Speaker 1: This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI
Speaker 1: AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand
Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app. Keeping a close eye on all
Speaker 1: the hell fire that has surrounded La County in the
Speaker 1: past three days or so. Right now, our attention is
Speaker 1: on Mount Wilson, where flames are encroaching upon the all
Speaker 1: powerful TV and radio towers there.
Speaker 2: A couple TV stations do have engineers on site up there,
Speaker 2: and as we had Doug Irwin, one of our engineers
Speaker 2: who's been up to Mount Wilson countless times, you could
Speaker 2: see some of the pictures that are broadcasts from the
Speaker 2: cameras that exist on those broadcast towers up there. There
Speaker 2: are a dozen or so fire protection vehicles that are
Speaker 2: on the site up there.
Speaker 3: They are not doing anything.
Speaker 2: To fight the fire, but apparently some of the television
Speaker 2: engineers up there have been saying it's because they want
Speaker 2: that to burn. They feel protected enough that the flames
Speaker 2: themselves are not going to croach on the buildings or
Speaker 2: the towers, which they would try to protect, but they're
Speaker 2: not trying to put the fire out in the bush
Speaker 2: area because they want that to burn. So that's kind
Speaker 2: of what it looks like right now, but again that
Speaker 2: fire has reached those peaks of Mount Wilson up there
Speaker 2: where almost almost all of the TV and radio stations
Speaker 2: that you hear in LA are broadcast from fire insurance.
Speaker 1: We pay a lot of fire insurance to live where
Speaker 1: we live in southern California, and sometimes they won't even
Speaker 1: ensure you based on where you live. We heard accounts
Speaker 1: from actor James Woods that some of the insurance was
Speaker 1: canceled just months ago for people at least to live
Speaker 1: in the Palisades around where he lives. Rich McHugh works
Speaker 1: for News Nation, joins us now all about this issue
Speaker 1: about insurance claims and how daunting of a path and
Speaker 1: a journey this will be for people who have lost
Speaker 1: their homes or had damage in these fires.
Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Rich, Thanks for taking time for us.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thanks for having me. Happy to be here.
Speaker 2: We have been covering these stories about loss of fire
Speaker 2: coverage in throughout California, but also throughout the Western United
Speaker 2: States because insurance companies are afraid that they would break
Speaker 2: the bank. Now we see a total, you know, a
Speaker 2: price tag on this thing upwards of fifty billion dollars.
Speaker 2: What's going on in the insurance industry. First of all,
Speaker 2: that makes them want to pull out of California.
Speaker 4: Well, I think it goes back to twenty seventeen and
Speaker 4: twenty eighteen. They were back to back, you know, wildfires
Speaker 4: in back to back years, one in northern California, one
Speaker 4: in southern California. And I believe the losses from those
Speaker 4: fires were something like twenty three billion, which is already
Speaker 4: a lot less than where we're at now, but that
Speaker 4: was enough where the insurance companies essentially paid out twice
Speaker 4: as much as they took in in their premium. And
Speaker 4: so I think All State pulled out of California in
Speaker 4: twenty twenty three, and State Farm with respective Pacific Palisades,
Speaker 4: they told I believe it was seventy percent of the
Speaker 4: residence Pacific Palisades just this year alone, that they will
Speaker 4: not be renewing their coverage. And so I spoke with
Speaker 4: one woman who basically had was forced to evacuate. Obviously
Speaker 4: she doesn't know the status for home. In the conversation,
Speaker 4: she mentioned, oh, and then we have to deal with insurance.
Speaker 4: Her plan was canceled or not renewed as she was
Speaker 4: informed about this in November and so she's kind of
Speaker 4: left to fend for herself. And your options, as you
Speaker 4: guys know, are not great. You have something called the
Speaker 4: California Fair Plan, which apparently only covers you up for
Speaker 4: individuals or homeowners up to three million and for commercial
Speaker 4: for business says up to twenty million. And so this
Speaker 4: is going to be the real first major test of
Speaker 4: this like emergency system. And you know, I don't I
Speaker 4: can't begin to guess how it's going to go, but
Speaker 4: I can't imagine it's going to go smoothly. I'll say
Speaker 4: that this is well, the losses are going to be
Speaker 4: so high.
Speaker 2: We just had the governor come out and pat himself
Speaker 2: on the back for his new budget plan that he
Speaker 2: says there's going to be a surplus.
Speaker 3: But the size of.
