill locking the out of flint Ridge up
Speaker 3: against those mountains and bases. It is just still relentless.
Speaker 4: Okay, Captain callaher Ellie Fire. Thank you so much for
Speaker 4: your information. We appreciate it. Do stay safe and hopefully
Speaker 4: we don't have to talk to you again.
Speaker 3: I agree, Thank you, all right, you take care?
Speaker 4: All right. When we we're gonna check in with ABC's
Speaker 4: Alex Stone. He is on scene at the fire burning
Speaker 4: near Altadena, which is not far from Pasadena. He's going
Speaker 4: to give us the latest on that Southland weather from KFI.
Speaker 4: Red flag warnings in effect through tomorrow, with gus seventy
Speaker 4: miles per hour or higher expected in some areas. The
Speaker 4: red flag warnings in effect for La and Ventura Counties.
Speaker 4: San Gabriel Mountains, San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys, especially
Speaker 4: the foothills, Beverly and Hollywood Hills. Coastal area is adjacent
Speaker 4: to the Sepolvita Pass, the Santa Monica Mountains, the Santa
Speaker 4: Susanna Mountains, Malibu, eastern Ventura County sorry, eastern Ventura Valley,
Speaker 4: mainly near Simi Valley in moor Park, the San Bernardino
Speaker 4: County Mountains, the Inland Empire, the Santa Ana Mountains, and
Speaker 4: for also coastal and inland Orange County, so not affecting
Speaker 4: only La and Ventura Counties. The winds are still howling,
Speaker 4: the fires are still burning out of control. We've got
Speaker 4: three big ones in southern California. A new one is started.
Speaker 4: We're getting word that a fire in Riverside County has
Speaker 4: burned about ten to fifteen acres in the Coachella Valley.
Speaker 4: It started early this morning at Tyler Street and forty
Speaker 4: seventh Avenue. There haven't been any reports of injuries or
Speaker 4: damaged property, but buildings are threatened. The Riverside County Sheriff's
Speaker 4: Department has begun to order people to get out of
Speaker 4: their homes. Of course, thirty thousand people have been ordered
Speaker 4: out of their homes in Pacific Palisades at last check,
Speaker 4: and again these numbers are going to be updated. At
Speaker 4: last check it had burned about three thousand acres. That
Speaker 4: was the first one that really started. It has burned
Speaker 4: a lot of homes. We don't know how many yet
Speaker 4: we're hoping to get an update a little later this
Speaker 4: morning when there's a press conference coming up at eight o'clock.
Speaker 4: We'll carry that live for you. In the Silmar area
Speaker 4: fire that was sparked last night about ten thirty has
Speaker 4: now burned five hundred acres. It is zero percent contained,
Speaker 4: as are all the fires burning in southern California. And
Speaker 4: right now we're going to say good morning to Alex
Speaker 4: with ABC who's on the lines of the Eton Fire,
Speaker 4: which we just got an update that one has now
Speaker 4: burned through twenty two hundred acres, and the Eaten Fire,
Speaker 4: of course in Altadena, about fourteen miles from downtown LA
Speaker 4: and north of Pasadena. Good morning, Alex, Good morning Amy.
Speaker 7: Yeah, the wind here has just been incredible this morning.
Speaker 7: And I'm on Lake Avenue right now in this street.
Speaker 7: As every time you feel like you get into a
Speaker 7: safe area, something starts to catch on fire. That the
Speaker 7: embers have been glowing rolling on the avenue here and
Speaker 7: continually catching things on fire. The Sheriff's department has been
Speaker 7: going through just ordering and pleading with people to leave,
Speaker 7: and we've been seeing a pretty good line of cars
Speaker 7: or people with their stuff packed up just getting out
Speaker 7: as quickly as they can. But it has been very
Speaker 7: dynamic this morning. They have no idea on this fire
Speaker 7: how many homes have burned, of how many people they
Speaker 7: even have evacuated because they're not able to go door
Speaker 7: to door. They're just telling people, go, you got to
Speaker 7: get out of here if you're in the Altadena area.
