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. At we do have a massive fire
Speaker 1: incident in the Palisades right now. They say, this beast
Speaker 1: started at about ten acres. That was the quickest estimate
Speaker 1: you could get already at ten acres, but with the
Speaker 1: potential to spread to two hundred acres within twenty minutes.
Speaker 1: And this thing is living up to its potential, they
Speaker 1: say right now.
Speaker 2: The crews on the ground.
Speaker 1: Are furiously engaged in structure protection. They say that the
Speaker 1: fire is going to impact structures in the Floresta Place
Speaker 1: area in about ten minutes, ten minutes away from hitting
Speaker 1: these neighborhoods. If you look at a map of the Palisades,
Speaker 1: that Floresta Street backs up right there to that Temescul
Speaker 1: Ridge area, the point where this fire is burning. This
Speaker 1: is one of those ones that it is just moving
Speaker 1: too fast to be able to have any real impact
Speaker 1: on this thing right away.
Speaker 3: The smoke itself is just basically going down the mountain,
Speaker 3: down the hill towards the ocean. That's clearly the direction
Speaker 3: that these winds are coming from, and that means, like
Speaker 3: you said, it is headed towards those neighborhood as as
Speaker 3: after it burns through this wildland. The images that we
Speaker 3: are seeing a lot of them are from people, I
Speaker 3: mean they're posting them on social media, but they're down ten,
Speaker 3: like at the ten and the four or five, and
Speaker 3: you could see this plume of smoke that far down
Speaker 3: along the west side there.
Speaker 1: They did request two air tankers to be deployed to
Speaker 1: the area, which have arrived. I was wondering what the
Speaker 1: capability of La County fire firefighting aircraft would be with
Speaker 1: winds like this forty to sixty miles per hour GUS
Speaker 1: at this moment. The Super Scoopers, I didn't know we
Speaker 1: still had the lease in January to the Super Scoopers
Speaker 1: out of Quebec, but we do. And the Super Scoopers
Speaker 1: can fly in wind they can scoop water while flying
Speaker 1: into headwinds up to forty five miles per hour, and
Speaker 1: the pilots there, also on loan from Canada, can adjust
Speaker 1: their approach to handle different different varying wind speeds and
Speaker 1: gusts and wave heights on the water source. These are
Speaker 1: the special machines that we get for fires like this
Speaker 1: when we have this wildland interface with homes that we
Speaker 1: have so often here in southern California. These babies can
Speaker 1: fly and wind so they can reach locations quickly, repeatedly
Speaker 1: drop water and flames in the gusts, unlike a lot
Speaker 1: of firefighting aircraft that we have year round here in
Speaker 1: southern California.
Speaker 3: Again, this fire looks like is just south of Temescal
Speaker 3: Peak as sort of the Topega State Park area and
Speaker 3: is burning down into the Palisades along Palisades Drive and
Speaker 3: Kaye Victoria was where they first reported the first flames
Speaker 3: just near Goat Peak if you know that is, and
Speaker 3: it's headed down towards the Palisades. There are a lot
Speaker 3: of images is from cameras, whether they're helicopter cameras from
Speaker 3: TV stations farther away, or some of the alert net
Speaker 3: cameras that were put up by UC San Diego over
Speaker 3: the course of the last several years, that show very
Speaker 3: active flames going right up to those homes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, these are not that it matters. A home is
Speaker 2: a home.
Speaker 1: It could be a hovel, it could be a six
Speaker 1: million dollar mansion, and that's what they are about.
Speaker 2: Six million dollar mansions to say the least, and looking.
Speaker 1: At the forecast here, we've got fifty mile per hour
Speaker 1: winds kicking in soon.
Speaker 3: I was just checking the weather stations in that area,
Speaker 3: and that's the basic thirty to forty mile an hour
Speaker 3: sustained winds, and then gusts could be higher than that here.
Speaker 3: And again it's at least twenty This is just going
Speaker 3: too fast for anybody to get a good read on
Speaker 3: how much it is at least twenty acres.
Speaker 1: They don't have time because their hands are full with
Speaker 1: structure protection at this point.
Speaker 3: At this point, also on social media at least or
Speaker 3: make and the phone calls in the newsroom. We do
Speaker 3: not have word of the official evacuation it UH parameters yet.
Speaker 3: But if you're in that neighborhood, like you said, along
Speaker 3: that that specific street, the forresta floresta place and via Floresta,
Speaker 3: et cetera, if you're in that neighborhood bien Venita Avenue,
Speaker 3: you know already.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you clearly are aware of this.
Speaker 3: It's it's not time to joke around. It's not time
Speaker 3: to wait for instructions. Get yourself to safety.
Speaker 1: That sunset fire, they say, according to all these scanners
Speaker 1: and the uh in the information coming out of there,
Speaker 1: the messaging has kind of been we've got this. The
Speaker 1: crews on the scene can handle it because they know
Speaker 1: what's happening in the Palisades.