Speaker 2: Whatever this price tag is, and I mean, it's hard
Speaker 2: to even I mentioned the fifty fifty billion that came
Speaker 2: from ACI weather, and that would be more than twice
Speaker 2: as much as the entire nineteen ninety four North Rich
Speaker 2: earthquake in terms of property loss.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's like it's it's a staggering number. It's only
Speaker 4: going to go up because these things aren't contained. And
Speaker 4: you know, ultimately you're going to get to a situation
Speaker 4: where it's almost like you know, Florida, California and Florida
Speaker 4: going to be it's almost going to be impossible to
Speaker 4: be insured when you live in these states because insurance
Speaker 4: companies don't want don't want the business because of the
Speaker 4: natural disasters, and so as a as a resident there,
Speaker 4: you're going to be left to to face massive premiums
Speaker 4: from some unknown company, or or go with this the
Speaker 4: fair plan, which you know, we'll see how this all
Speaker 4: operates in the coming weeks.
Speaker 2: And nothing makes people feel more comfortable than looking at
Speaker 2: insurance and raising your hands and going we'll see yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, and you know, for a lot of people,
Speaker 4: you can't even get insurance. You can't even get a
Speaker 4: mortgage without having insurance to go hand in hand. So
Speaker 4: it's a complicating mess. I can't even not only have
Speaker 4: people lost their homes, but you know, if you have
Speaker 4: mortgages still to pay on those homes, how much is
Speaker 4: insurance can to how much you're going to get back?
Speaker 4: How are you going to rebuild? Like the questions, it's
Speaker 4: just too much to process for how you find your
Speaker 4: way through this. It's just just awful.
Speaker 1: Rich Mchughe hopefully we can have a better conversation at
Speaker 1: another time.
Speaker 3: Thanks, Rich, appreciate it. You got reporder there from News Nation.
Speaker 1: Uh, there's really no way to put lipstick on that pig,
Speaker 1: is there?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 2: And listen, insurance companies already have an awful reputation, many
Speaker 2: of them for instances like this and the hoops that
Speaker 2: people have to go through despite having been covered by
Speaker 2: the same company for decades in some cases, and.
Speaker 3: Then when you really need them, where are they.
Speaker 2: Yeah, hopefully that's not the case, and hopefully there are
Speaker 2: some good stories, but still it's not. It's not an
Speaker 2: easy path forward for anybody.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think everybody feels the need to throw
Speaker 1: projectiles at the television whenever one of those commercials comes on. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: we're by your side, Yeah, my ass.
Speaker 2: Especially juxtapose that with the images of the devastation that
Speaker 2: we've seen exactly and we'll continue to see. Unfortunately, fire
Speaker 2: coverage continues some of the far away helicopter shots of
Speaker 2: the Eton fire that was burning above Altadena and Pasadena,
Speaker 2: as the fires down below in the flatlands have for
Speaker 2: the most part stopped spreading, that fire continues to grow
Speaker 2: up that hill and as moving towards Mount Wilson and
Speaker 2: all the broadcast facilities that are up there on the
Speaker 2: top of Mount Wilson.
Speaker 1: I did get an update from my city there along
Speaker 1: the foothills that said, you're going to see the fire
Speaker 1: moving up into the hills today and it's probably going
Speaker 1: to be moving east.
Speaker 3: A little bit and get a little bit.
Speaker 1: But this was the plan is moving up. I don't
Speaker 1: think they expected it to move as up as far
Speaker 1: up as Mount Wilson.
Speaker 3: And those towers.
Speaker 1: There was a retardant line that they laid down before
Speaker 1: the fixed to win aircraft had to be grounded at
Speaker 1: least that was the story about an hour ago because
Speaker 1: of turbulence. So hopefully that has calmed down and they
Speaker 1: can resume the air attack.
Speaker 3: That's got to be all.
Speaker 2: That's got to be a difficult place to fly. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: mountain terrain, the all of the air currents coming.
Speaker 1: Off the fire, weather, the weather system the fire creates
Speaker 1: in terms of the gusts and the breezes and the shifts.
Speaker 2: It's incredible. We have been taking some of your messages
Speaker 2: on our talk back feature.
Speaker 5: More in California.
Speaker 2: Up in Mendosino, we already heard you and your daughter's
Speaker 2: safe and she's in North rich something.
Speaker 3: Hi Gary, Jannon. I've been listening and working and all
Speaker 3: that about the fires. I'm really sad about it.