Speaker 7: With the winds. That seem to have calmed down a
Speaker 7: little bit, I'd say in the last half an hour
Speaker 7: or so, But about an hour ago I opened up
Speaker 7: the door on the car that I'm in and the
Speaker 7: door went all the way back, like snapped all the
Speaker 7: way open. You can't. It's impossibly been standing these winds.
Speaker 7: The wind has just been absolutely incredible.
Speaker 4: Okay, and Alex. When you say that the winds have
Speaker 4: died down a little bit, they're still blowing pretty good, right.
Speaker 7: They're absolutely still blowing, but not to the point where
Speaker 7: even with your car with the parking brake on, that
Speaker 7: it was pushing cars forward, that it was trees bending over,
Speaker 7: it was where you could not stand outside. That has
Speaker 7: died down a little bit. It's still quite breezy, but
Speaker 7: we're not seeing the embers just you know, a shower
Speaker 7: of embers coming in the wind down Lake Avenue. Now
Speaker 7: I'm still here like explosion noises as buildings are burning
Speaker 7: around here. There's still a lot of activity, but the
Speaker 7: winds have definitely died down a little bit in the
Speaker 7: last couple of minutes.
Speaker 4: Okay, And you're saying, as you're hearing explosions as buildings
Speaker 4: are burning, are there dozens hundreds? Can you see from
Speaker 4: your vantage point because you know when you're looking.
Speaker 7: At it, go ahead, Yeah, it's a lot. And sometimes
Speaker 7: it's hard to tell if it's the building or all
Speaker 7: the shrubs around the building that it's just in the nighttime,
Speaker 7: you know, view of it of just a lot of
Speaker 7: fire around buildings, but there have been quite a few.
Speaker 7: I was talking to a sheriff's deputy a little while ago.
Speaker 7: He said, they have got that there are a lot
Speaker 7: of homes that are gone. But the problem being that
Speaker 7: you get into some of these streets, they are so
Speaker 7: smoky that at least at nighttime, it's almost impossible to
Speaker 7: see more than like five feet in front of your car,
Speaker 7: So people are trying to get out. Even firefighters don't
Speaker 7: necessarily know the scope of it. Right now that they
Speaker 7: know there are buildings burning, but they can't really get
Speaker 7: into or see all of the areas.
Speaker 4: Okay, and Alex, from what you've been seeing and hearing
Speaker 4: with people being evacuated from their homes, are they running
Speaker 4: into the same sort of a logjam that we experienced
Speaker 4: where people were experiencing yesterday and Pacific Palisades where they
Speaker 4: were just they got in a traffic jam and just
Speaker 4: had to leave their cars behind.
Speaker 7: No, by no means nothing like that. It's been a
Speaker 7: steady stream of people getting out down the main roads
Speaker 7: here in Altadena, and the power is out, so there's
Speaker 7: confusion at all the stop lights, and some people are
Speaker 7: just blowing right through them or not seeing them with
Speaker 7: the sun not up yet, and so they're getting out.
Speaker 7: But the streets here are so wide and there are
Speaker 7: so many ways to get out that the people seem
Speaker 7: to be able to do it. But there are a
Speaker 7: lot of people who are trying to get out.
Speaker 4: Okay and then, Alex, we're also just getting word that
Speaker 4: the evacuation area has been expanded for the fire that's
Speaker 4: burning out Todena and now includes all of locking out
Speaker 4: a flint Ridge. So and then last check we had
Speaker 4: fifty two thousand plus evacuation orders had been issued, with
Speaker 4: like northwards of twenty thousand homes, buildings, businesses, schools threatened.