Speaker 2: It's not that far away.
Speaker 1: When you look at the sunset fire to the Palisades fire,
Speaker 1: same kind of area there, and uh, that's how that's
Speaker 1: how bad the Palisade situation is. The guy it suns
Speaker 1: that are like, you know, what we'll do with what
Speaker 1: we have here.
Speaker 3: We'll see a little bit later the afternoon, probably exactly
Speaker 3: this fire again at least twenty acres several hundred homes
Speaker 3: are now going to be threatened by this fire in
Speaker 3: the Pacific Palisades. It started up in the mountains in
Speaker 3: the hills there and is coming down towards the ocean,
Speaker 3: towards that floresta place neighborhood. Ridgeview Country estates all along
Speaker 3: that the viewpoint there at the Tamescal Ridge trail that's
Speaker 3: up there. A couple of different trailheads obviously in that
Speaker 3: area the viewpoint, the Temiscal Ridge trailhead, Almetio trailhead, and
Speaker 3: the Rivas Canyon trailhead. So if you're an avid hiker,
Speaker 3: you may recognize some of those some of those names
Speaker 3: for the trails in that area where this thing is
Speaker 3: just chewing through some of this the wildland.
Speaker 1: This is going to be an all day slash day's
Speaker 1: event because as we talked to the National Weather Service,
Speaker 1: we talked to Henry de Carlo, these aren't winds for
Speaker 1: this morning. These are winds that may die down a
Speaker 1: little bit this afternoon, kick back up this evening, and
Speaker 1: last for days this week here in southern California.
Speaker 2: So all hands on deck.
Speaker 1: As you mentioned earlier, there are several agencies fire agencies
Speaker 1: from northern California that have made their way down here
Speaker 1: to get ready for this. The fire crews were in
Speaker 1: position for this event. But when you get a fire
Speaker 1: like this burning with ample fuel, you've got winds exceeding,
Speaker 1: like you said, forty miles per hour up to sixty
Speaker 1: and then the gusts are even higher. Right now, it's
Speaker 1: get everybody out, protect the homes, and then we'll assess
Speaker 1: where we're at in terms of how big this thing
Speaker 1: got how quickly, because we just don't know at this point,
Speaker 1: but if the pictures are in any indication, this thing
Speaker 1: took off the way that it was predicted to from
Speaker 1: ten acres to two hundred and the matter of twenty minutes.
Speaker 1: And now you're seeing, you know, it's just dangerously if
Speaker 1: not in neighborhoods.
Speaker 3: Down there at the bottom of the hill, closer to
Speaker 3: the water, that intersection of Sunset and Lost Leonis Drive,
Speaker 3: there's a couple dozen fire trucks that are trying to
Speaker 3: make their way up the hill.
Speaker 1: That's the staging area leones In twenty three. That's where
Speaker 1: they're going to stage. That's where they're going to stage. Okay,
Speaker 1: well then that makes sense.
Speaker 3: But I was going to say, there are people that
Speaker 3: do not look like they're getting out of the way
Speaker 3: of these fires.
Speaker 4: Front.
Speaker 1: No, that's where they're staging, and that's where they will
Speaker 1: dispatch all of the different resources. All of the incident
Speaker 1: commanders will meet there and they'll bring out their maps
Speaker 1: and they will dispatch all of the different crews, hand crews,
Speaker 1: ground crews, line crews, and the air attack as well
Speaker 1: will be probably mapped out there at that point.
Speaker 3: And again, I mean, this is one of those this
Speaker 3: is one of those frustrating situations where there's I mean,
Speaker 3: there's plenty of neighborhood streets to get out of there,
Speaker 3: but you're going to have to plan now on moving.
Speaker 3: Do not wait for them to let you know that
Speaker 3: this is your areas under evacuation because right now, as
Speaker 3: we've said, they're having a hard time just keeping a
Speaker 3: guess on how large this fire is at least twenty acres,
Speaker 3: but you can guarantee just by the visuals that it's
Speaker 3: well over that by now. Don't want to make any
Speaker 3: sort of guess because it would be uneducated on my
Speaker 3: part to do so, but it's well over twenty acres.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you that we are on top of this
Speaker 1: fire coming called the Palisades fire because it is in
Speaker 1: the Palisades and it looks like it is gobbling up
Speaker 1: part of the Palisades. It quickly took off from ten
Speaker 1: acres to it was perceived that it would go to
Speaker 1: two hundred acres within twenty minutes. There are several resources
Speaker 1: structure protection crews on the scene. Specifically, we heard from
Speaker 1: the Floresta Place neighborhood where it is happening right now,
Speaker 1: where the fire is supposed to hit add about right now.