Speaker 4: I haven't heard too much about what do they believe
Speaker 4: are the causes. I have to be in and out
Speaker 4: and off and on the radio, but what what they
Speaker 4: determine the causes of all these fires?
Speaker 3: Thanks?
Speaker 1: Nope, No, there was a backyard fire that they talked
Speaker 1: about starting potentially the Palisades fire. We don't know if
Speaker 1: that was a backyard fire and a fire pit or
Speaker 1: something that was sparked into a fire into the backyard.
Speaker 3: We just have no information about them who licks fires
Speaker 3: in their backyard.
Speaker 1: It could be a fire pit is a cold morning.
Speaker 2: Well, you're right, I guess that's true. Yeah, I don't
Speaker 2: have a fire pit, so for just that reason, I don't.
Speaker 5: Hello, Garyan Jenning Maria from also WEO. I just wanted
Speaker 5: to say thank you guys again so much for keeping
Speaker 5: us up to date on the current and real information
Speaker 5: and everything that's going on, because apparently our own local
Speaker 5: government can't even do that because apparently she wasn't even here.
Speaker 5: So again, thank you, so so much for all that
Speaker 5: you do, and my mom now listens to you.
Speaker 3: Guys take okay, thank you, we'll take them.
Speaker 2: Did you see the interview I don't even know if
Speaker 2: you'd call it an interview, the attempted interview where a
Speaker 2: reporter had approached Karen back British she was getting off
Speaker 2: the plane. The British reporter. Yeah, yeah, you got to
Speaker 2: stay on top of these people too. Like that was
Speaker 2: just the beginning.
Speaker 1: She was hit a little bit at the press conference
Speaker 1: today in terms of the water and the cuts to
Speaker 1: the fire department and all of that. I mean, here's
Speaker 1: the thing that hit me when I was on my
Speaker 1: way home yesterday. When you think of what you want
Speaker 1: from government, you want police, you want fire, and you want.
Speaker 3: Roads right and water? Water, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Like, those are the four biggies in my head, that's
Speaker 1: what I want you to provide us with the tax
Speaker 1: dollars we provide you, the ridiculous amount of tax dollars
Speaker 1: you squeeze from us. Those are the four things you
Speaker 1: should be able to do. Police, fire, roads and water.
Speaker 1: And what are you failing at? Police? Fire, roads and water?
Speaker 1: What is your attention on is it tampons? In the
Speaker 1: boys bathrooms.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you're paying attention to. Like, what's
Speaker 1: a priority at La City Hall right now? It's not police, fire,
Speaker 1: roads and water.
Speaker 3: It's feelings. Remember there's an emphasis on.
Speaker 2: Failing care about their feelings. Well, that's why we talk
Speaker 2: about You don't have to tell me, I don't.
Speaker 1: You don't have to tell me how prayers in your
Speaker 1: hearts and your thoughts and your hopes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, don't tell me how strong the community is. The
Speaker 2: community's strength will be shown by the community. It doesn't
Speaker 2: need to be called out or asked for by a politician.
Speaker 2: It will be shown by the people and the neighborhoods
Speaker 2: that let that stand by itself.
Speaker 3: This was Karen Bass. You can't even hear Karen Bass.
Speaker 3: This was a.
Speaker 2: Reporter trying to get Karen Bass to answer questions. This
Speaker 2: is as yesterday. She was on her way back to
Speaker 2: La after she had gone on a I guess you
Speaker 2: would see a diplomatic mission. I suppose she was attending
Speaker 2: the inauguration of the new president of Ghana.
Speaker 6: Do you owe citizens and apology for being absent while
Speaker 6: their homes were burning? Do you regret coming the fire
Speaker 6: department budget by millions of dollars out of mare. Have
Speaker 6: you nothing to say today?
Speaker 3: She's just staring at him.
Speaker 6: Have you absolutely nothing to say to the citizens today?
Speaker 6: Elon Musk says that you're incompetent. Are you considering your position?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 2: And it goes on for several seconds. She is then
Speaker 2: led down the jetway and I mean, that's right outside
Speaker 2: the airplane. I don't know how that guy got access
Speaker 2: to where he was. She has no problems shutting down.
Speaker 1: I tried to talk to her in the jetway when
Speaker 1: we got to wherever we went, Chicago. Was that we
Speaker 1: were on the same plane. She and I were on
Speaker 1: the same plane to go to the convention. Oh oh,
Speaker 1: that's right, And I'm like walking with her down the jetway.