Speaker 7: Yeah, no doubt that number is going to keep going
Speaker 7: up all day today. I mean, Amy, weops, hopefully you
Speaker 7: hang on try to clear that my I know we
Speaker 7: can't air this. So my emergency alert just started going
Speaker 7: off here as it's been telling people to get out.
Speaker 7: But yeah, the numbers are going to be all day
Speaker 7: today going up. That they are just progressively moving forward
Speaker 7: saying get out, that they need bigger areas to get out.
Speaker 7: But the numbers are going to go up all day
Speaker 7: to day.
Speaker 4: All right, Alex Stone, thank you so much. Live on
Speaker 4: the lines of the Altadena fire that has burned one
Speaker 4: thousand acres and actually twenty two hundred acres at last check,
Speaker 4: expecting it to grow. Thank you, Alex, you got it.
Speaker 7: Thanks Amy.
Speaker 4: Okay, And as we were just talking about with Alex
Speaker 4: and with other with Gary and with Chris Berry before that,
Speaker 4: and of course Neil savedra, these fires are burning out
Speaker 4: of control. They're not being fought from the air at
Speaker 4: this time because the winds have been blowing so hard.
Speaker 4: We're hoping as the sun comes up, We're going to
Speaker 4: be able to get some aerial assaults going again and
Speaker 4: hopefully start to get some lines around these fires. But
Speaker 4: just the sheer magnitude of the homes, and like Alex
Speaker 4: was talking about, just seeing buildings burning and explosions going off.
Speaker 4: It might be propane tanks or something like that from
Speaker 4: some of the homes. But in the Altadena area, I
Speaker 4: had a friend who lived up there, and it's it's
Speaker 4: packed in, as you know. And if the winds are
Speaker 4: blowing to the south as LA fires, Captain callaher told us,
Speaker 4: are they going to head Are they going to jump
Speaker 4: the two ten freeway? We certainly hope not. We certainly
Speaker 4: hope that that does not come to pass, but we
Speaker 4: will be watching and we will be following it.
Speaker 9: Now.
Speaker 4: Southern California, Edison and also LEDWP have shut off power
Speaker 4: to hundreds of thousands of residents precautionary because you know,
Speaker 4: as with other fires, you know, those the power lines
Speaker 4: can be the cause of fires, and they want to
Speaker 4: prevent that. Of course, So right now we know that
Speaker 4: at least two hundred thousand actually Chris Berry's numbers were
Speaker 4: three hundred thousand, and so cal Edison was saying that
Speaker 4: up to four hundred thousand people could be affected. So
Speaker 4: if you are in the dark, we hope you will
Speaker 4: keep us on your phone on the iHeartRadio app. And
Speaker 4: it just made me think, and I don't know about you,
Speaker 4: but it made me think of what I really need
Speaker 4: to do, because I was thinking last night, what if
Speaker 4: the power goes out?
Speaker 3: Here?
Speaker 4: Is my phone charged? Is my alarm going to go off?
Speaker 4: Am I going to be all?
Speaker 8: You know?
Speaker 4: I mean, like what happens? And that's that's just for
Speaker 4: the power, let alone the idea of having to evacuate
Speaker 4: your homes. So if you don't have your evacuation plan,
Speaker 4: even if you're not in a fire area, this is
Speaker 4: a good time to get it, get it planned because
Speaker 4: these things, as we are seeing, are coming out of
Speaker 4: absolutely nowhere. Even though we knew that there were dangerous
Speaker 4: winds coming. You never know when a fire is gonna
Speaker 4: erupt in your neighborhood. And as we just mentioned, for
Speaker 4: the fire that's burning in Altadena, they've now expanded that
Speaker 4: evacuation order to include the La Kenyata flint Ridge area,
Speaker 4: which is a ways away. So just because you're not
Speaker 4: right where the fire is burning, that doesn't mean that
Speaker 4: couldn't change, and especially with the winds and the embers,
Speaker 4: it's just it's scary. And we're glad that you're with
Speaker 4: us this morning, and we will get you all the
Speaker 4: information that you need and continue with once wake up
Speaker 4: call is done and Bill Handle comes on and Gary
Speaker 4: and Shannon. Gary of course already in the building because
Speaker 4: he was getting the evacuation warnings on his phone overnight.
