WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.600 --> 00:00:02.919 This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI 2 00:00:03.080 --> 00:00:05.839 AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand 3 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:07.120 on the iHeartRadio app. 4 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:09.880 We were talking about to Department of Government efficiency, all 5 00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:12.919 the headlines that have been made made by Elon Musk 6 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:17.320 and his group. A federal judge today has temporarily blocked 7 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:22.039 DOGE from containing access to certain Treasury Department payment records. 8 00:00:23.160 --> 00:00:27.559 This temporary restraining order from Judge Colleen Koller Kotili says 9 00:00:27.559 --> 00:00:30.519 the Treasury officials will not provide access to any payment 10 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:34.200 record or payment system of records maintained within the Treasury 11 00:00:34.520 --> 00:00:37.520 Bureau of Fiscal Service. That's the program that handles about 12 00:00:38.479 --> 00:00:41.679 ninety percent of federal payments trillions of dollars. But this 13 00:00:41.799 --> 00:00:44.320 order comes after the Justice Department yesterday had agreed in 14 00:00:44.359 --> 00:00:46.799 a proposed court order to make sure that they limit 15 00:00:46.920 --> 00:00:51.759 access to the sensitive records to only two DOGE employees 16 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:55.439 special government employees within DOGE, and those two would only 17 00:00:55.479 --> 00:01:00.560 have read only permission. This was approved today in a 18 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:03.000 brief order that came out from the judge. The share 19 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:05.400 by the way of Republicans who say they want Elon 20 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:08.560 Musk to have significant influence and the Trump administration has 21 00:01:08.920 --> 00:01:12.480 fallen precipitously. In a poll that was taken just a 22 00:01:12.519 --> 00:01:17.280 few days after the election, forty seven percent of Republicans 23 00:01:17.319 --> 00:01:19.480 surveyed said they wanted Musk to have a lot of 24 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:24.079 influence in the Trump administration. Twenty nine percent said a little. Today, 25 00:01:24.120 --> 00:01:27.640 the share of Republicans is way down. It went from 26 00:01:27.640 --> 00:01:33.079 forty seven to twenty six percent. Meanwhile, they want Elon 27 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:35.599 must to have a little influence ballooned. It's up to 28 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:38.760 forty three percent, and now seventeen percent say they don't 29 00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:41.359 want him to have any influence at all. 30 00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:44.319 Hey, Gary, for everybody who's blowing a gasket about Doge, 31 00:01:44.519 --> 00:01:47.760 Trump is not the first president to appoint an agency 32 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:50.200 or a committee like this. All kinds of presidents from 33 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:52.840 both sides of the aisle have done it. Woodrow Wilson 34 00:01:53.079 --> 00:01:56.680 FDR appointed a committee, Reagan al Gore had a big one. 35 00:01:58.359 --> 00:02:01.519 It's called different things, but you know, within the president's 36 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:04.799 purview to appoint a committee to do this. People just 37 00:02:04.840 --> 00:02:08.280 want to complain, they really do have a great day. Well, 38 00:02:08.360 --> 00:02:10.080 I'm Shannon, hope you too feels better. 39 00:02:10.280 --> 00:02:10.879 Thank you for that. 40 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:14.560 John Foster Dulles, for example, back in nineteen fifty three 41 00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:17.400 was another example of what they referred to as a 42 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:19.680 government cleanup. Now at the time, he wasn't looking for 43 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:24.360 inefficiencies in government. He was technically looking for communists, spies. 44 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:27.240 And sympathizers. Not without reason. 45 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:28.840 I mean, there were there were some people in the 46 00:02:28.840 --> 00:02:31.639 government who who did fit that bill, but they were 47 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:36.719 talking about getting rid of communists and communist sympathizers within 48 00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:40.080 the government. It's not exactly analogous to what's going on today, 49 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:44.000 but this has happened before. There have been people dulles 50 00:02:44.039 --> 00:02:47.439 would go around and demand not just loyalty, but what 51 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:52.680 they were referred to as positive loyalty, not just to 52 00:02:52.759 --> 00:02:54.759 him but also to the cause. 