Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty wake Up Call
Speaker 1: with me Amy King on demand on the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: App KFI and KOST HD two, Los Angeles, Orange County.
Speaker 3: It's time for your morning wake up call. Here's Amy King.
Speaker 1: It's five oh three. This is your wake up call
Speaker 1: for Tuesday, December tenth. I'm Amy King. Wow, what a day.
Speaker 1: We've got a fire burning in Malibu. It quickly grew
Speaker 1: to eighteen hundred acres. We're going to focus on that
Speaker 1: on wake up call today. It's gonna be a little
Speaker 1: different than we normally do, just because this is affecting
Speaker 1: a lot of people. We don't even know how bad
Speaker 1: the damage is, but we know that houses have burned,
Speaker 1: we know that people have been evacuated, and we know
Speaker 1: that the worst of this is not over because these winds,
Speaker 1: the Santa Ana winds, are blowing and they're going to
Speaker 1: keep blowing for at least another day. So here's here's
Speaker 1: a brief recap. Fires exploded in Malibu. Flames have been
Speaker 1: whipped up by those strong, erratic Santa Ana winds. The
Speaker 1: fire is burning in steep terrain uphillsides. People on scene
Speaker 1: are saying that it is raining ash and embers as
Speaker 1: the wind whips the flames. Evacuation warnings are in place
Speaker 1: east of Las Virgins, between Mulholland Highway to the north,
Speaker 1: Payuma Road to the south, between Stunt Road to the north,
Speaker 1: and Los Floris to the south, east of Carbon Beach Terrace,
Speaker 1: west of Old Malibu Road. In north of Pacific Oast Highway,
Speaker 1: A shelter has been set up at Palisades Recreation Center
Speaker 1: at eight five to one Alma Real Drive in Pacific Palisades.
Speaker 1: About two thousand people are under evacuation orders. Animal shelters
Speaker 1: have also been set up at Agora Animal Care Center
Speaker 1: in a Gore Hills and at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.
Speaker 1: The winds are blowing. I'm looking at the different fire
Speaker 1: weather warnings and we've got, of course those red flag
Speaker 1: warnings because the winds are blowing very strong and humidity
Speaker 1: is very low. We're expecting winds to be blowing between thirty, forty,
Speaker 1: even fifty miles per hour, but up to eighty miles
Speaker 1: per hour are expected in some areas, not necessarily in
Speaker 1: the Malibu area, but up to eighty miles per hour
Speaker 1: could happen in the canyons and the passes. So right now,
Speaker 1: the fire is the main focus of everything. But these
Speaker 1: winds are not done and the fire danger is high
Speaker 1: all across southern California. Who are going to keep you
Speaker 1: up to date? Will is going to be here. He's
Speaker 1: got you covered as far as closures around the fire
Speaker 1: and of course everywhere around the south line as you
Speaker 1: make your way out and about. And we talked Tim
Speaker 1: Conway Junior into sticking around.
Speaker 4: Yes, look at Amy King. What time did you get
Speaker 4: I got here at right around eleven thirty, eleven forty
Speaker 4: something like that.
Speaker 5: Oh, you've been on all night?
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, breaking news is always you know, time flies.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so now bring us up today because you're you've
Speaker 1: been watching this since it started started about eleven o'clock
Speaker 1: and it was a small fire burning near Pepperdine University.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I got a longer small.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I got a call from my sister who lives out
Speaker 4: in Malibu, and she said her electricity was out. And
Speaker 4: I said, why is your electricity? You know, I you
Speaker 4: want me to run a check out to you? Have
Speaker 4: you not paid the bill? Is that what's going on?
Speaker 4: And she said, no, you idiot, I it's the the
Speaker 4: you know, the PG and E. They shut everybody down.
Speaker 4: Instead of paying out these big you know, lawsuits and
Speaker 4: these big judgments for their lines going down and starting
Speaker 4: these big fires, they instead just shut everybody's electricity off
Speaker 4: and so you're out of electricity for you know, three
Speaker 4: or four days, like we live in you know, some country, yeah,
Speaker 4: you know, in the nineteen thirties. And I said, that's
Speaker 4: that's crazy. And then she said she got a text,
Speaker 4: because you know, everybody's on this neighborhood watch and you know, house,
Speaker 4: your family, and you know all these apps that tell
Speaker 4: you the nosy neighbors, nosy neighbor apps, you know what's
Speaker 4: going on in your neighborhood. And she said, there's a
Speaker 4: small fire off a Balu canyon and it was nine acres.
Speaker 3: I said, oh, they'll put.
Speaker 4: That out pretty quickly. Get a helicopter up there and
Speaker 4: put that out. It exploded. It went crazy with the
Speaker 4: San Ana wins, and all of a sudden it was
Speaker 4: one hundred it was two hundred acres. Every time you checked,
Speaker 4: it was another one hundred acres. It's now up to
Speaker 4: nearly nineteen hundred acres. It had crossed pch at some
Speaker 4: at one point.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it cross pch on the sort of the northern
Speaker 1: flank of the fire, west of Pepperdine University.
Speaker 4: Okay, okay, And you remember because you were here, the
Speaker 4: kids at Pepperdine. You know, a lot of these kids
Speaker 4: who go to Pepperdine, they're not from southern California, you know,
Speaker 4: They're from Kentucky or Ohio, or Indiana or Georgia, and
Speaker 4: they've not seen fires like this. You know, we were
Speaker 4: born and I was born and raised here. I don't
Speaker 4: know if amy you were born and raised here. I
Speaker 4: think you were.