Speaker 4: But we've got it all through the day and we're
Speaker 4: going to keep you updated and make sure that you
Speaker 4: can stay safe. Here is the quick rundown on the
Speaker 4: fire's Pacific powerades has burned about three thousand acres.
Speaker 3: Again.
Speaker 4: We're going to be getting updated numbers and we will
Speaker 4: get them to you as soon as we can. We
Speaker 4: know that a lot of homes have burned. We don't
Speaker 4: have those numbers yet, but more than thirty thousand residents
Speaker 4: have been evacuated the fire near Pasadena In Altadena, the
Speaker 4: Eton Fire now has fifty two thousand evacuation orders in place.
Speaker 4: The fire has grown to twenty two hundred and twenty
Speaker 4: seven acres That one, of course, started last evening around
Speaker 4: six point thirty. The evacuation orders have been expanded to
Speaker 4: include the La Kenyata flint Ridge area and then the
Speaker 4: other fire, the Hurst fire burning in the Silmar area,
Speaker 4: is five hundred acres. It started at about ten thirty
Speaker 4: last night. Evacuations have been ordered for the areas north
Speaker 4: of the two ten freeway. The good news on most
Speaker 4: of these is there's not been a large number of
Speaker 4: injuries reported. We do know that one firefighter got a
Speaker 4: severe head injury fighting the Pacific Palisades fire last night.
Speaker 4: Several people were apparently burned. We don't know the extent
Speaker 4: of that. Again, we're expecting to get an update on
Speaker 4: that at eight o'clock this morning, and we will bring
Speaker 4: that live to you here on KFI. The most information
Speaker 4: that you can find on the fires, the side of them,
Speaker 4: the evacuation areas, where shelters are set up, schools that
Speaker 4: are closed, and power outages, you can find it all
Speaker 4: on our website KFI AM six forty dot com. Keyword fire.
Speaker 4: All right, let's talk about the fire and the conditions
Speaker 4: that are in place that make wildfire such a dangerous
Speaker 4: possibility and actually a dangerous reality. Right now, let's say
Speaker 4: good morning to the National Weather Services. Mike Wafford Mike
Speaker 4: tell us about what makes this Santa Ana wind event
Speaker 4: so devastating?
Speaker 6: Good morning. Yeah, Well, we had a dangerous combination of
Speaker 6: very strong winds aloft oriented in just the right position
Speaker 6: to generate basically winds coming down from very high levels
Speaker 6: and reaching the foothill areas in parts of the La Basin.
Speaker 6: And during that time we've seen winds gusting between ninety
Speaker 6: and one hundred miles per hour along the base of
Speaker 6: the mountains there in the Altadena area Eaten Fire area,
Speaker 6: and you know, we're still seeing winds this morning upwards
Speaker 6: of eighty miles per hour or higher. So it's just been,
Speaker 6: you know, an unfortunate combination of events to trigger these
Speaker 6: sorts of winds. And of course we've got the high
Speaker 6: fire danger, very low humidity, and we've had very little rain,
Speaker 6: so it's all just coming together unfortunately.
Speaker 4: Okay, And Mike, winds blow really strong in the Inland
Speaker 4: Empire all the time. I have a friend who had
Speaker 4: a house out there, and man, with the winds blow,
Speaker 4: but there wasn't that fire danger. So what makes this one?
Speaker 4: What makes the conditions so ripe for fires?
Speaker 8: Now?
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, just the fact that we've had basically
Speaker 6: zero rain, very little rain during over the last several months.