53 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:57.800 So I mean it's it's happened. 54 00:02:57.479 --> 00:02:59.919 Before, and the great potential is that it's going to 55 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:01.800 up and again at some point. 56 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:04.680 Some problem with what Musk is doing is that he's 57 00:03:04.680 --> 00:03:08.560 doing it without any oversight, and the Republicans who hold 58 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:15.080 all of the controls over having oversight, are not exercising 59 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:20.000 their responsibility to conduct that oversight. That's the problem. 60 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:21.759 That is one of the problems. 61 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:24.360 But it's not that it's there's not oversight, it's that 62 00:03:24.439 --> 00:03:28.439 it's not visible, right, Now, someone like Susie Wiles, White 63 00:03:28.439 --> 00:03:31.159 House chief of Staff. She is the one who's probably 64 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:33.319 going to have the most oversight when it comes to this, 65 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:35.759 because I think Donald Trump has sort of given Elon 66 00:03:35.879 --> 00:03:38.599 Musk free reign to do it. Susie Wiles is the 67 00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:41.960 one who knows that there are limitations, so we can't 68 00:03:42.439 --> 00:03:44.360 This thing's only been in effect for a couple of 69 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:46.800 weeks now, so we've got to figure out exactly how 70 00:03:46.840 --> 00:03:51.319 this is going to work all right. Locally, the Eaton 71 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:54.520 fire over now to Dina burn more than fourteen thousand acres, 72 00:03:55.159 --> 00:03:58.680 and the county sent out evacuation alerts to some areas 73 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:01.159 that were too late, and they did not use all 74 00:04:01.240 --> 00:04:06.400 of the public warning channels at its disposal, and we've 75 00:04:06.439 --> 00:04:12.120 seen that those lapses have had disastrous and in some 76 00:04:12.199 --> 00:04:19.000 cases deadly results. Half of the La County Fire Department 77 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:23.879 waterdowsing helicopters were out of service. Apparently that equipment issue 78 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:26.279 like that means that firefighters didn't have all the tools 79 00:04:26.279 --> 00:04:28.680 at their disposal. Despite the fact that we knew that 80 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:32.360 a massive wind storm was coming in and had been 81 00:04:32.439 --> 00:04:36.319 warned about for several days. Wall Street Journal came out 82 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:42.759 with a report that said this is a sort of 83 00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:47.920 a cascading event, a cascading series of problems that may 84 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:53.480 have led to the deaths of many many people on 85 00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:57.680 that west side of Altadena. For example, Juan and Lori 86 00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:00.680 Corral lived west of Lake Avenue. They've been there for 87 00:05:00.680 --> 00:05:03.519 about nineteen years. They raised their teenage kids there, and 88 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:09.240 about dinner time they know the fire started six thirty ish. 89 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:12.959 They had lost power. About forty minutes later, he goes 90 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:14.959 outside and he actually takes a video of the fire 91 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:18.360 approaching and said that they were listening for an evacuation 92 00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:24.759 alert on the radio, specifically to the east of Lake Avenue. 93 00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:27.199 All those alerts started to come in, but none of 94 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:30.360 them went to the Corrals on the west side of 95 00:05:30.439 --> 00:05:35.879 Lake Avenue, and one reassured his wife, don't worry, they'll 96 00:05:35.879 --> 00:05:40.800 give us notice when it's time to leave. Their actual 97 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:44.680 warning came from neighbors, not from any official source, and 98 00:05:44.759 --> 00:05:47.360 they left their house at about nine to twenty three. 99 00:05:47.480 --> 00:05:51.560 They did take some things, but not enough. They had 100 00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:53.360 no idea when they would have been able to return. 