Speaker 5: No, I was born here, not raised here.
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 4: But when you're born and raised here, you have a
Speaker 4: you know, you have a sort of a mellow vibe
Speaker 4: to it. Like, you know, the fire department out here
Speaker 4: is terrific. I would put up La County and La
Speaker 4: City fires and all these you know, small municipalities. I'd
Speaker 4: put them up against any firefighters in the world. These
Speaker 4: guys and gals kick ass. And so you don't panic.
Speaker 4: You know, you know, these guys have got a plan.
Speaker 4: They do a lot of you know, a lot of
Speaker 4: you know, rehearsal, a lot of teaching, a lot of brush,
Speaker 4: you know, eradication, a lot of clearance around around the
Speaker 4: University of Pepperdine I think is the most secure university
Speaker 4: when it comes to wildfires. They just have you know,
Speaker 4: they have cleared out more than this is necessary. They're
Speaker 4: constantly doing drills with LA Fire in La County with
Speaker 4: LAPD and La County Sheriff's Department as well for active shooters,
Speaker 4: and so they calm these kids down. But I'm looking
Speaker 4: at a picture right now on Channel eleven where there's
Speaker 4: a shelter in place, and it looks like a lot
Speaker 4: of the kids are in the library and they look panicked.
Speaker 5: Well, yeah, of course they are.
Speaker 1: But because the other pictures that we've seen, because all
Speaker 1: the TV stations have been on this all night along
Speaker 1: with you, Tim Conny Jr. Is that they're standing in
Speaker 1: what I'm not sure if it's the library, but they
Speaker 1: there's a big, huge glass pane and they're looking out
Speaker 1: to just it's all flames.
Speaker 4: It looks like there's smoke in the library, you know.
Speaker 4: It looks like there's a mild amount of smoke in
Speaker 4: the library, which is odd.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, they moved students and staff to the center
Speaker 1: of campus because they're they're sheltering in place. And the
Speaker 1: other piece of good news is that Pepperdine officials have
Speaker 1: put out a note saying the worst of the fire
Speaker 1: appears to have pushed past campus.
Speaker 5: They're still sheltering.
Speaker 1: There's still spotfires on campus, but the worst of the
Speaker 1: fire seems to.
Speaker 3: Have pushed past. But there's even better news.
Speaker 5: What's that?
Speaker 3: No finals today?
Speaker 5: I know, no classes today, no finals tomorrow.
Speaker 3: No final.
Speaker 4: Okay, that is the touchdown for the Conway family.
Speaker 1: Touchdown, touchdown, So Tim Conway Junior, if you will stay
Speaker 1: right there. We do want to get a traffic update
Speaker 1: from Will. He's gonna let you know about the closures
Speaker 1: around the fire, and then we're going to come back.
Speaker 1: We're going to check in with Michael Monks, who's at
Speaker 1: one of the evacuation centers. We'll be talking to the
Speaker 1: National Weather Services Andrew Rourke about what we can expect
Speaker 1: with these wins. It's all coming up on a very
Speaker 1: modified version of Wake Up Call this morning. Let's say
Speaker 1: good morning to Will Cole Schreiber. Will, can you give
Speaker 1: us the latest on those closures around the fire in Malibu?
Speaker 3: Yeah, good morning.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, not a great start obviously in the Malibu area.
Speaker 2: If you can avoid being anywhere near Malibu, absolutely do it.
Speaker 3: Here's what we've got closed.
Speaker 2: We've got PCH shutdown between Malibu Canyon Road and Point Magoo.
Speaker 2: All lanes closed there on Malibu Canyon from PCH to Payuma.
Speaker 2: Also PCH from Corbon Canyon to Corral and.
Speaker 3: Ron Bla Vista to Los Flores.
Speaker 2: Bottom line, if you don't need to be up there,
Speaker 2: avoid the area if you can. It's gonna put extra pressure,
Speaker 2: of course, on the one oh one. As Tim mentioned earlier,
Speaker 2: the one on one gets crazy during fires, so people
Speaker 2: coming out of Ventura County, Thousand Oaks places like that,
Speaker 2: obviously you can't get through on pchs. That's going to
Speaker 2: add extra pressure on the one O one as well
Speaker 2: as the southbound side of the four H five through
Speaker 2: Sherman Oaks and the Supulvita Pass. Right now, everyone everywhere
Speaker 2: else looks pretty good. We don't have any meat issues
Speaker 2: going on right now, but just be aware it's going
Speaker 2: to get busy as the day goes on. With Southern
Speaker 2: California's most accurate traffic reports, I'm Will Coleschreiber.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you, Will, and Will's going to be
Speaker 1: checking in periodically through wake up call to give you
Speaker 1: the latest on those closures around Malibu and of course
Speaker 1: other areas as everybody gets out and out and heads
Speaker 1: out the door for their normal work day. It's always
Speaker 1: amazing to meet Tim Conway Junior when the fires like
Speaker 1: this hit, because that's when we start getting calls from
Speaker 1: all over the country from friends and family who say,
Speaker 1: are you okay, because all of southern California is on fire.
Speaker 1: This is a relatively small fire still, it's just over
Speaker 1: it's eighteen hundred and twenty two acres. However, it's a
Speaker 1: devastating fire. We know that some homes have been burned.