Speaker 1: The latest is that they're seeing spotting ahead of this
Speaker 1: thing a mile to three quarters of a mile out,
Speaker 1: which was the absolute fear when you're thinking about the
Speaker 1: winds and the gusts that are coming with this wind
Speaker 1: event that'll take a fire and carry it and keep
Speaker 1: carrying it.
Speaker 3: Well, and that's well. I mean, there's a couple thousand
Speaker 3: homes well within that range at the front end of
Speaker 3: that fire.
Speaker 2: And you see the smoke.
Speaker 1: It's not just white, it's that black smoke, which means
Speaker 1: it's burning through fuel.
Speaker 3: There are two at least four helicopters that I saw,
Speaker 3: at least two Super Scoopers that are flying and are
Speaker 3: trying to get some structure protection in that area.
Speaker 1: Caesar works at Sunset Smash and joins us. Now Caesar
Speaker 1: crazy over there right now.
Speaker 5: I bet it is very concerning at this point because
Speaker 5: there's black smoke. It seems like there's still in the area,
Speaker 5: and everyone out of here is just concern about what
Speaker 5: was going on. Taking picture videos. We just saw two
Speaker 5: airplanes coming by, like I think they're trying to like
Speaker 5: spray you know, the the fire to try to put
Speaker 5: it down, but it's just increasing every minut They just
Speaker 5: get it fire. And why are you gonna know what
Speaker 5: we're gonna do?
Speaker 3: Are you fully in the smoke right now or is
Speaker 3: it still we We're very.
Speaker 5: Close by right now, We're very close. It's coming this way.
Speaker 4: Actually the wings are going in that direction.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we can hear it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right there, off to Mescal Canyon Road where
Speaker 1: just above you this thing started to take off. Are
Speaker 1: there people in your in your business? Are people taking off?
Speaker 1: What are you seeing? No?
Speaker 5: Right, No, Most of our customers, like when they saw it,
Speaker 5: like people we start calling it time with their friends.
Speaker 5: And most of our friends are living within the area.
Speaker 2: So what are you guys going to do? You think?
Speaker 5: Well, at this point right now, we're hoping it was
Speaker 5: going to be put out like week or I mean,
Speaker 5: at least being able to see that it was. It
Speaker 5: was being reduced. But it's growing, uh too fast. So
Speaker 5: I think we're gonna have to hopefully shut down and
Speaker 5: just you know, try to avoil the traffic, trying to
Speaker 5: leave the streets open for the fire department to work.
Speaker 2: That's the right thing to do.
Speaker 3: Caesar, Caesar, thank you for your time. Stay safe out there.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 3: You met Caesar's working at Sunset smashed there in the
Speaker 3: Palisades and talked about some of that smoke that you can.
Speaker 3: I mean you could hear the wind through his phone there.
Speaker 3: The images are not good and they're not getting any better.
Speaker 3: This is a fire that started just about maybe a
Speaker 3: little less than an hour ago in that summit area
Speaker 3: and the Pacific Palisades, just in those hills there next
Speaker 3: to goat peak and making its way down the hill
Speaker 3: towards all those homes, the Ridgeview Country Estates and along
Speaker 3: those the Bi and Venita Avenue via Floresta and Floresta Place.
Speaker 3: Those are the homes and the streets that are the
Speaker 3: most threatened right now.
Speaker 6: And I mean even with.
Speaker 3: The obscured view through the smoke, you can still see
Speaker 3: plenty of active flames in that area. You mentioned that
Speaker 3: they have a staging area for all of these different
Speaker 3: fire agencies that are coming in policies. Drive in sunset
Speaker 3: there right there as you get into Pacific Palisades, and
Speaker 3: I mean there are dozens of fire trucks and some
Speaker 3: of them aren't going anywhere as of yet. And I
Speaker 3: don't know if it's a traffic issue or they're just
Speaker 3: waiting to be tech.
Speaker 2: They're just waiting to be dispatched.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean La County Fire, you're not going to
Speaker 1: find better organizational capabilities in terms of dispatching crews where
Speaker 1: they need to go. The challenge I would imagine with
Speaker 1: a fire moving this quickly is as soon as you
Speaker 1: want to dispatch a crew to one specific area, it
Speaker 1: has shifted.
Speaker 2: To another area being more of a priority.