Speaker 1: I waited in the jetway till she got off the plane.
Speaker 1: She was sitting kind of in the middle, and I waited.
Speaker 1: I'm like, mayor baths my name Shannon, I hosted Sean KFI,
Speaker 1: would love.
Speaker 3: To have you on.
Speaker 1: And she wouldn't even make words to me.
Speaker 3: That's that's exactly what was happening to this guy. And
Speaker 3: that listen.
Speaker 2: I wasn't even being provocative. That's a skill I'm not
Speaker 2: giving her compliments. I'm just saying that's a skill to
Speaker 2: be able to stand there and look at someone while
Speaker 2: they're asking you a question. And granted the guy's trying
Speaker 2: to bait her into some sort of a response, sure
Speaker 2: that's probably going to get her in trouble, but that
Speaker 2: seems to be her mo. But not to respond at all.
Speaker 2: I mean, she didn't smile, she didn't change her face,
Speaker 2: she didn't do it. She's waiting for security because she's
Speaker 2: going to get she doesn't have to go through the terminal.
Speaker 3: She's got she.
Speaker 2: What do they call a SUV, she's got, you know,
Speaker 2: her car is waiting down on the tarmac and she's
Speaker 2: waiting to go outside to get in the car.
Speaker 1: The part of my problem with her at that press
Speaker 1: conference today is that I've heard from people who have
Speaker 1: been with her behind closed doors that she as tough
Speaker 1: as nails. She takes no bs. Where's that person at
Speaker 1: that press conference? The reason I had a problem with
Speaker 1: that is because she came out she's like we are
Speaker 1: one voice. You know, lasusqualas in las braces. You know
Speaker 1: what I mean, like baloney and flowery and light and
Speaker 1: garbage and bs don't be that person, because that's not
Speaker 1: who you are. When you get in front of the
Speaker 1: cameras and you're not one hundred percent genuine, it shows
Speaker 1: we can see it. That's the same problem I have
Speaker 1: with Gavin Newsom. You have to be yourself, you have
Speaker 1: to be genuine, or else you just look like a phony.
Speaker 1: If she came out and if she is as tough
Speaker 1: as nails nobs person, she came out there that press
Speaker 1: conference and she's like, I am pissed. I was pissed
Speaker 1: that I was away and on that trip. I should
Speaker 1: have been here. You're right, I saw the wind event
Speaker 1: in the forecast. I should have been here. I screwed up.
Speaker 1: And now I'm pissed about the water situation, and I'm
Speaker 1: pissed that I made the decision to cut the fire department.
Speaker 1: And you know what, right now, starting right now after
Speaker 1: I leave here, I'm going to get set on rectifying
Speaker 1: the situation. I am upset by the mismanagement that has
Speaker 1: gone down city wide. And yes, there were things that
Speaker 1: we could not control with this wind event, but if
Speaker 1: I can make it that much better the next time
Speaker 1: this kind of thing rolls around, I'm going to make
Speaker 1: sure I do so, Like if she's if she came
Speaker 1: out and did that, do you know how far that
Speaker 1: would get her politically and not just politically.
Speaker 3: Well I don't even know.
Speaker 2: Well I don't know about politically, but it would get
Speaker 2: her at least the aspect and a little bit of leeway, like, hey,
Speaker 2: we're gonna get okay, so we understand you're upset about
Speaker 2: this clearly. Now we're going to give you an opportunity
Speaker 2: to do something about it right and then give you know,
Speaker 2: just a little bit of slack in the line. But
Speaker 2: I mean, she just set herself up for more condemnation,
Speaker 2: for more questions about well, why didn't why why didn't you?
Speaker 2: You asked all of us to heed these warnings, You
Speaker 2: asked all of us to be prepared for an emergency
Speaker 2: situation that was far beyond it turned out to be
Speaker 2: far beyond what anybody was expecting.
Speaker 3: Why weren't you doing the same thing.
Speaker 1: Don't be the absent parent that comes back to the
Speaker 1: home that is in shambles and go, oh, we.
Speaker 3: Are such a strong family.
Speaker 1: No no, no, Go to the grocery store, get us some groceries,
Speaker 1: you know, go to work, pay the bills and do the.
Speaker 3: Stuff the other thing. And you mentioned Gavin Newsome.
Speaker 2: He was on with Anderson Cooper because they're both trying
Speaker 2: to show off there. They were upset that they didn't
Speaker 2: think of it of the clothes pins.