Speaker 1: We are seeing pictures of fire and flame getting really
Speaker 1: close to some homes that look like they're up on
Speaker 1: ridgetops that kind of thing, So we know that that's happened.
Speaker 1: We don't know how the extent of the damage yet, obviously,
Speaker 1: because the fire is still actively burning. We know that
Speaker 1: there are water dropping helicopters. They've been making drops all night.
Speaker 1: The fixed wing planes haven't taken off yet because they
Speaker 1: have to wait till sunrise, But as soon as the
Speaker 1: sunrise comes, we're going to get more assists from the air.
Speaker 1: We know that there are several strike teams from La City,
Speaker 1: from La County. Other agencies have sent their fire trucks
Speaker 1: out to help protect peoples and structures as best they can.
Speaker 1: The evacuation warnings again, let's recap those real quick. East
Speaker 1: of Los Virgins, between Mulholland Highway to the north and
Speaker 1: Pyoma Road to the south, between Stunt Road to the
Speaker 1: north and Lost Floris to the south, east of Carbon
Speaker 1: Beach Terrace, west of Old Malibu Road, north of Pacific
Speaker 1: Coast Highway and to the evacuation order boundary we're going
Speaker 1: to be hearing from. As I mentioned, Michael, Monks were
Speaker 1: waiting for him to call in. He's at one of
Speaker 1: the evacuation centers. So, Tim, I heard you talking earlier
Speaker 1: and we were talking about how quickly these fires have
Speaker 1: been spreading. We've had several of them in the last
Speaker 1: few years, right, And they're different. Now, we've always had
Speaker 1: sant Ana wins, but the fires are different.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they are different.
Speaker 4: When I was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley,
Speaker 4: I'm a valley you know, bumpkin from the flats, and
Speaker 4: and when when I was younger went going to Portola
Speaker 4: Junior High in in Tarzana. You know, when I was
Speaker 4: you I'm ten, eleven, twelve years old, and there was
Speaker 4: a fire that started in Thousand Oaks or west like
Speaker 4: it would take a day or two with the sant
Speaker 4: Ana winds to get out to the coast. That's no
Speaker 4: longer the case now. It's a matter of hours until
Speaker 4: it gets out there. And you know, whatever, whatever you know,
Speaker 4: the cause is, whatever you believe it is, whether it's
Speaker 4: the you know, the brush that hasn't burned in in
Speaker 4: sometimes in decades, whether it's the you know, the climate change, whatever,
Speaker 4: whatever the the the main culprit is. It's different. It's
Speaker 4: different now because remember we had we had a we
Speaker 4: had a fire about six months ago that started on
Speaker 4: Thousand Oaks and literally got to Malibu in two hours,
Speaker 4: and it you know, it ran across ten miles in
Speaker 4: two hours. That means the fire was burning at five
Speaker 4: miles an hour, which is pretty pretty uh swift for
Speaker 4: a fire. And it's just it's just different. So the
Speaker 4: one saving grace is that this fire that you know
Speaker 4: that we had three weeks ago, which started in the
Speaker 4: Newberry Park area that went up into Ventura and Oxnard.
Speaker 4: If we had another fire like this that started in
Speaker 4: Thousand Oaks, you'd have been talking about hundreds of homes
Speaker 4: that it burned towards Malibu. I know that you would
Speaker 4: report it. And we'd reported earlier that the fire had
Speaker 4: jumped PCH. But it had jumped PCH down where the
Speaker 4: lagoon is. And fortunately there's a lot of you know,
Speaker 4: shrubbery in that area and not a lot of homes
Speaker 4: or condos in that area. So I think we're I
Speaker 4: think we're safe when it comes to that. But they
Speaker 4: reported earlier that there were no structures that were burned.
Speaker 4: That was about two and a half or three hours ago.
Speaker 4: That cannot possibly still be the.
Speaker 3: Fact that has changed. That has changed.
Speaker 4: Its okay, because we saw Eric Skloor and I Eric
Speaker 4: who came in overnight. He's the producer and board out
Speaker 4: for John Colebelt, we personally saw at least two homes burning.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: Water dropping helicopters are attacking the fire from above. Tankers
Speaker 1: are expected to join the fight at daybreak. We do
Speaker 1: know that the fire has destroyed and damaged some homes
Speaker 1: and structures. We don't yet know the extent of the
Speaker 1: damage or the number of homes that have burned. Students
Speaker 1: at Pepperdine University near where the fire started have been
Speaker 1: told to shelter in place. Classes and finals have been canceled,
Speaker 1: Evacuation centers have been set up, and in fact we're
Speaker 1: going to go out to one of the evacuation centers
Speaker 1: and check in with Michael Monks at Palisades.
Speaker 3: Good morning, Michael, Good morning Amy.
Speaker 6: We heard Will Colschreiber just moments ago talk about the
Speaker 6: open roads, and I can verify that that is true there.
Speaker 6: The drive from the studio in Burbank out here to
Speaker 6: the Recreation Center in the Palisades was just totally clear,
Speaker 6: like the sky is now, and I know that the
Speaker 6: aircraft who are supporting the fighting of this fire are
Speaker 6: waiting for that sun to come up so that they
Speaker 6: can get a.
Speaker 3: Better lay of the land.