Speaker 6: You know, normally this time of the year we've had
Speaker 6: a few storms to moisten things up a little bit,
Speaker 6: and we just haven't had that, and so, you know,
Speaker 6: the fuels, the plants are very dry, and you know,
Speaker 6: we've just had this pattern over the last couple of
Speaker 6: months where we've been seeing these very strong sant Ana
Speaker 6: wind events and unfortunately, without the rain, there's just they
Speaker 6: just take off really quickly.
Speaker 4: Okay. And then Mike, there are areas that may normally
Speaker 4: not see the high winds, but during this event, a
Speaker 4: lot of people are seen and feeling the blowing that
Speaker 4: they don't normally feel in their area.
Speaker 6: Yeah, exactly, that area two ten Corridor going through, blocking
Speaker 6: the out of flint Ridge and Altadena area that's typically
Speaker 6: blocked with our typical Santa Ana winds. Usually do you
Speaker 6: see those in the mostly in the San Fernando Valley.
Speaker 6: But because these winds are coming up and over the
Speaker 6: mountains and crashing down into uh, the two ten corridor area. Uh,
Speaker 6: you know, that's why we're seeing these winds so strong
Speaker 6: in those areas that typically don't.
Speaker 4: Get them, Okay, And how long can we expect the
Speaker 4: winds to continue to have this increased fire danger for us?
Speaker 6: Well, the strong we're at the strongest really right now
Speaker 6: in the overnight period earlier. We are expecting a fairly
Speaker 6: substantial decrease as we get into the afternoon hours. We're
Speaker 6: still going to be seeing some winds the rest of
Speaker 6: the day, and it looks like through the rest of
Speaker 6: the week, but considerably lighter, but it's going to still
Speaker 6: be very dry and you know, very low humidities. The
Speaker 6: threat is still going to be there.
Speaker 4: Okay. And is there anything any recommendation you have for people,
Speaker 4: knowing that you're with the National Weather Service, that people
Speaker 4: can do to prepare themselves for the fire danger.
Speaker 6: Yeah. I mean the biggest thing is just to heed
Speaker 6: the words from the local authorities there. They know what's
Speaker 6: going on. But yeah, be prepared to evacuate at any moment.
Speaker 6: And you know, that's about all we can say at
Speaker 6: this point.
Speaker 4: Okay, because we never know when you know, we hope
Speaker 4: that these fires that are currently burning are the only ones,
Speaker 4: but with this wind event continuing, more could pop up.
Speaker 6: Oh, absolutely, yeah, And unfortunately it looks like we've got
Speaker 6: some more Santa Ana wins coming even into next week,
Speaker 6: so we could be in for a fairly long duration
Speaker 6: of dangerous fire conditions.
Speaker 4: Okay, and Mike, when Santa ana wins blow through, do
Speaker 4: we always have the low humidity levels? Is that kind
Speaker 4: of indicative of Santa Ana's or is it just the
Speaker 4: conditions right now or prime for fire danger.
Speaker 6: Santa Anna's almost always come with low humidities. Sometimes they're
Speaker 6: lower than others, just depending on the situation. But you know,
Speaker 6: as I said, the biggest thing here for us has
Speaker 6: just been the lack of rainfall. We haven't had anything
Speaker 6: for so long, and everything's just super dry.
Speaker 4: Okay, Mike Wafford with the National Weather Service, thank you
Speaker 4: so much for the information.
Speaker 6: You're very welcome.
Speaker 4: All right, take care. We all need to just batten
Speaker 4: down those hatches. Okay, So just quickly to reset. We've
Speaker 4: got a press conference coming up at eight o'clock. We're
Speaker 4: going to bring that to you. Hopefully we'll get some
Speaker 4: more information from fire officials. I heard somebody on one
Speaker 4: of the TV stations last night complaining that they hadn't
Speaker 4: heard from officials, and I was like, they're busy fighting
Speaker 4: the fires. We know that there's about fourteen hundred firefighters
Speaker 4: out on the lines. More are on the way. We've
Speaker 4: got them coming from northern California. We've got them coming
Speaker 4: from Arizona. Anybody who is involved with fire department was
Speaker 4: basically said. They basically called him and said you got
Speaker 4: to come back in. And we also know that there's
Speaker 4: a shift change, some fresh faces and fresh firefighters coming on.