101 00:05:55.959 --> 00:05:58.759 In an emergency alert system that can broadcast an evacuation 102 00:05:58.839 --> 00:06:01.439 alert and warnings to lowal radio and TV, stations was 103 00:06:01.480 --> 00:06:06.279 never activated by the county for the fire. They were 104 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:11.000 relying on the push notifications that went out via your 105 00:06:11.079 --> 00:06:13.839 cell phone and the emergency alert system that they've got. 106 00:06:14.199 --> 00:06:16.360 That's not the one that we do, you know, the 107 00:06:16.360 --> 00:06:19.120 ones that we play, But they were using their own systems. 108 00:06:20.439 --> 00:06:23.040 The La County Coordinated Joint Information Center set in a 109 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:25.439 statement it couldn't immediately comment on all of this. 110 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:27.879 They're doing their own third party. 111 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:30.480 Review the Board of Supervisors this when it comes to 112 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:35.160 the emergency notification system. But this Joint Information Center is 113 00:06:35.319 --> 00:06:39.360 designed to release public information to all the different agencies 114 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:42.759 during an emergency, and the Sheriff's Department, the fire departments 115 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:45.240 supposed to work in unified command to gather to identify 116 00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:49.720 evacuation areas OEM. The Office of Emergency Management issues orders 117 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:54.240 through their emergency notification system. According to calls that were 118 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:57.079 obtained by the Wall Street Journal, firefighters were made aware 119 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:00.680 of at least ten houses on the west side of 120 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:04.800 Lake Avenue that were on fire before an alert was 121 00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:08.000 actually sent, and it wasn't until three twenty five in 122 00:07:08.040 --> 00:07:13.160 the morning, at least nine hours after the fire started, 123 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:17.560 before an evacuation alert was sent to the west side 124 00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:22.000 of Lake Avenue. A little bit more on this and 125 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:25.600 another story that you've heard Amy mention all morning, Edison 126 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:32.000 is now taking at least some potential responsibility for one 127 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:34.519 of the fires. A bunch of stories that we are following. 128 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:37.560 The EPA is going to establish a household hazardous waste 129 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:39.600 staging site will Rogers State Beach. 130 00:07:39.639 --> 00:07:41.199 We'll talk about that coming up in a little bit. 131 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:45.480 President Trump has taken the Truth Social to flesh out 132 00:07:45.480 --> 00:07:48.120 a little bit of his idea of what the plan 133 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:51.120 would be for the United States to take over Gaza. 134 00:07:51.639 --> 00:07:54.360 He said Palestinians would have already been resettled in far 135 00:07:54.439 --> 00:07:58.639 safer and more beautiful communities after the United States is 136 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:03.439 handed Gaza by Israel at the conclusion of fighting, So 137 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:06.079 whenever that would be, and he said, the US, working 138 00:08:06.120 --> 00:08:07.720 with the great development teams from all over the world, 139 00:08:07.759 --> 00:08:10.079 would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would 140 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:13.120 become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of 141 00:08:13.160 --> 00:08:16.879 its kind on Earth. A new strain of H five 142 00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:20.800 N one bird flu has spread to six dairy herds 143 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:24.160 in Nevada. The Department of Agriculture there says this new 144 00:08:24.199 --> 00:08:27.600 strain called D one DOT one has been connected to 145 00:08:27.639 --> 00:08:30.079 serious infections in humans, but it is different than the 146 00:08:30.199 --> 00:08:34.120 B three one three. It was detected in other dairy 147 00:08:34.120 --> 00:08:36.879 herds throughout the country. This newer strain was first detected 148 00:08:36.879 --> 00:08:41.600 in birds, and people came in contact with some infected birds. 