Speaker 1: Dude, did you see Gaven Newsome one untouched part of
Speaker 1: his shirt.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's he's in the street, he's busy, he.
Speaker 3: Doesn't have time to think about his T shirt.
Speaker 1: I want to know. I want to meet the aid
Speaker 1: who was like, wait a minute, let's untop this side.
Speaker 3: This will make you look like a man of the people,
Speaker 3: your honor.
Speaker 2: Let me just We've done some focus groups and we
Speaker 2: think that the untucked should.
Speaker 3: Be on the right side totally, because.
Speaker 2: We know you're left handed, but it makes it look
Speaker 2: like you're actually you're.
Speaker 3: On both sides.
Speaker 7: Totally.
Speaker 3: Bunch of horses. And this was him with Anderson Cooper
Speaker 3: last night. What is this situation with the water. Obviously
Speaker 3: in the pala stage it ran out last night in
Speaker 3: the hydrants. I was trying the firefighter in this block.
Speaker 3: They left because there was no water in the hydrant here.
Speaker 7: The local folks are trying to figure that out. I mean,
Speaker 7: just when you have a system that it's not dissimilar
Speaker 7: to what we've seen in other extraordinarily large scale fires,
Speaker 7: whether it be pipe electricity, whether it just be the
Speaker 7: complete overwhelm of the system. I mean, those hydrants are
Speaker 7: typical for two or three fires, maybe one fire.
Speaker 3: You have something at this scale. But again that's going
Speaker 3: to be determined by the local He's listen, it's not
Speaker 3: his job. This is a local thing.
Speaker 2: The governor doesn't control state water problems, I mean local
Speaker 2: fire hydrant level problems with water. But again that's an
Speaker 2: opportunity for him to go, hey, you know what, this
Speaker 2: is unconscionable that this was able to happen in a system,
Speaker 2: even if it was an emergency situation like this that
Speaker 2: was overwhelming.
Speaker 3: We cannot allow this to happen again.
Speaker 1: When it's great, they take credit for local things. One,
Speaker 1: it's crap, they say it's a local thing, all right.
Speaker 2: Our continuing coverage of the fires throughout Los Angeles and
Speaker 2: the best news. I think that some of the good
Speaker 2: news that came out of the news conference from earlier
Speaker 2: today was that the three lesser fires are all pretty
Speaker 2: much nothing to worry about. I shouldn't say nothing, but
Speaker 2: are less concerning. How's that the Hearst fire up near
Speaker 2: Silmar eight hundred and fifty five acres. It was ten
Speaker 2: percent contained as of this morning, and from my experience,
Speaker 2: that's the one that I drive towards once I leave here,
Speaker 2: and yesterday afternoon there was virtually no smoke left from
Speaker 2: that fire. The Lydia fire up near Acton about three
Speaker 2: hundred and forty eight acres, that one was forty percent contained.
Speaker 2: The Sunset fire the one that burned in Hollywood Hills overnight,
Speaker 2: about sixty acres, but that one was handled very quickly,
Speaker 2: and in fact, the evacuation orders have all been lifted
Speaker 2: through the through the Hollywood Hills. There was a story
Speaker 2: that came out today, and I honestly think it's a
Speaker 2: little early to talk about the specific numbers, but the
Speaker 2: chief meteorologist for ACU Weather, if you've used them, has
Speaker 2: said that this is already one of the worst wildfires
Speaker 2: in the history of California.
Speaker 3: And I mean, you could talk about that individually.
Speaker 2: You could talk about the Palisades fire as being one
Speaker 2: of the worst wildfires in California history. You could also
Speaker 2: talk about the Eton fire as being one of the worst.
Speaker 2: Is simply based on the number of structures lost in
Speaker 2: both of those. One of the things that was mentioned
Speaker 2: today by the County fire chief was that over in
Speaker 2: the Palisades fire, the number of fires, the number of
Speaker 2: structures I should say damaged or destroyed, is into the thousands.
Speaker 2: And then for the Eaten fire over an Altadena, over
Speaker 2: one thousand structures damaged or destroyed. And I referenced yesterday,
Speaker 2: I was referencing the ninety one Oakland Hills fire, the
Speaker 2: Tunnel fire back then that didn't burn very many acres
Speaker 2: I think it was about fifteen hundred acres back then,
Speaker 2: but destroyed almost three thousand homes and apartments and condos
Speaker 2: and things like that. And it appears like this is
Speaker 2: going to eclipse that in terms of the number of
Speaker 2: actual living dwellings that were destroyed. The Paradise fire holds
Speaker 2: that distinction of being the most which I think is
Speaker 2: closer to eighteen or nineteen thousand structures that were destroyed.