Speaker 6: Meanwhile, here at the Palisades Recreation Center, about a dozen
Speaker 6: to a dozen and a half cars are here. What's
Speaker 6: interesting is that right now inside not a lot of
Speaker 6: folks are hanging out in the shelter. They seem to
Speaker 6: be spending the time in their cars. A spokesperson for
Speaker 6: the Red Cross mentioned that this is because right now
Speaker 6: that's where they're most comfortable. I mean, in a completely
Speaker 6: disruptive day like a fire, evacuation happening as late as
Speaker 6: it did, folks are probably hanging on to just a
Speaker 6: little bit of comfort. And if that's a sedan, that's
Speaker 6: what it is right now. But there are a bed
Speaker 6: set up. They're getting ready to go get some breakfast
Speaker 6: to bring over to the folks who have evacuated to
Speaker 6: this particular location, not the only one, but this location
Speaker 6: has been upgraded to what they call an evacuation center,
Speaker 6: which means pets and carriers or crates are also welcome,
Speaker 6: and the larger animals would be brought here, but then
Speaker 6: taken to Pierce College and Woodland Hills where those larger
Speaker 6: animal shelters are available. We're going to continue to monitor
Speaker 6: the situation here, get in there and talk to some
Speaker 6: folks about what the experience was like, what their concerns
Speaker 6: are now, which are probably very obvious. Again, we're waiting
Speaker 6: for that sun to come up. We were waiting to
Speaker 6: see what type of damage. I heard you and Tim
Speaker 6: just talking Amy about surely some structures have been damaged.
Speaker 6: By now we'll get a better side of that. Literally
Speaker 6: here very soon.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And is it windy where you are?
Speaker 6: It is, And I understand that because of the forecast
Speaker 6: of those Santa Ana winds that maybe they get a
Speaker 6: little worse when the sun comes up. But it's not
Speaker 6: so bad right here in the Palisades. I heard one
Speaker 6: of the forecasts indicate that maybe they won't be as
Speaker 6: bad today as they were yesterday, but that remains to
Speaker 6: be seen.
Speaker 3: I'll tell you what it is.
Speaker 6: It's very cold here in the Palisades, so the folks
Speaker 6: who are hanging out in their cars are probably just
Speaker 6: staying warm. Of course, that option is available inside the
Speaker 6: Palisades Recreation Center as well, and they are about to
Speaker 6: serve breakfast here momentarily. The same is true over at Pepperdine.
Speaker 6: That latest message from the campus in Malibu where students,
Speaker 6: as you've been reporting all morning, have been staying there
Speaker 6: in a couple of different buildings that the Pepperdine community
Speaker 6: quote continues to safely shelter in place, and bowln Nepatite
Speaker 6: is preparing breakfast to be served shortly at both locations.
Speaker 1: Okay, and then I will be very interested once you
Speaker 1: are able to start talking to some people as they
Speaker 1: kind of I'm sure everybody is very shell shocked right
Speaker 1: now because just think getting awake in the middle of
Speaker 1: the night and said saying, get out. But like, how
Speaker 1: much time did they have, did they have firefighters knocking
Speaker 1: on the doors, did they get emergency alerts?
Speaker 5: How did they know to leave?
Speaker 6: That's what I want to find out. We know that
Speaker 6: there were instances of firefighters going door to door. I
Speaker 6: will say that as I pulled up here, and being
Speaker 6: a member of the media, I try to not get
Speaker 6: in the middle of everything, you know, when folks are
Speaker 6: seeking help. So I'm off to the side a bit.
Speaker 6: But a woman pulled up and I couldn't even see
Speaker 6: her husband inside, but he's apparently handicapped, and she was
Speaker 6: asking for help because you know, they left so quickly,
Speaker 6: or as quickly as you can with somebody with a disability.
Speaker 6: She didn't even grab her handicap parking placard. So she
Speaker 6: was asking me whether she was able to park next
Speaker 6: to me where I'm a little bit close to the
Speaker 6: handicap parking and she was worried about getting a ticket.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm hoping that they don't issue tickets today.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I told her they're probably going to be lenient
Speaker 6: on that today, so she was getting some help from
Speaker 6: folks inside to assist her husband and getting out of
Speaker 6: the car into his chair. So you could just get
Speaker 6: the sense from the woman that.
Speaker 3: I spoke to that this was obviously so.
Speaker 6: Sudden and very very difficult to just gather what you could,
Speaker 6: but most importantly your lives and get out of the
Speaker 6: way of danger.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I think it's going to be a long
Speaker 5: few days.
Speaker 1: As Tim Conway Junior was saying, this Santa Ana wind
Speaker 1: event is, we're kind of right in the middle of it,
Speaker 1: and we've got a ways to go because we know
Speaker 1: the winds are going to be blowing until at least tomorrow.
Speaker 1: So if you think that winds are going to die
Speaker 1: down and things are going to ease up, but probably
Speaker 1: not going to happen just yet.
Speaker 4: And Michael, where can you park again without the handicaps
Speaker 4: thicker and not get a ticket.
Speaker 6: If you have been evacuated from Malibu, Tim, I don't
Speaker 6: think it qualifies for a tired host from.
Speaker 3: Burbank and I only being tired and that.
Speaker 6: You've put in a lot of powers and you've just
Speaker 6: been awesome today.
Speaker 3: I appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Man, You know there's a lot of people in Malibu
Speaker 4: who live off these unpaved roads, and self service is
Speaker 4: real spotty right now. I've been trying to I tried
Speaker 4: to get hold of my sister because some of the
Speaker 4: towers may have burned down, electricities out. So if you
Speaker 4: are in Malibu and you've and you've witnessed this firsthand,
Speaker 4: perhaps you you know you do have self service, you
Speaker 4: want to call us here. We'd love to put you
Speaker 4: on the air and see what your night was like,
Speaker 4: because I know we watched it on TV, myself, Michael
Speaker 4: Monks and Amy King, and it was brutal.