Speaker 1: So it is and as I mentioned, it is spotting
Speaker 1: a half mile to three quarters of a mile away
Speaker 1: from where this fire erupted and where it's moving. So
Speaker 1: that is an indication that the embers are being driven
Speaker 1: by the winds and they're starting spot fire. That is
Speaker 1: a freaking nightmare. When you've got a beast of a
Speaker 1: fire like this burning with that much fuel, vegetation and
Speaker 1: homes that service fuel, and then you've got spot fires everywhere,
Speaker 1: not everywhere, but in a number of places. You've got
Speaker 1: to give everything your attention, and there's only so much
Speaker 1: attention to give. Despite the fact that we had crews
Speaker 1: coming from other agencies to get ready for this wind
Speaker 1: event that has been forecast for a while. That was
Speaker 1: the good thing, I guess, is that we knew we
Speaker 1: had people in place, but like we were talking to
Speaker 1: the National Weather Service Henry to Carlo earlier, and it
Speaker 1: just didn't seem like this was one of those Oh,
Speaker 1: it's going to be cold out today, or it's going
Speaker 1: to be windy, or it's a Santa Ana. This seemed
Speaker 1: like it was going to be a major deal when
Speaker 1: it came to the fire risk in January. In January,
Speaker 1: National Weather Service says, usually we get rain in October
Speaker 1: through this time of year to kind of help us
Speaker 1: combat this.
Speaker 2: We did not.
Speaker 6: We didn't.
Speaker 3: We had I think it was from May to December thirty. First,
Speaker 3: it was the second driest time period that we've seen
Speaker 3: since we've started keeping records here in La at least
Speaker 3: in downtown La. Again, this fire that's burning in the
Speaker 3: Palisades making its way towards the homes as you get
Speaker 3: farther down, and if the spotting was correct, I mean,
Speaker 3: if that distance is correct, there are hundreds, if not
Speaker 3: a couple of thousand homes that are very at extreme
Speaker 3: risk right now. That as some of these embers could
Speaker 3: get in someone's eaves, into their backyard, into their trees
Speaker 3: or whatever and cause some huge problems in some of
Speaker 3: those neighborhoods.
Speaker 2: All Right, we will stay on top of this.
Speaker 1: According to La Fire, the last update from an overhead
Speaker 1: copter is two hundred acres will be sure to grow.
Speaker 1: That was the estimate. That's what they said. What happened,
Speaker 1: that this thing would take off with a vengeance and
Speaker 1: it has.
Speaker 2: Keep it here.
Speaker 1: They told us it was going to be destructive, life
Speaker 1: throughout threatening and it has not disappointed unfortunately. Like we
Speaker 1: were told by the meteorologists we've spoken to so far
Speaker 1: on the show, the winds on this Santa Ana event
Speaker 1: are coming from the north and from the east, and
Speaker 1: because of that what we saw are rupped near Ta
Speaker 1: Mescal Canyon there in the Palisades.
Speaker 2: Has now moved west.
Speaker 1: The eastward northeast winds, i should say, have pushed this
Speaker 1: thing now into the Summit park area.
Speaker 2: So it's right now.
Speaker 1: It's pushing against that Chastain Parkway, Kaye Brittany area, threatening
Speaker 1: the entire Summit area of the Palisades.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's very close to where it actually started. Now,
Speaker 3: the as you mentioned, the wind blowing it to the
Speaker 3: south end sort of to the west, means that it's
Speaker 3: just making a dead hit. It could on a different
Speaker 3: neighborhoods there in the Palisades. It's at about two hundred
Speaker 3: acres is what the what we're getting from dispatch tapes,
Speaker 3: from dispatch traffic that's going out there. There are firefighting
Speaker 3: aircraft in the air, but they I mean they can't.
Speaker 3: They're going to have a struggle regardless of what's going
Speaker 3: on wind wise, because of the quickness with which this
Speaker 3: fire is growing.
Speaker 1: It's forty to sixty mile per hour winds right now.
Speaker 1: Those are the sustained winds you're going to guss obviously higher.
Speaker 1: We heard that there was going to be a little
Speaker 1: bit of a lull this afternoon. We're not there yet, obviously,
Speaker 1: and then in the evening they're going to pick back
Speaker 1: up again, so there may be a bit of a
Speaker 1: sweet spot where they can get in. Like you said,
Speaker 1: there do have at least four firefighting aircraft from the
Speaker 1: sky attacking this thing. It is all hands on tech
Speaker 1: on the ground. I'm not sure if they've been able
Speaker 1: to get hand crews in there yet. We do know
Speaker 1: that there have been power There have been power services
Speaker 1: cut in the Palisades and in Malibu as well. PCH
Speaker 1: eastbound is closed to Panga Canyon Boulevard due to this.
Speaker 1: They want to be able to open up all those
Speaker 1: arteries for as many engines as possible.
Speaker 2: So we were talking to.
Speaker 1: Caesar from Sunset Smash Burger Joint there and he said,
Speaker 1: we may just leave to keep the roads open, and
Speaker 1: that should be the mindset for everybody. It is going
Speaker 1: to be devastation there when you look at how quickly
Speaker 1: this thing was able to take off.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been about an hour that we first heard
Speaker 3: about this fire, and I'm kind of surprised that we
Speaker 3: haven't had any official evacuation orders or warnings from people.