Speaker 2: The Eaten fires at ten than six hundred acres. Most
Speaker 2: of the growth has significantly stopped, but we did at
Speaker 2: least through the flatland areas. But we have seen that
Speaker 2: fire moving back up the hill towards Mount Wilson, which
Speaker 2: is what we're talking about. With all the broadcast facilities
Speaker 2: up there, there are fire crews there, and one of
Speaker 2: the reports from an engineer for a television station that
Speaker 2: was on the scene at the top of Mount Wilson
Speaker 2: was that the crews were planning on allowing the brush
Speaker 2: to burn itself out and just protect the buildings and
Speaker 2: the critical communications infrastructure that's up there. The Palisades Fire, however,
Speaker 2: continues to grow towards the mountains, and this means that
Speaker 2: now that the wind has died down, at least that
Speaker 2: northern northeastern wind that was coming through and blowing from
Speaker 2: the hills to the ocean. As that has died down,
Speaker 2: that has allowed the Palisades Fire to grow into the
Speaker 2: hills and start going up some of those hills towards
Speaker 2: the eastern and northern flanks of the fire. So it's
Speaker 2: moving east towards the four h five slowly but it is,
Speaker 2: and then north towards the San Fernando Valley and could
Speaker 2: potentially get up and crest that hill. It's at seventeen
Speaker 2: two hundred plus acres right now, but could be higher
Speaker 2: than that. And again the ACU Weather Chief meteorologist put
Speaker 2: a number at about fifty two to fifty five billion dollars,
Speaker 2: and they estimate the total damage and economic loss at
Speaker 2: fifty two to fifty five billion, fifty two to fifty
Speaker 2: seven sorry billion, And again that's not this is nowhere
Speaker 2: near complete, because we've seen more homes catching fire today,
Speaker 2: more businesses that have been destroyed, and that's just the
Speaker 2: rough early estimate. To compare that to what we saw
Speaker 2: in the Northridge earthquake in ninety four that came in
Speaker 2: at about thirty billion dollars on the high end, so
Speaker 2: thirty billion for the north Ridge earthquake, and this one
Speaker 2: all ready estimated well over fifty billion dollars. We've been
Speaker 2: taking your talkback messages on the talkback feature on the
Speaker 2: iHeart app.
Speaker 8: Good afternoon, Gary, and Shannon. Just wanted to take a
Speaker 8: moment to let you know that not everyone that you
Speaker 8: are serving and helping with your helpful information, and that
Speaker 8: goes for everyone at CAFI is in the greater Los
Speaker 8: Angeles area. I'm in upstate New York with quite a
Speaker 8: few friends in the Los Angeles area, and I have
Speaker 8: literally been glued to KFI and guiding them through their
Speaker 8: evacuations and it's all thanks to you, so thank you
Speaker 8: from all the way across the country.
Speaker 2: Cheer, thank you, cheers to you too. Appreciate that. It's
Speaker 2: nice to hear that people getting something out of it
Speaker 2: from far away.
Speaker 3: Hey you guys, Hey, good to hear you.
Speaker 9: I'm up in Oregon. I just want to let you
Speaker 9: know that I'm up by city Call between Salem and Portland.
Speaker 9: There's a lot of fire trucks heading out of the
Speaker 9: area up here, headed for LA. I know a couple
Speaker 9: of friends, minor firemen heading that way.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 9: I used to drive ambulance in La but rover out
Speaker 9: with Selmar fire in the seventies, so I know what
Speaker 9: it's like.
Speaker 2: Thank you appreciate that, and it's it's good to hear that,
Speaker 2: even people from you know, far northern Oregon making the
Speaker 2: way down here.