Speaker 3: But call us here at the radio station.
Speaker 4: We'll put you on at one eight hundred five two
Speaker 4: oh one KFI one eight hundred five to two oh one,
Speaker 4: five three four. It was a tough night, but you
Speaker 4: made it, and we want to hear your experience what
Speaker 4: that was like firsthand. With the winds and the fire
Speaker 4: in Malibu one eight hundred five to two oh one
Speaker 4: five three four.
Speaker 1: The big fire in Malibu. It has exploded. It started
Speaker 1: shortly before eleven last night. It's been fanned by strong
Speaker 1: erratic Santa Anna Wins. The fire has grown to more
Speaker 1: than eighteen hundred acres. People in the area have said
Speaker 1: that it has been raining ash and embers as the
Speaker 1: winds whip the flames. Winds up to eighty miles per
Speaker 1: hour are expected to blow across the Southland in the
Speaker 1: canyons and passes. A red flag warning remains in effect
Speaker 1: for much of southern California. Let's say good morning now
Speaker 1: to National Weather Services Andrew Rourke. Andrew, good morning, Thanks
Speaker 1: for coming on wake up call this morning.
Speaker 7: Good morning, yet, how are you doing today?
Speaker 5: Well, we're doing okay.
Speaker 1: I know there's a lot of people in the Malibu
Speaker 1: area who are not doing okay. About two thousand homes evacuated.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about this wind event and what firefighters can
Speaker 1: expect as they try to get a handle on these flames.
Speaker 7: Oh yeah, First of all, the eighty mile par winds
Speaker 7: are more in the San Gabriel Mountain, so the Belle
Speaker 7: will not be experiencing anything that strong. However, they will
Speaker 7: be seeing some wind. Winds right now are about twenty
Speaker 7: five to thirty five casting to forty five. They'll get
Speaker 7: a little bit of a bump up a couple hours
Speaker 7: out of sunrise, maybe five ten miles prow faster than that.
Speaker 7: Good news is those winds are only gonna last about noon,
Speaker 7: and then we're expecting a noticeable decrease in wind speech
Speaker 7: in the afternoon and overnight, perhaps a little bit of
Speaker 7: a bump up again tomorrow morning, but not nearly what
Speaker 7: we're seeing now. So we've got about six seven more
Speaker 7: hours of really dangerous winds and then we can hope
Speaker 7: to have a little little less winds. Unfortunately, these super
Speaker 7: low humidities are allowing that fires to grow. Also are
Speaker 7: not going away, so we have two more days of
Speaker 7: red flag warnings due to low humidities.
Speaker 1: Okay, so Andrew, when you say that the winds are
Speaker 1: expected to die down around noon or so, is that
Speaker 1: specifically for the Malibu area or is that for the
Speaker 1: entire area that's under red flags.
Speaker 7: It is for the entire area for the red flag.
Speaker 7: But you know, since the Malibu areas area primary concern,
Speaker 7: that's where we're that's what we're focusing on, and so
Speaker 7: that's where the winds really need to come down. But yes,
Speaker 7: the whole area will be down and they'll decrease the
Speaker 7: fire danger for any new new fire starts that might occur.
Speaker 7: So really looking forward to getting these next seven hours
Speaker 7: out of the way and getting the little bit safer conditions.
Speaker 5: You're not the only one. So the question for you,
Speaker 5: Andrew two, is these winds.
Speaker 1: We talk about how they're whipped up by or the
Speaker 1: flames are whipped up by the winds. Are these winds
Speaker 1: blowing in one direction or do they change direction?
Speaker 7: Oh? No, they well, they around the fire. They they
Speaker 7: vary a little bit, but mostly the Santa Ana winds
Speaker 7: for the La Valleys and the Ventura Coast and valleys
Speaker 7: there northeasterly, the canyons on the Santa Monicas and above
Speaker 7: above Malibu or all north south canyons, so those change
Speaker 7: the direction to a more northerly wind. So the Malibu
Speaker 7: fire area they're going to be seeing northerly winds throughout
Speaker 7: the day, really not varying that much in direction at all.
Speaker 1: Okay, and then we've talked about how we're expecting some
Speaker 1: of those higher gusts and you said they're probably going
Speaker 1: to be in the San Gabriel. But when you talk
Speaker 1: about those canyons, don't the winds go like they kind
Speaker 1: of become like wind tunnels?
Speaker 7: Right? Yeah, the canyons do focus the winds and really
Speaker 7: accelerate them, which is why when you're like hiking in
Speaker 7: Pantamnica's into you're near a canyon, you might experience it
Speaker 7: quite a windy day, and then you go a few
Speaker 7: hundred feet away from them and the winds are very calm.
Speaker 7: So yeah, Antuty, California. The winds are very very specific
Speaker 7: to general areas, not not widespread sometimes.
Speaker 1: Okay, So we're gonna hold on because we've got about
Speaker 1: six seven more hours and then a little bit of
Speaker 1: die down. Hopefully when the winds die down, that's going
Speaker 1: to let firefighters get a handle on this fire, which
Speaker 1: has grown considerably just since I got here two hours ago.