149 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:45.080 We'll talk more about political stuff when we get into 150 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:46.919 swamp Watch. At the top of the hour, we were 151 00:08:46.919 --> 00:08:51.240 talking about the Wall Street Journal's breakdown about what happened 152 00:08:51.320 --> 00:08:54.879 in the hours leading up to and during the Eaten 153 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:59.679 fire over in Altadena, when emergency evacuation alerts for those 154 00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:02.879 people on the west side of Lake Avenue came way 155 00:09:02.919 --> 00:09:06.120 too late, many many hours after that fire had started, 156 00:09:06.159 --> 00:09:08.639 and even after some of the homes on the west 157 00:09:08.679 --> 00:09:14.200 side of Lake Avenue were in fact on fire. One 158 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:16.720 of the other issues pointed out by the Wall Street 159 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:20.679 Journal is some of the La County firefighting equipment was 160 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:26.399 on the sidelines that we did. We the county did 161 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:31.360 pre position some of their assets fifteen engines, a bunch 162 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:34.799 of water carrying trucks, some firefighting equipment that were put 163 00:09:34.879 --> 00:09:37.559 in different areas where the expectation was that a fire 164 00:09:37.639 --> 00:09:42.960 could start. There were some crucial firefighting equipment pieces that 165 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:49.519 were still awaiting maintenance. About twenty eight percent of the 166 00:09:49.639 --> 00:09:53.159 La County Fire Department's frontline large pumper engines were out 167 00:09:53.159 --> 00:09:56.519 of surface as a service, most of those with mechanical issues. 168 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:00.360 The specialized rigs could carry five hundred galls loans of 169 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:04.039 water plus hoses, and in some cases the county did 170 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:06.639 tap some reserve equipment to fully equip their stations, but 171 00:10:06.679 --> 00:10:09.559 that reduced the number of backup trucks that would otherwise 172 00:10:09.559 --> 00:10:13.320 have been available now. According to the County Fire Department, 173 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:18.639 Heidi Oliva, a spokesperson, said the agency didn't have equipment 174 00:10:18.679 --> 00:10:21.440 issues that affected its response and they planned to review 175 00:10:21.480 --> 00:10:24.200 every aspect of preparation. She said they were unable to 176 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:28.039 complete an aircraft replacement plan that was recommended in twenty 177 00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:31.639 nineteen because in part of the pandemic and some aircraft 178 00:10:31.720 --> 00:10:37.399 production limitations. Half of the ten helicopters owned by La 179 00:10:37.480 --> 00:10:39.440 County Fire were out of service on the morning of 180 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:43.240 January seventh, and again most of those were mechanical issues. 181 00:10:43.320 --> 00:10:45.440 According to the Wall Street Journal. 182 00:10:47.879 --> 00:10:51.080 The issues about all of this and what we can 183 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:53.600 do about it are part of the review. There's nothing 184 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:56.639 no reason to jump ahead of it, but there are 185 00:10:56.759 --> 00:10:59.519 some very specific questions that need to be answered when 186 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:02.480 it comes to the cause of these fires. As we've 187 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:06.039 mentioned before, there are power lines in the area where 188 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:09.399 the Eton fire started in the hills above Altadena. A 189 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:11.559 couple weeks ago we told you about how there is 190 00:11:11.639 --> 00:11:14.120 surveillance video that appears to show the beginning of the 191 00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:16.480 fire white flashes kind of off in the distance, and 192 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:19.879 a few minutes later the telltale orange and yellow flames 193 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:26.519 that existed below the power lines in those hills above Altadena. Well, 194 00:11:26.919 --> 00:11:31.600 on January nineteenth, a couple weeks ago, technicians for so 195 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:35.639 Cal Edison started testing the electrical equipment near the origin 196 00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:42.200 of that fire, and according to Pedro Pizzaro, President, chief 197 00:11:42.200 --> 00:11:48.720 executive of Edison International, they engineers noticed some small white 198 00:11:48.759 --> 00:11:52.120 flashes that were appearing on the high voltage transmission lines 199 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:55.799 when the power was being restored. That is a telltale 200 00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:59.399 sign that the system was functioning abnormally. 