Speaker 3: But it's this maybe indicative of just how quickly this
Speaker 3: thing is going. They don't have time to put out
Speaker 3: an evacuation actly. It's upon you now at this point
Speaker 3: to make a judgment as to whether to get out.
Speaker 3: But I got to tell you, it seems like the
Speaker 3: needle would be pointing towards you know, go protect yourself.
Speaker 3: You can go back later. The red flag parking restrictions,
Speaker 3: of course, have been up throughout We knew that they
Speaker 3: were going to be posted starting this morning because of
Speaker 3: the red flag warnings that we were going to see.
Speaker 3: I mean those areas that have very high fire hazard
Speaker 3: severity zones, you know where those are, the montain and
Speaker 3: the mountains. Your car was going to be towed if
Speaker 3: you were parked in those areas. This is one of
Speaker 3: those areas that does have some red flag parking restrictions,
Speaker 3: and it is just in case of an incident like
Speaker 3: this where you've got to have the fire apparatus get
Speaker 3: up into these neighborhoods and have as much space available
Speaker 3: to get through there because.
Speaker 6: They know that there will be people leaving going the
Speaker 6: other way.
Speaker 1: The pictures of this with the massive plume of white
Speaker 1: and black smoke with a heavy runway, I mean, this
Speaker 1: thing starts in the hills and already the plume has
Speaker 1: made it out miles towards the ocean. There will be
Speaker 1: held up because of the juxtaposition of the homes and
Speaker 1: the blue sky and the fire. As just the case
Speaker 1: in point for the fight against wildland urban interface, right,
Speaker 1: this is why you don't build homes in area is
Speaker 1: like this. Well that's southern California for you, isn't it.
Speaker 1: So we have now two hundred acres at this point,
Speaker 1: but that was just like the last helicopter that was
Speaker 1: able to go overhead of this thing, and that was
Speaker 1: moments ago. They say that the gusts right now in
Speaker 1: excess of forty five miles per hour in that fire zone,
Speaker 1: and it is spotting.
Speaker 2: It is spotting. You knew that was going to happen
Speaker 2: with the.
Speaker 1: Potential for those gusts to carry the embers in other locations.
Speaker 1: So you can see that active flame in several different spots,
Speaker 1: and unfortunately it is near several different neighborhoods. So you know,
Speaker 1: you've got to use those resources. Got to be a
Speaker 1: freaking genius, a fire genius out there to know exactly
Speaker 1: where the priority spots are. When you think about this,
Speaker 1: where the fire erupted from, where it's headed, how many
Speaker 1: flanks are there to that fire, and then where the
Speaker 1: spot fire is headed, and did they have fuel?
Speaker 2: Are the and neighborhoods, yeah, there's spotfires.
Speaker 3: I think are the things that concern me the most,
Speaker 3: just in terms of how out of control this thing
Speaker 3: could get. If this stays in the wild land, If
Speaker 3: this stays in the hills in the brush, that's one
Speaker 3: thing it has not, But if it gets into those
Speaker 3: neighborhoods and and continues to you know, bounce house to house,
Speaker 3: block to block, then you're talking about the potential for
Speaker 3: a much more serious threat to life and limb.
Speaker 2: Then we're yeah, and we're not even at that point yet,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, like there's there's times when we've had wildfires.
Speaker 1: I want to say, like your Belinda is when I
Speaker 1: remember where there wasn't a lot of wind and you
Speaker 1: just saw that there was a potential for those embers
Speaker 1: to get into the eaves of homes or whatever and
Speaker 1: then to travel. This thing doesn't need the eaves of homes. No,
Speaker 1: this thing will just they don't. They don't need to
Speaker 1: get creative. The embers don't because the winds are so bad.
Speaker 1: Elvis take them all on their own. Carry that ball
Speaker 1: down down the down the hill there and just looking
Speaker 1: at video near the top of Bien Venita, I mean
Speaker 1: it's right up against that neighborhood and that's a spot fire.
Speaker 2: This fire is visible all up and down the west side.
Speaker 3: I mean there have been pictures that have been posted
Speaker 3: on social media from as far away as Lax and
Speaker 3: parts south of there where you could see this plume
Speaker 3: of smoke making its way out over the ocean. And
Speaker 3: again it is because the wind is coming from the
Speaker 3: north and the east that it's blowing at that direction.
Speaker 3: The earlier from where the active flame is the smoke
Speaker 3: doesn't really have a chance to go very high before
Speaker 3: it's blown completely horizontally. Do not wait for this to
Speaker 3: get out of the way of it. Do not wait
Speaker 3: for orders to get out of the way, because they
Speaker 3: are simply not going to have the opportunity. They're busy
Speaker 3: fighting the fire and not going to be able to
Speaker 3: go through necessarily and get individual neighborhood and street names
Speaker 3: on there. You mentioned PCH was closed eastbound at Topanga.