Speaker 1: So Andrew Rourke with the National Weather Service, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for your time and information this morning.
Speaker 5: We appreciate it.
Speaker 7: No problem, Thanks a lot.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's get back to the update on the fire.
Speaker 1: Mandatory evacuations are ordered in Malibu as a strong winds
Speaker 1: pull the wildfire. It started in Malibu Canyon and burned
Speaker 1: toward the coast near Pepperdine. It's burned more than eighteen
Speaker 1: hundred acres since about eleven o'clock last night. At Pepperdine,
Speaker 1: students and staff were told to shelter in place in
Speaker 1: the center of campus. PCH is closed between Tipanga Canyon
Speaker 1: Boulevard and Corral Canyon Road. The fire has moved quickly
Speaker 1: because the brush is so dry, and as Andrew was
Speaker 1: just telling us, we've got very low humidity and high
Speaker 1: winds and that makes for a potentially explosive situation. Some
Speaker 1: homes have reportedly been damaged or destroyed, and we don't
Speaker 1: know the extent of the damage that I'm sure we're
Speaker 1: going to find out more as the sun comes up.
Speaker 1: This man lives in the area. He said he had
Speaker 1: to leave his home.
Speaker 8: We've been out here about nineteen years and through a
Speaker 8: couple of these fires, and it's you know, we just
Speaker 8: need more support up here. You know, we're seeing a
Speaker 8: lot of fire engine trucks coming in and out of here,
Speaker 8: but not a lot of them local. They don't know
Speaker 8: the terrain up here.
Speaker 1: In the Walter Thorpe tells KTLA that access is limited,
Speaker 1: visibil is poor. He also says communication has been difficult
Speaker 1: because the power is out in some areas. As Tim mentioned,
Speaker 1: he got a call from his sister and power had
Speaker 1: been turned off last night and that was before the
Speaker 1: winds really even start started blowing. Wanted to bring Tim
Speaker 1: Conway Junior back in because he's been on the air
Speaker 1: all night and following this and this fire started very small,
Speaker 1: but boy has it grown and quickly.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you know they're waiting for as soon as
Speaker 4: that sun comes up. And I'm looking out the window
Speaker 4: right now, we're probably about that twenty minutes maybe twenty
Speaker 4: five minutes way.
Speaker 1: This is a good time that we're on standard time,
Speaker 1: so it's getting it's getting lighter earlier now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's right. But you're going to see planes coming
Speaker 4: out of Van Eyes. You're also going to see the
Speaker 4: Anlo Valley, Lancaster and Palmdale. You're going to see these
Speaker 4: fixed wings come up. They're going to take off the
Speaker 4: moment that they're going to see any daylight, and then
Speaker 4: you're going to get an unbelievable amount of assistance to
Speaker 4: try to knock this down before we get the major
Speaker 4: winds between nine thirty and ten thirty this morning.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and Tim, you you're familiar with the area.
Speaker 1: You're born, born and raised and someone when when I
Speaker 1: was coming in listening to you talk about, well, there's
Speaker 1: the windy's over there.
Speaker 5: And there's the McDonald's over there.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 1: But so many areas of Malibu are affected on this.
Speaker 1: I know that the City of Malibu issued an emergency
Speaker 1: alert that the fire had spread south of PCH in
Speaker 1: some areas, and it looks like it's approach. It's really
Speaker 1: close to PCH on the southern flank of the fire
Speaker 1: looks like it has crossed PCH. On the northern flank.
Speaker 1: It's threatened. It says that Malibu Pier has been threatened,
Speaker 1: Malibu Road, Malibu Knowles, and Sweetwater Mesa, So all of
Speaker 1: those areas are threatened.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's where the creek comes out, you know, Malibu
Speaker 4: Creek comes out into the ocean, and that's where the
Speaker 4: shrubbery had burned there, you know, just across from the
Speaker 4: you know, all all the shops there. You know you
Speaker 4: can buy I don't know, dream catchers, whatever you're buying
Speaker 4: in Malibu nowadays. But it's it's very scary for the
Speaker 4: people live out there because once you know the fire,
Speaker 4: does you know if it did jump over PCH and
Speaker 4: it burned Malibu Road, there are very.
Speaker 3: Few ways you're gonna see. You would see a lot
Speaker 3: of people.
Speaker 4: It would turn into a Lahaina type fire where you know,
Speaker 4: the road Alabou Road would have been congested very quickly
Speaker 4: and you would you would have seen people jump in
Speaker 4: the ocean and try to get away from this fire.
Speaker 3: It would have been a huge disaster.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 1: And the flames from this fire again, the just watching
Speaker 1: the TV stations, I mean, the flames look like they're
Speaker 1: forty fifty feet to.
Speaker 3: Oh shure, sure, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4: And now you're seeing, you know, it's about twenty minutes
Speaker 4: to six, you're now seeing the winds pick up. And
Speaker 4: if you're watching this on channel four, channel five, you're
Speaker 4: seeing the winds start to whip this fire again. And
Speaker 4: I think we're in for a second bout here, I
Speaker 4: really do.
Speaker 7: Well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, as Andrew Rourke just told us, the winds are
Speaker 1: expected to blow very strong until about noon and then
Speaker 1: hopefully they're going to die down a little bit. And Tim,
Speaker 1: do you know, I know that you were talking to
Speaker 1: your friend, the retired LA Fire.
Speaker 3: That's right, Captain Steve Kreger, Right.