201 00:12:01.799 --> 00:12:02.720 That doesn't mean. 202 00:12:02.600 --> 00:12:06.159 That's what started the fire, but it's one of several 203 00:12:06.200 --> 00:12:09.080 irregularities that Edison says that they're looking at to examine 204 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:13.679 the electrical system. And again Pizarro, president CEO of Edison, 205 00:12:13.720 --> 00:12:17.519 said the findings are part of their ongoing investigation, and 206 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:20.559 at this point they do not provide any conclusive evidence 207 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:23.840 about whether faulty electrical equipment had ignited the fire in 208 00:12:23.879 --> 00:12:24.480 the first place. 209 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:28.480 Because that's what he has to say. He's not gonna. 210 00:12:29.799 --> 00:12:33.360 He's not going to walk to the podium like he's 211 00:12:33.399 --> 00:12:37.639 the CEO of a Korean airline and apologize over and 212 00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:41.519 over again for the tragedy that caused the deaths of 213 00:12:41.559 --> 00:12:46.279 those people in Altadena. He may eventually, but he's not 214 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:49.279 going to do it just yet. We'll get some more 215 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:54.240 of this fire stuff, including where Edison says they may 216 00:12:54.519 --> 00:12:56.519 be even closer to the whole. 217 00:12:56.759 --> 00:12:58.840 Yeah, it's our stuff that started a fire. 218 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:03.159 Federal judge is temp imporarily blocked the Trump administration and 219 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:07.320 Elon Musk from implementing their fork in the Road employee 220 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:11.000 buyout offer for federal employees. A district judge set a 221 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:14.519 hearing on Monday to consider blocking the buyout offer even further. 222 00:13:14.679 --> 00:13:17.879 Judge George O'Toole said, I am joined the defendants from 223 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:20.440 taking any action to implement the so called directive pending 224 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:22.960 the completion of briefing an oral argument on the issues. 225 00:13:23.639 --> 00:13:26.440 The lawyers for the Department of Justice vowed to notify 226 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:30.000 every federal employee who is subject to the buyout, more 227 00:13:30.039 --> 00:13:35.639 than two million federal employees. We're facing a deadline tonight 228 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:40.559 midnight Eastern time to accept the administration's offer for a buyout. 229 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:46.080 There you'd get basically eight months of pay and benefits. 230 00:13:46.360 --> 00:13:48.799 A federal judge in Massachusetts is going to consider the 231 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:51.720 eleventh hour request to block the buyout from moving forward, 232 00:13:52.120 --> 00:13:55.519 so he set a hearing today to consider a request 233 00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:58.600 by three federal unions to issue a temporary restraining order 234 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:02.360 that would suspend the debt line. The unions that represent 235 00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:06.440 a combined about eight hundred thousand federal civil servants have 236 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:11.600 argued that the deferred resignation offer is unlawful, it's arbitrary, 237 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:14.399 and would result in a dangerous one to two punch 238 00:14:15.159 --> 00:14:19.440 to the federal government. So at least forty thousand federal 239 00:14:19.480 --> 00:14:24.639 workers have already accepted these deferred resignation offers to leave 240 00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:25.559 the federal government. 241 00:14:25.559 --> 00:14:26.840 That's since last week. 242 00:14:27.720 --> 00:14:31.639 So that's about two percent, they say, of the civilian 243 00:14:32.039 --> 00:14:36.440 federal workforce that has has at this point accepted those offers. 244 00:14:36.440 --> 00:14:40.919 But again, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Administration's fork 245 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:43.320 in the Road federal employee buyout offer. 