Speaker 4: I believe the shift changes at six point thirty because
Speaker 4: these guys have been out on the lines all night.
Speaker 4: And as we were talking with Mike Wafford, those strong,
Speaker 4: strong winds are causing more than just fire danger, but
Speaker 4: they're keeping fire fighting aircraft from getting up in the
Speaker 4: air and doing what they do and dropping the fozcheck
Speaker 4: in the water onto the flames, which is why those
Speaker 4: fires are just burning out of control. We're hoping that
Speaker 4: maybe the winds will die down a little bit today
Speaker 4: and to the point that we can get some planes
Speaker 4: and helicopters up to fight the fires. We've got the
Speaker 4: three big ones, we've got a smaller one burning in Coachella,
Speaker 4: and then, as Will Coleschreiber has been telling us, we've
Speaker 4: got a small fire burning near Irwindale along the two
Speaker 4: ten Freeway, but the Big Ones Pacific Palisades at three
Speaker 4: thousand acres, the Altadena Fire near Pasadena twenty two hundred
Speaker 4: and twenty seven acres, and the evacuation orders have been
Speaker 4: expanded to include fifty two thousand residents, including all of Lakeagnata,
Speaker 4: flint Ridge that's brand new, and the Hearst fire burning
Speaker 4: near Silmar it's grown to about five hundred acres. Evacuations
Speaker 4: have been ordered for areas north of the two ten freeway,
Speaker 4: and you can get all of the updated information on
Speaker 4: those evacuation orders, school closures where you can go if
Speaker 4: you need to get to a shelter if you are
Speaker 4: affected by the evacuation orders, and also power outages. They're
Speaker 4: shutting down power to try to reduce the risk of
Speaker 4: wildfire in some areas, and you can find all that
Speaker 4: information on the website KFIAM six forty dot com slash fire.
Speaker 4: This is KFI and kost HD two Los Angeles, Orange County,
Speaker 4: Southland Weather from KFI, though Santa ana Win is going
Speaker 4: to continue to blow with red flag warnings and effect
Speaker 4: through tomorrow evening. Gus seventy miles per hour expected. Red
Speaker 4: flag warnings are in effect for much of La and
Speaker 4: Ventura Counties, along with the San Bernardino County Mountains, the
Speaker 4: Inland Empire San Ana Mountains, and for coastal and inland
Speaker 4: Orange County. Otherwise, aside from the winds, we're going to
Speaker 4: see sunny skies. Highs in the low to mid seventies
Speaker 4: at the beaches Metro La and Inland No c. Sixties
Speaker 4: and seventies in the Valley's upper sixties in the ie
Speaker 4: fifties in the Antelope Valley. The winds should start dying
Speaker 4: down some tonight, sunny skies Tomorrow, still windy, highs in
Speaker 4: the sixties and seventies and a little bit cooler. On Friday.
Speaker 4: It's sixty three in Santa Monica, sixty in Tustin, sixty
Speaker 4: three in Irvine, fifty six in Calabasas. We lead local
Speaker 4: live from the KFI twenty four hour newsroom for producer
Speaker 4: An and technical producer KNO and also traffic specialist will
Speaker 4: I am Amy King. This has been your wake up Colin.
Speaker 4: If you missed any of wake Up Call, lots of
Speaker 4: good information on the fires today. You can live at
Speaker 4: anytime on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1: You've been listening to wake Up Call with me Amy King.
Speaker 1: You can always hear wake Up Call five to six
Speaker 1: am Monday through Friday on KFI AM six forty, and
Speaker 1: anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app