Speaker 1: Steve Kreeger, and he was talking about how they're getting
Speaker 1: such a great response from so many different areas, but
Speaker 1: if the winds are blowing too strong, that also hampers
Speaker 1: firefighting efforts because it makes it harder for the planes
Speaker 1: and the helicopters to fly.
Speaker 7: Right.
Speaker 4: He pointed out that you know, just because you see
Speaker 4: news helicopters up there, doesn't mean these planes can fly.
Speaker 4: Because the news helicopters are up there, you know, one thousand,
Speaker 4: two thousand, sometimes even three or four thousand feet and
Speaker 4: the winds aren't that radical. But down low where you
Speaker 4: have the you know, these fires make their own winds sometimes,
Speaker 4: and you have these thirty forty fifty mile an hour
Speaker 4: gus whipping through the canyon. It makes it very dangerous,
Speaker 4: especially for the fixed wing you know aircraft that come
Speaker 4: through there. And so as long as the winds don't
Speaker 4: kick up, to see a you know, maybe ten aircraft
Speaker 4: come out of Van Eyes and Low Valley, they're going
Speaker 4: to come out of Palmdale, they're going to come out
Speaker 4: of Lancaster, and it's only a quick ten minute flight
Speaker 4: from either Van Eyes, maybe a fifteen minute flight from
Speaker 4: a Low Valley to Malibu and try to knock this
Speaker 4: this out pretty quickly, hopefully.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's amazing to watch the fire fighting.
Speaker 3: It's great.
Speaker 5: Helicopters and the planes.
Speaker 3: Do their never get tired of watching it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we had a fire. I think it was burning
Speaker 1: up north of the one thirty four a few years ago.
Speaker 1: It might have been during the pandemic, because I was
Speaker 1: at home in the middle of the day for some reason,
Speaker 1: and they were they're bringing the helicopter in and they
Speaker 1: were scooping water out of a silver like reservoir.
Speaker 3: Oh, that's great.
Speaker 1: And so you'd hear this, you'd hear the chopper, and
Speaker 1: then you'd see it and then it would skim the
Speaker 1: surface and just suck up all that water and then
Speaker 1: off it would go, and then about ten minutes later
Speaker 1: it'd be back again. And it was just one of
Speaker 1: the most amazing things that the skill of these the
Speaker 1: pilots that are flying creditlines.
Speaker 4: It's really cool to watch, especially if you're a you know,
Speaker 4: you're you're an adrenaline junkie and you see these planes
Speaker 4: come down and they're you know, three inches above the water.
Speaker 4: They dip down to the water and then take off.
Speaker 4: It's a very very skilled job, you know, to be
Speaker 4: able to fly with you know, sometimes twenty thousand pounds
Speaker 4: worth of water or fase check and release it and
Speaker 4: then have to compensate for that much, you know, that
Speaker 4: much weight leaving the aircraft immediately.
Speaker 3: It's very, very skilled.
Speaker 5: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's give a quick update on the evacuation warnings
Speaker 1: in place east of Los Virginess between Maulholland Highway to
Speaker 1: the north, Payuma Road to the south, between Stunt Road
Speaker 1: to the north and Lost Florists to the south. East
Speaker 1: of Carbon Beach Terrace, west of Old Malibu Road, north
Speaker 1: of Pacific Coast Highway. A shelter has been set up
Speaker 1: at Palisades Recreation Center. We heard from Michael Monks who
Speaker 1: was there just a few minutes ago. That's at eight
Speaker 1: five to one Alma Real Rive in Pacific Palisades. Michael
Speaker 1: told us that people seem to be sort of hunkering
Speaker 1: in their cars as opposed to heading into the shelter.
Speaker 1: That's probably your comfort zone at this point because a
Speaker 1: lot of people got a very rude awakening overnight. Also,
Speaker 1: you can take small animals in carriers and such to
Speaker 1: the shelter at Pacific Sorry Palisades Recreation Center. If you
Speaker 1: have larger animals, a Gora Animal Care Center in a
Speaker 1: Gora Hills and also Pierce College in Woodland Hills. You know,
Speaker 1: It's always interesting because, as Tim Conway Junior and I
Speaker 1: were talking a little bit earlier, when you hear there's
Speaker 1: a fire, and we're all focused on it because it's
Speaker 1: doing such an incredible devastation and it's so powerful, and
Speaker 1: we've got two thousand people who have been evacuated from
Speaker 1: their homes, and the wind is blowing and the fire
Speaker 1: is completely burning out of control with no it's not
Speaker 1: surrounded at all. You get calls from people who live
Speaker 1: in other areas and they say, oh my gosh, all
Speaker 1: of southern Califournia is on fire. It might appear like that,
Speaker 1: it's really just over eighteen hundred acres At last check,
Speaker 1: I believe it's still at eight they're estimating at eighteen
Speaker 1: twenty two, at very good chance that it's spread beyond that.
Speaker 1: At this point, we'll get you updates as we get
Speaker 1: more updates, but it does seem all encompassing, so then
Speaker 1: you have to tell all your friends, no, we're okay.
Speaker 1: So for most of you in southern California, this might
Speaker 1: not be directly affecting you. And even the winds that
Speaker 1: are blowing in Malibu, they're gusting about twenty five thirty
Speaker 1: five miles an hour, and when I came in dead
Speaker 1: still at my house, no winds at all. But we
Speaker 1: are expecting those Santa Ana wins to be blowing for
Speaker 1: the next six seven hours before we get a bit
Speaker 1: of a break. So here's a quick update on the fire.