Speaker 10: Hey, Gary and Shannon. I talked to a fireman at
Speaker 10: one of the firehouses and he said what they could
Speaker 10: use are things like cliff bars and stuff that's individually wrapped,
Speaker 10: because he said other kinds of foods kind of roll
Speaker 10: around in the rigs. So I took a bunch of
Speaker 10: cliff bars, individually wrapped, individually wrapped these sticks. Did a
Speaker 10: cost Co run but just an idea for people that
Speaker 10: want to help these these firemen out who are just
Speaker 10: doing such an amazing job.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, thank you for that, and they thank you
Speaker 2: for that. That's the other thing to think about is
Speaker 2: that even if you're not in the direct affected areas
Speaker 2: by the fire, if you're not in Altadena, Pasadena and Rovia,
Speaker 2: if you're not in Pacific Palisades or Malibu, chances are
Speaker 2: your local fire station has crew members that are and
Speaker 2: that they have been deployed to those areas. So even
Speaker 2: your local fire station may appreciate those things because they
Speaker 2: do have the men and women out there serving toaky.
Speaker 11: Hey, a couple of days ago, somebody on KFI mentioned
Speaker 11: that because Biden was in town, there's a mandate of
Speaker 11: a no fly zone in a third mile circumference around
Speaker 11: where he is, and because he was in Santa Monica,
Speaker 11: they couldn't get the fire retardant up fast enough to
Speaker 11: quell this stuff.
Speaker 3: Right when it started.
Speaker 4: Be great to know if.
Speaker 10: This is indeed true, and another huge fail not true.
Speaker 2: There is a temporary flight restriction whenever the president or
Speaker 2: vice president comes into town, but that is mostly for
Speaker 2: civilian aircraft, so you're going to see that. That's why
Speaker 2: the TV helicopters weren't up, but there were firefighting aircraft
Speaker 2: that were up as quickly as possible based on the weather.
Speaker 2: Remember that the weather was the biggest issue right away
Speaker 2: because with the winds gusting the way they were, it
Speaker 2: was making it less safe for the for the firefighting
Speaker 2: airplanes and helicopters to get in there.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 12: Wait, man, if it's not contained, it's a state of emergency,
Speaker 12: but it's worse than north Ridge. Yeah and still ongoing. Yeah,
Speaker 12: where's our backup? Like, where's all this awesome military tools
Speaker 12: that we have, Like why aren't we using that?
Speaker 2: Because F eighteens don't generally drop water or fire retardant generally.
Speaker 2: That's the only thing. National Guard has been activated. But
Speaker 2: they're going to be doing things like helping traffic control,
Speaker 2: helping secure neighborhoods and things like that.
Speaker 3: This is a nice story.
Speaker 2: Mina Thomas is the owner of Bath and Bun's mobile
Speaker 2: pet grooming, and she wants to help out by offering
Speaker 2: complimentary bath services for cats and dogs affected by the fire.
Speaker 2: You get all ashy, maybe burned, whatever it is, and
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Speaker 2: Be careful b a t h N b u ns
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Speaker 2: to bathroom buns dot com if you've been your animals
Speaker 2: affected by it. We've been taking messages from the talkback.
Speaker 12: Hey, Gary, Shannon, Mike from behind Desert.
Speaker 2: Hey, Mike, let's just face it, there's two kinds of
Speaker 2: people in this world.
Speaker 4: Those who listen to KFI like us, and those who don't.
Speaker 3: I guess that's have a great thing. That's the poetry
Speaker 3: that I was looking for.
Speaker 4: Yeah, this is for Gari and Shannon.
Speaker 12: Hey, whatever happened to the thing of defensible space h.
Speaker 2: Around hole well still required many cases. I mean, I
Speaker 2: live in a house that I get any message from
Speaker 2: the department every year that they're going to come check
Speaker 2: and make sure that my house has defensible space or
Speaker 2: the appropriate trees and well watered plants in front of them.
Speaker 2: But that what we saw tuesday, what we saw go
Speaker 2: through Pacific Palisades in Altadena and into Pasadena, there's no
Speaker 2: such thing as defensible space when it comes to fire
Speaker 2: that was burning like that.
Speaker 3: It's just it just doesn't happen.
Speaker 2: And when you think of what happened scientifically, meteorologically, weatherwise
Speaker 2: over the course of the last few days. First of all,
Speaker 2: you got this low pressure system right that pushes what
Speaker 2: we see these winds out of the North Santa Ana
Speaker 2: winds at a higher elevation than usual, so the winds
Speaker 2: were able to not just hit the bottom of the
Speaker 2: mountain on the other side over there, they were able
Speaker 2: to go up and over the mountains and descend down
Speaker 2: into what Channon actually referred to as these wind waves
Speaker 2: speeds of eighty one hundred miles an hour in some
Speaker 2: of the more widespread areas. So that means that a
Speaker 2: community like Altadena or Pasadena, even farther into the flatlands
Speaker 2: that are usually projected protected, i should say, from the
Speaker 2: stronger of the gusts, actually got to see them firsthand.