Speaker 3: It's closed westbound apparently at Mullhu. So getting into Palisades
Speaker 3: rightfully so is off limits.
Speaker 6: Do not go there.
Speaker 3: But if you are in the Palisades, those are opportunities
Speaker 3: for you to get out while you can.
Speaker 1: It is a worst case scenario for the Palisades, near
Speaker 1: worst case scenario. And when you look at fifty five
Speaker 1: mile an hour WINS, you've got the flanks of this
Speaker 1: fire and spot fires going into multiple neighborhoods. I did
Speaker 1: see that evacuation orders have just been issued. I'm trying
Speaker 1: to find out specifically where, but I would say all
Speaker 1: of the Palisades, get the hell out of there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no no reason to wait around for this now.
Speaker 3: And again it's because, among other things, it gives the
Speaker 3: fire cruise the ability to operate without you in the way,
Speaker 3: and it's easier for them to do.
Speaker 6: All of this.
Speaker 3: President Biden is in southern California today, but apparently a
Speaker 3: trip to the Inland Empire has been anseled, so we'll
Speaker 3: see what exactly.
Speaker 6: What that is about.
Speaker 3: I don't know why he would necessarily go on the
Speaker 3: other way, but anyway, we'll keep an eye on that
Speaker 3: pch again closed between Topanga Canyon and Mulholland because of
Speaker 3: this two hundred plus acre fire that's burning in the
Speaker 3: Pacific Palisades. The winds in that area sustained thirty forty
Speaker 3: miles an hour, and we've seen gusts as high as
Speaker 3: sixty in some places.
Speaker 1: It looks like right now, if you know the area,
Speaker 1: like we said, burning westward near that highlands community with
Speaker 1: Rustic Canyon to the east to Panga Canyon to the west,
Speaker 1: all under evacuation warning.
Speaker 3: Okay, must be from a different fire. Okay, I was
Speaker 3: looking at smoke over this Supulvita Pass, but I believe
Speaker 3: that's from the Sunset fire. Yeah, that would be that,
Speaker 3: all right, So we'll keep an eye on this again.
Speaker 3: A two hundred plus acre fire burning in the Pacific
Speaker 3: Palisades in what we knew was going to be a
Speaker 3: very dangerous time, and it unfortunately is coming true. So
Speaker 3: we'll keep an eye see if we can get some
Speaker 3: more information about the evacuation orders that we are expecting,
Speaker 3: if they haven't already been issued, and where where we
Speaker 3: can get you to safety.
Speaker 1: All Right, the latest we know about this fast moving
Speaker 1: fire in Palisades that's quickly made its way in to
Speaker 1: neighborhoods from the top of the mountains there.
Speaker 2: The latest is gridlock, gridlock.
Speaker 1: On sunset on Palisades Drive, people driving down both sides
Speaker 1: of the road. Crews unable to make it up to
Speaker 1: Palisades Drive. They say all four lanes are blocked. That
Speaker 1: there is true panic right now, getting the hell out.
Speaker 6: Of there, and I'm already starting to see.
Speaker 3: Said that one of the big deals was going to
Speaker 3: be spotting where the embers from the current burn are
Speaker 3: blown ahead of the fire based on the wind.
Speaker 2: Actually I lost count.
Speaker 3: There are some of these neighborhoods you can see right
Speaker 3: there on that picture where the active flame is behind them.
Speaker 3: But if they're starting to smoke like they're getting some
Speaker 3: of those spot fires starting up in the neighborhood.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I stopped counting at five different active flame spot
Speaker 1: fires that I could see just from the overhead coverage
Speaker 1: there on NBC.
Speaker 3: And like I said, this is visible from just about
Speaker 3: everywhere down the west side. And I think one of
Speaker 3: the problems that i'd heard reported you mentioned the gridlock
Speaker 3: getting out of Palisades. It appears that most of that
Speaker 3: is headed south. So if there's an opportunity maybe for
Speaker 3: you to go north on to get out of it
Speaker 3: towards the Malibu area and make your way up towards
Speaker 3: Camerrillo and Oxnard and things like that, that may be
Speaker 3: the better way to go, depending on how it looks.
Speaker 3: This is something, unfortunately, that everybody was warning about, and
Speaker 3: there was a sense of this morning, are we hitting.
Speaker 6: It a little too hard?
Speaker 3: We spent it too much time on what was going
Speaker 3: to be this wind event that we've had wind events before.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, we're the first to call bs when
Speaker 1: we think the media coverage is overblown with the polar
Speaker 1: vortex and the atmospheric river and the what.
Speaker 2: Was the recent one Arctic.
Speaker 1: Outbreak, When we're like, oh, it's winter, all right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's fire season.
Speaker 2: This isn't fire season.