246 00:14:43.399 --> 00:14:44.720 The reason they're calling it fork in the road. 247 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:48.360 Apparently that was the subject line on the email that 248 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:51.879 went out to everybody. We were talking about the new 249 00:14:51.960 --> 00:14:58.320 information from Edison regarding what started a couple of the 250 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:01.879 fires that began on Jane Nuary seventh, and the work 251 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:04.720 in discovering what happened which started the Eaton fire in 252 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:08.919 the hills above Altadena. They do say that there appears 253 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:13.200 to be some abnormal functions on the power lines that 254 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:16.679 run in those hills above Altadena where the fire started. 255 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:21.720 But the CEO and Chief execu sorry, CEO and president 256 00:15:21.799 --> 00:15:26.080 of Edison International, the parent company Socalaedison, has said that's 257 00:15:26.120 --> 00:15:30.360 not enough. This is an ongoing investigation. This isn't conclusive 258 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:34.279 evidence that they started the fire. That being said, they 259 00:15:34.759 --> 00:15:40.200 are a little closer to accepting responsibility for the Hughes fire. 260 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:43.840 That's the Hurst fire. I apologize the Hurst fire that 261 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:48.159 started in the Silmar area and contained about eight days later. 262 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:51.480 That one really didn't damage much of anything. This was 263 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:54.240 out in the hills, thankfully, and never really got into 264 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:57.120 the neighborhoods there in Silmar. But this update from so 265 00:15:57.240 --> 00:15:59.240 Cal Edison was part of the information that was submitted 266 00:15:59.240 --> 00:16:03.080 to California Public Utilities Commission. The utility is required to 267 00:16:03.159 --> 00:16:06.120 provide regular updates to the Commission, and what they said 268 00:16:06.120 --> 00:16:12.440 in their statement today is SCE believes its equipment may 269 00:16:13.080 --> 00:16:16.240 be associated with the ignition of the Hearst fire. Cause 270 00:16:16.279 --> 00:16:19.840 of the fire still under investigation, and that SEE continues 271 00:16:19.879 --> 00:16:24.360 to cooperate with authorities. The La City Fire Department is 272 00:16:24.440 --> 00:16:28.840 also investigating. They reported that the fire started north of 273 00:16:28.840 --> 00:16:33.120 Saddle Ridge Road, and yes, there are transmission towers in 274 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:37.919 that area, so they may be closer to accepting responsibility 275 00:16:37.960 --> 00:16:40.879 for starting that Hearst fire in Silmar, but they got 276 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:43.320 a ways to go before they accept responsibility for the 277 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:47.360 eat and fire, the deadly and incredibly destructive eat and fire. 278 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:51.600 After all of this, and in the wake of the 279 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:55.240 destruction and the damage and the death from these fires, 280 00:16:55.840 --> 00:16:58.600 there will be rebuilding. There will be to use the 281 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:02.519 corny term or reburnt of these neighborhoods, these communities. 282 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:03.600 To a degree. 283 00:17:03.639 --> 00:17:05.400 We don't know what it's going to look like three 284 00:17:05.480 --> 00:17:08.440 years from now, but we have seen other places in 285 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:11.240 the past, the Tubs fire, for example, up in the 286 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:15.319 Santa Rosa area devastated neighborhoods obviously didn't have as much 287 00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:19.240 death associated with it, and the number of homes that 288 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:21.839 were destroyed, just the sheer number of homes was far, 289 00:17:22.039 --> 00:17:25.000 far fewer than we saw on these January seventh fires. 290 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:28.920 But there is a roadmap there. There is a way 291 00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:32.720 to rebuild these neighborhoods, maybe making them more fire safe. 292 00:17:32.759 --> 00:17:36.000 You heard lausd talking about making the schools that they'll 293 00:17:36.039 --> 00:17:44.559 rebuild more disaster proof. Maya Bratkas, for example, was watching 294 00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:50.599 this fire back on January seventh, and on her family's TV, 295 00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:54.119 she saw the synagogue in Pasadena where she went to 296 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:57.200 Hebrew school where she celebrated her about Mitzvah at thirteen, 297 00:17:57.799 --> 00:17:59.680 and the thing was on fire and she