Speaker 2: That's why they were referring to this as the strongest
Speaker 2: wind event that we've seen in probably thirteen years, since
Speaker 2: twenty eleven. And one of the people that was working
Speaker 2: on all of this, a climate scientist with the UCLA
Speaker 2: Institute of Environmental Environment and Sustainability, is a Daniel Swain,
Speaker 2: and he referred to this also not just the wind
Speaker 2: portion of this, but the lack of rain portion of
Speaker 2: this as hydro climate whiplash. You got two very wet
Speaker 2: years rain years in twenty three and twenty four annual
Speaker 2: rainfall that was, you know, forty three inches in Pasadena,
Speaker 2: twenty six inches in Santa Monica. And that rainfall, we
Speaker 2: heard this man by David Ortiz from La Fire Department
Speaker 2: earlier today, that rainfall prompts new grass growth, and we
Speaker 2: have a full summer with a very little amount of rain,
Speaker 2: which allows the grasses to then these new ones to cure,
Speaker 2: dry out and be ready to burn. That's all. That's
Speaker 2: all they were. They were ready to burn. Since September,
Speaker 2: Daniel Swain says, we've seen the driest start to the
Speaker 2: winter on record, as well as the hottest start to
Speaker 2: the winter on record. So it's dry and hot, which
Speaker 2: of course is going to cure those grasses even better.
Speaker 2: This season, Pasadena registered six tenths of an inch of
Speaker 2: rain so far, compared to six inches almost in a
Speaker 2: normal year. So not only did we have extremely wet
Speaker 2: years the last two years, we had an extremely dry
Speaker 2: beginning to this season, which is why we find out
Speaker 2: find ourselves in the in the situation that we're in now.
Speaker 2: And he said that you combine that you've got the
Speaker 2: incredible bad luck of Santa Ana winds higher than in
Speaker 2: some cases higher than ever Santa Ana winds. That he said,
Speaker 2: if we had even an inch of rain, just even
Speaker 2: an inch of rain anytime over the last six eight weeks,
Speaker 2: whatever it was, we would not be.
Speaker 3: In the situation that we're in today.
Speaker 2: I mean, if the windstorm's weaker, if we get just
Speaker 2: a normal Santa Ana wind event, where you know, gusts
Speaker 2: are fifty sixty miles an hour, that would be one thing,
Speaker 2: but we would still see fires. Very strong wind event,
Speaker 2: he said, would not have produced a fire catastrophe. If
Speaker 2: we had even an inch of rain in just the
Speaker 2: last couple of weeks here in southern California. Preparations warnings
Speaker 2: ahead of the windstorms probably lessened the damage, might have
Speaker 2: saved some lives. But I'll tell you what next time.
Speaker 2: Next time we get a wind event like this, it's
Speaker 2: not just upon us to do our thing. To get ready,
Speaker 2: you know, ready to evacuate, plan to be out of
Speaker 2: the house for whatever it is, get your emergency kit
Speaker 2: up and running, it's going to be incumbent upon city, county,
Speaker 2: state officials to make sure that we now know what
Speaker 2: is possible, because I don't think anybody would have thought
Speaker 2: what we're seeing in the last couple of hours was possible.
Speaker 2: But if you go through the streets in Altadena or
Speaker 2: Pasadena and you see these burned out cars, entire neighborhoods
Speaker 2: in Pacific Palisades where not one house is standing, not
Speaker 2: just dozens of homes, dozens of blocks of homes where
Speaker 2: there's not one house that's still standing. We will continue
Speaker 2: to bring you any updated fire information that we have.
Speaker 3: We're not out of this yet.
Speaker 2: We are still in red flag warning conditions because of
Speaker 2: the wind, because of the low humidity, So there is
Speaker 2: a possibility that even more fires do crop up, and
Speaker 2: if they do, we'll definitely bring them to you. Live here, Okay,
Speaker 2: John Cobalt got some rest. He'll be back in here
Speaker 2: in just a couple of minutes. Gary and Shannon will
Speaker 2: see you tomorrow.
Speaker 3: Stay dry. Everybody you've been.
Speaker 2: Listening to the Gary and Shannon Show. You can always
Speaker 2: hear us live on KFI AM six forty nine am
Speaker 2: to one pm every Monday through Friday. And anytime on
Speaker 2: demand on the iHeartRadio Lab