Speaker 1: This is like Henry de Carlo was telling us earlier,
Speaker 1: this is like the recipe for disaster. Yes, it's January,
Speaker 1: but we haven't had rain, which we usually start getting
Speaker 1: in October.
Speaker 2: We've seen none.
Speaker 1: You've got these dry temperatures, plenty of fuel, and then
Speaker 1: this massive Santa Ana wind event with these mountain waves
Speaker 1: of wind blowing down, smacking in to the surface area
Speaker 1: there where the homes are, and that's what you're getting. Sure,
Speaker 1: this thing started in the mountains, but those mountain waves
Speaker 1: that they warned us about coming from the north are
Speaker 1: just carrying this baby smack right down into the neighborhoods.
Speaker 1: And because of the wind gusts, that's what you're seeing.
Speaker 1: All these spotfires just kind of branch out like ugly
Speaker 1: little what would you want to get tentacles.
Speaker 3: Again, we haven't gotten official word on specific evacuation orders.
Speaker 3: We know that they were requested for this fire all
Speaker 3: the way down to Pch through the Palisades down to
Speaker 3: the water line basically, but the exact parameters haven't been
Speaker 3: stated as of yet. And this is why we've been saying,
Speaker 3: do not wait for those specific parameters.
Speaker 6: If you're there.
Speaker 3: If you can see the smoke, if you can see
Speaker 3: the fire, if you can see the helicopters and the
Speaker 3: airplanes in the air, this is your opportunity to get out. Yes,
Speaker 3: it appears that there is traffic getting out of the Palisades,
Speaker 3: but it is better to be in on your way
Speaker 3: out than to wait for this. I mean, just an
Speaker 3: absolute nightmare for some of the some of the fire
Speaker 3: crews in there, because clearly getting into these neighborhoods, even
Speaker 3: if you kind of mentioned this before, even if you're
Speaker 3: at the scene of one fire or a house that's
Speaker 3: on fire or a house that's threatened by fire, in
Speaker 3: a couple of seconds, that fire is going to jump
Speaker 3: over you, the ember is going to light something else
Speaker 3: on it, and there's.
Speaker 1: No time time for the structure protection units to get
Speaker 1: to your neighborhood. There's just no time when it's moving
Speaker 1: this quickly. So if you're usually waiting on somebody to
Speaker 1: come knock on the door, that's not going to be
Speaker 1: the case with this situation. There's just not time enough
Speaker 1: for them to get to your neighborhood. Probably in some cases.
Speaker 3: The images from as far away as Santa Monica are
Speaker 3: pretty amazing the amount of smoke that this thing has generated.
Speaker 3: It's already showing up on weather radar. We've seen that
Speaker 3: at least the two super Scoopers, those the yellow planes
Speaker 3: that can scoop up the water while the flying and
Speaker 3: then go put it where they need to, are joined
Speaker 3: by several helicopters that have taken off. There was another
Speaker 3: LA fire had posted from the Van Ey's airport. The
Speaker 3: view of this fire from over the hill. They knew
Speaker 3: that they were scrambling their aircraft to get into the
Speaker 3: air to do this extreme extreme fire and wind risk. Today,
Speaker 3: it's only going to get worse. As Henry de Carlo said,
Speaker 3: as we get later into this.
Speaker 1: Evening, mandatory evacuation orders should just be understood that they're
Speaker 1: happening again. The information coming out of here because they're
Speaker 1: so swamped, is slow, But if you're anywhere in the Palisades,
Speaker 1: just get the hell out of there.
Speaker 3: There are a couple people who have taken to live
Speaker 3: streaming what's going on at their house specifically, and this
Speaker 3: fire is definitely into people's backyards and oh yeah, I
Speaker 3: mean the structures are next. If I haven't seen any homes,
Speaker 3: I haven't seen any images of homes on fire, but
Speaker 3: it almost seems like it's in an inevitability at this
Speaker 3: point because of how fast this thing is moving. There
Speaker 3: is again, Yeah, got it, he's on right now. Great,
Speaker 3: let's go live. We're gonna get some information from people
Speaker 3: who are in the area right now. And Quentin Fleming
Speaker 3: from the Pacific Palisades Community Council is joining us.
Speaker 6: Quentin, thanks for taking time for us. We know you're busy.
Speaker 4: H Thank you, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3: What is going on? What is a What do you
Speaker 3: know about what's going on in the hills above you?
Speaker 4: Well, we've got You've got an active firefight going on
Speaker 4: in the hills above above us. I was up on
Speaker 4: the roof a few minutes ago and you can see
Speaker 4: the fire line along the top of the ridge. From
Speaker 4: what I understand, the fire started in the Palisades Highlands area,
Speaker 4: which is a separate, a distinct neighborhood in the in
Speaker 4: Pacific Palisades, and it appears to be moving spreading a
Speaker 4: downwind which would be in a southerly direction.