didn't know 298 00:17:59.720 --> 00:18:02.480 what's going to happen up in the hills what she 299 00:18:02.599 --> 00:18:06.160 referred to as the natural splendor of Eaton Canyon. But 300 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:09.000 she was terrified for her family. They live around Altadena 301 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:11.160 and Sierra Madre. They weren't sure if they were okay. 302 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:13.839 She'd been struggling to make sense of all of this 303 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:18.519 and said, for her family, we didn't lose our homes, 304 00:18:18.519 --> 00:18:20.559 so I'm not going through that grief. I know that 305 00:18:20.599 --> 00:18:23.200 so many people did, but she said she felt herself 306 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:25.480 kind of fallen into a pretty dark place and she 307 00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:29.640 wanted to be able to contribute. And the way she 308 00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:35.519 did that was she created drawings for her friends about 309 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:37.680 what their homes used to look like, the homes that 310 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:42.559 they had lost. She is an actor, self taught artist. 311 00:18:42.920 --> 00:18:48.160 She tufts rugs and crafts jewelry. She said she'd never trod. 312 00:18:48.359 --> 00:18:52.039 She never trod. She never tried drawing houses before this, 313 00:18:53.519 --> 00:18:56.039 but in her work at cal Arts up in the 314 00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:58.599 Santa Clarita area, she probably had to take some kind 315 00:18:58.599 --> 00:18:59.319 of art class. 316 00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:03.160 It's the name. She pushed past her impulse for perfection. 317 00:19:03.319 --> 00:19:06.279 She pulled up an illustrating app on her iPad and 318 00:19:06.359 --> 00:19:08.839 started trying to sketch these houses anyway. She said, you 319 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:13.920 got lost in the rhythm of that creation of this art, 320 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:18.039 guiding her pen into the curve of the entryway, arches, 321 00:19:19.240 --> 00:19:21.960 the blankets, the ukuleles that hang on the wall, the 322 00:19:22.039 --> 00:19:23.400 records that rest on the table. 323 00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:25.759 And she said it wasn't perfect. Some of it was 324 00:19:25.799 --> 00:19:27.720 pretty wobbly, she said. 325 00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:30.720 She started adding details to the drawings, she started color 326 00:19:30.759 --> 00:19:32.920 blocking them, and she said, I felt like I had 327 00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:36.119 a purpose finding the little bits of light that I 328 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:37.640 could that she could put out there. And when she 329 00:19:37.640 --> 00:19:40.599 finished the drawing, for example, for her friends, she wanted 330 00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:42.680 to do more. So she goes to Reddit she shares 331 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:44.839 some of the images of the pictures that she's made 332 00:19:44.839 --> 00:19:47.720 so far, these drawings, and offered to draw the homes 333 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:49.640 of those who had lost their places, and she was 334 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:52.839 going to do it free of charge. And if you 335 00:19:52.839 --> 00:19:55.279 wanted drawings of homes that hadn't been affected by fire, 336 00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:57.759 you could do it. You could buy them from her, 337 00:19:57.799 --> 00:19:59.720 and she would donate anything she had made from that 338 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:02.440 to help her friends in Altaden. And she's been making 339 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:04.960 the drawings digitally, she's printing them soon she's going to 340 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:07.839 distribute them to people. And her website for the project 341 00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:11.359 is now linked to a list of go Fundmese pages 342 00:20:11.400 --> 00:20:13.079 for people who are affected by the fire, and said 343 00:20:13.079 --> 00:20:15.720 donations to her project will go toward all of the 344 00:20:15.720 --> 00:20:20.119 project's costs, including the possibility of putting together a book 345 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:24.319 on all of this. This is one example of the 346 00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:28.160 things that people will find a way to help that rebirth, 347 00:20:28.279 --> 00:20:32.920 rebuilding that exists, and more power to people like Maya 348 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:35.799 who will be doing this when it comes to the fires, 349 00:20:35.839 --> 00:20:39.279 By the way, there will be incredible amounts of government 350 00:20:39.400 --> 00:20:42.039 money that goes into the rebuilding. And one of the 351 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:45.240 things that happened yesterday is Gavin Newsom had to meet 352 00:20:45.319 --> 00:20:48.720 with President Trump in DC. Gaven Newsom spent some time 353 00:20:48.759 --> 00:20:51.480 with Donald Trump today in what is referred to as 354 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:54.240 a weird relationship. And he'll explain that he was on 355 00:20:54.319 --> 00:20:57.079 CNN last night for an interview he kind of described 356 00:20:57.119 --> 00:21:01.559 what his relationship is with with President Trump. There is 357 00:21:02.039 --> 00:21:04.799 Steve Lopez and The Times actually has a column today 358 00:21:04.839 --> 00:21:08.119 about trees and as a result of the fires that 359 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:10.519 we have seen, if there are questions that need to 360 00:21:10.519 --> 00:21:13.559 be asked about what kind of trees exist in LA 361 00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:16.880 in California in general when it comes to wildfires, Gaven 362 00:21:16.920 --> 00:21:19.519 Newsom is already ordering the state to speed up some 363 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:22.079 of the rule making when it comes to wildfire safety 364 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:27.319 around homes in fire prone areas. And those rules would 365 00:21:27.319 --> 00:21:34.160 actually ban most plants and combustible materials like mulch and 366 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:36.680 wood fencing that are close to your home. They would 367 00:21:36.680 --> 00:21:39.599 require you to clear an area within five feet of 368 00:21:39.640 --> 00:21:42.079 your home of five feet of your walls. That they 369 00:21:42.119 --> 00:21:46.519 call it zone zero. An ember resistant zone. There could 370 00:21:46.519 --> 00:21:50.839 be no flammable materials the exception of some mature trees, 371 00:21:51.720 --> 00:21:53.880 and it would apply in those areas where the risk 372 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:57.519 of fire is rated as very high. You can find 373 00:21:57.559 --> 00:22:00.400 the state's fire risk designations in different maps in different 374 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:03.519 places to see where you would be. The concept was 375 00:22:03.559 --> 00:22:06.400 developed by researchers who found that homes are vulnerable to 376 00:22:06.440 --> 00:22:09.240 flying embers that land close to the structure. They then 377 00:22:09.319 --> 00:22:13.000 ignite the vegetation or wood mulch, or the fencing or 378 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:16.920 some other materials there. And the state legislature has mandated 379 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:20.240 the creation of these requirements, these zone zero requirements, which 380 00:22:20.279 --> 00:22:22.400 were supposed to go into effect a couple of years ago, 381 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:26.720 the Border Forestry Protection has delayed. A spokesperson says wildfires 382 00:22:26.839 --> 00:22:29.160 here at La means that the board is still in 383 00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:33.240 the pre rule making phase of development for zone zero, 384 00:22:34.039 --> 00:22:36.759 but at least one draft of it had the zone 385 00:22:36.839 --> 00:22:41.359 zero requirements applying to new homes first and then later 386 00:22:41.400 --> 00:22:43.720 to existing homes. It's not clear if they're still going 387 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:45.759 to do that, so we know that that's going on 388 00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:50.400 the state level. Steve Lopez's column in the La Times 389 00:22:51.119 --> 00:22:55.240 talks about the potential for getting rid of trees. Nobody 390 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:58.480 wants to get rid of trees in general, but there 391 00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:02.599 are some trees that do better than others when it 392 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:08.240 comes to wildfires. As an example, those native grasses and 393 00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:11.880 bushes that grow the California chaparral the coastal sage scrub 394 00:23:12.359 --> 00:23:16.480 tend to be less flammable than non native grasses, according 395 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:20.240 to a research scientist at the Conservation Biology Institute also 396 00:23:20.279 --> 00:23:24.400 happens to be a fire ecology expert and basically explains 397 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:27.559 that when you clear the native stuff out and then 398 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:31.720 let non native grasses and trees and bushes grow, those 399 00:23:31.799 --> 00:23:36.720 non native plants tend to be more fire prone. If 400 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:42.160 you have a healthy, well watered live oak tree California 401 00:23:42.200 --> 00:23:45.640