Speaker 2: So where are you abouts? Are you in the are you.
Speaker 4: Below neighborhood of I'm off to the side of the
Speaker 4: fire for now. I'm in the vicinity of Pacific Coast
Speaker 4: Highway and Timescal Canyon. It's probably the best, the best
Speaker 4: located or Sunset and Timescal Canyon.
Speaker 1: We've heard of just gridlock Sunset Palisades Drive everywhere, people
Speaker 1: just panicing, get the hell out out.
Speaker 4: Yes, that's that's that's been a worry we've had for
Speaker 4: for quite a while that if, if, if the time comes.
Speaker 4: The roads tend to be narrow and they don't have
Speaker 4: a lot of capacity for for vehicles. So if everyone
Speaker 4: has to evacuate at once, Uh, it can it can
Speaker 4: potentially create gridlock?
Speaker 1: Now is there I don't know the area well enough.
Speaker 1: Is there more than the one or two main arteries
Speaker 1: off the top down to down to the flatlands?
Speaker 4: Uh, Palisades Palisades Drive is the primary artery? Is it?
Speaker 2: Go ahead? I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
Speaker 4: It's a it's a two lanes each direction, uh, or thoroughfare. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And again we heard that all four lanes were being
Speaker 1: used for people to get out of there, or that
Speaker 1: people to get on their own volition just to use
Speaker 1: the the lanes going up to go down. Has this
Speaker 1: been a conversation locally about when when this happens if
Speaker 1: another artery is needed. Has that been like a topic
Speaker 1: of conversation as we see these fires get more explosive.
Speaker 4: Yes, the community council has addressed this several times over
Speaker 4: the years. And excuse me, I'm getting a beefing in
Speaker 4: my ear.
Speaker 3: Take it that whatever you need to do, check it out.
Speaker 4: Okay, there we go. Sorry, yeah, it's a it's a
Speaker 4: it was an emergency text alert that just came through.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, well we'll let you get off the phone,
Speaker 1: get out safely.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, thank you, thank you for the
Speaker 2: good work you do.
Speaker 1: Of course, so you know that that's an interesting thing
Speaker 1: because you and I covered the Paradise fire, and this
Speaker 1: is where we saw the same thing happened, where even
Speaker 1: when we were up there at school, it was a
Speaker 1: conversation in the community of we've only got one way
Speaker 1: in and one way out. Yes, it's this beautiful cut
Speaker 1: off area, and that's what makes it so appealing, you know,
Speaker 1: you think about Palace Verdes as well, kind of cut off.
Speaker 2: It's what makes it so appealing.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, if the worst happens, we
Speaker 1: are screwed.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's no I mean that was the kind of thing,
Speaker 3: and there there is a way. If Paradise was the example,
Speaker 3: that you could go farther into the mountains, you get
Speaker 3: up towards the Megalia and like Forest Ranch and things
Speaker 3: like that, but that was also in danger.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: In this case, there's not even a good Once you
Speaker 3: get up Palisades drive into the summit.
Speaker 2: Area, there's no way to get out, no way to
Speaker 2: get out.
Speaker 6: The other way.
Speaker 1: You have to just go down that main thoroughfare. And
Speaker 1: I mean, if everyone's trying to get out at once.
Speaker 2: Holy hell.
Speaker 3: We were talking with Quentin Fleming, a Pacific Palisades Community
Speaker 3: Council vice president there, and that's we had to let
Speaker 3: him go. Obviously he had more important things to do
Speaker 3: because he was getting emergency text messages while he was
Speaker 3: talking to us. Again, they're they're at this point not
Speaker 3: talking about specifics when it comes to evacuation orders.
Speaker 6: But the better thing to think about is just not
Speaker 6: waiting for.
Speaker 1: Those well, I say, zone ten, zone eight, nine ten,
Speaker 1: whatever that means. That's according to all of the dispatch stuff.
Speaker 1: Evacuate now has been the call essentially anything between the
Speaker 1: fire and the ocean and the Palisides Palisades area, Get
Speaker 1: the hell out of there. That's essentially those three zones.
Speaker 1: From what the map that I'm rating looks like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the area maps they have them available on their website,
Speaker 3: it looks like so. But there should be no question.
Speaker 3: Stay or Go's not a thing to mess around with. Again,
Speaker 3: we will continue to keep an eye on this fire
Speaker 3: at two hundred plus acres burning in the Pacific Palisades area.
Speaker 3: It has been spotting into neighborhoods, into homes and people's backyards,
Speaker 3: and the expectation is that we are going to see
Speaker 3: some of these homes to go up in flames here.
Speaker 2: If not already, we're on top of it right here
Speaker 2: on Gary and Shannon.
Speaker 6: You've been listening to the Gary and Shannon Show.
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