Speaker 1: It's burned more than eighteen hundred acres. As I mentioned,
Speaker 1: it's burning toward the south. It started near Pepperdine University
Speaker 1: last night shortly before eleven. Now the people at Pepperdine
Speaker 1: and the students and staff have told to shelter in
Speaker 1: place where houses were evacuated, but at Pepperdine they said, nope,
Speaker 1: stay where you are. They've kind of gathered at the
Speaker 1: center of campus, and Pepperdine put out a statement not
Speaker 1: too long ago saying that it appears that the worst
Speaker 1: of the fire had pushed past campus, although they're still
Speaker 1: experiencing some spotfires and that kind of thing. The fire
Speaker 1: has destroyed and damaged some structures. We don't know the
Speaker 1: extent of the damage yet. We have water dropping helicopters
Speaker 1: that have been making air drops on the fire this
Speaker 1: evening or actually not this evening, but overnight, and then
Speaker 1: when sunrise happens that's when the tankers are going to
Speaker 1: start loading up and they'll assist from the air and
Speaker 1: hopefully help firefighters on the ground get a handle on this.
Speaker 1: We've got those dangerous Santa Ana wins expected to blow
Speaker 1: up to fifty miles per hour in the valleys and
Speaker 1: Inland Empire, also in Ventura County along the coast, and
Speaker 1: in Malibu gus over eighty miles per hour are possible
Speaker 1: in some of the canyons and pass areas. I want
Speaker 1: to tell you that Malibu Canyon from pch to Mulholland
Speaker 1: is closed. To Penga Canyon is closed. The interesting part
Speaker 1: of that is that it was already closed because they
Speaker 1: were anticipating the winds, they were anticipating the high fire danger,
Speaker 1: and so they said, you know what, let's just close
Speaker 1: that right now. So that has been closed. The evacuation
Speaker 1: orders for Perco Canyon to Tunia Canyon, Trunks Canyons, the
Speaker 1: Sarah Retreat. So again, about two thousand people are out
Speaker 1: of their homes. We have Tim Conway Junior with us.
Speaker 1: He's been covering this all night, all.
Speaker 3: Night, all night. I can't wait.
Speaker 7: Now.
Speaker 3: The sea one.
Speaker 4: Thirties are fired up they're coming out of van Eyes,
Speaker 4: they're coming out of Anlo valley, and they are going
Speaker 4: to be taking off the moment that they see any
Speaker 4: kind of light, and they are going to be bringing
Speaker 4: their C one thirties and put this sucker out by
Speaker 4: the way.
Speaker 3: It's seven a m.
Speaker 4: The La County Sheriff's Department going to do a live
Speaker 4: press conference from Malibu. We will carry that live here
Speaker 4: on k f I.
Speaker 1: Okay, one of the interesting things, Tim, that we've been
Speaker 1: seeing is this fire that you know, they never it
Speaker 1: doesn't burn in a.
Speaker 5: In a straight line.
Speaker 1: It's right, you know, the winds change and the fire
Speaker 1: changes and it races uphill. But then and when you
Speaker 1: were talking to your friend, You've got to remind me
Speaker 1: of his name again, I didn't write it, Steve Greeger.
Speaker 1: He was talking about how the winds are actually pushing
Speaker 1: the flames down the hillside as opposed to up the
Speaker 1: hillside as they would normally wild. Yeah, and then and
Speaker 1: then watching all the different news chairs and watching this fire,
Speaker 1: it's like there's a huge area of fire and then
Speaker 1: there's nothing darkness, and then another huge area of fire.
Speaker 1: And as we were saying, the winds are blowing those embers.
Speaker 1: That's what becomes so dangerous is the embers can carry
Speaker 1: up to like a mile or two away, and so
Speaker 1: that's probably why we're seeing so many little tiny flowers.
Speaker 1: And that just makes it more difficult because if the
Speaker 1: firefighters are on the line, then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you got a new line two miles away, right.
Speaker 4: And I don't understand why they still allow these big
Speaker 4: palm trees to grow in these areas. They become Roman candles,
Speaker 4: they light on fire, they burn for hours, and embers
Speaker 4: travel up to two miles away and they start spot
Speaker 4: fires all over the place. I don't understand why those
Speaker 4: trees aren't illegal. But I can't wait, amy, I mean,
Speaker 4: we are probably a half hour. I keep looking out
Speaker 4: the window for some light. We are probably a half hour,
Speaker 4: and these guys are already to explode into Malibu with
Speaker 4: the C one thirties and perhaps you know, six seven
Speaker 4: eight of them flying in in Unison out of an
Speaker 4: eyes analoe valley, and really, and you're going to notice
Speaker 4: a huge different if they can get up and take
Speaker 4: off in the wind, and before you know, the winds
Speaker 4: really kick in. Between nine thirty and ten thirty which
Speaker 4: will be the witching hour, and that's where we'll see
Speaker 4: a tremendous increase in these winds.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then as we talked to Andrew Rourke and he
Speaker 1: said that we are expecting that increase in the winds
Speaker 1: and they're going to continue. But then there they are
Speaker 1: expected to die down this afternoon, which is good. We
Speaker 1: still have the red flag warnings in effect for much
Speaker 1: of southern California, of course, including Malibu, but the winds
Speaker 1: are supposed to die down. They might pick up again
Speaker 1: tomorrow for a while. So the fire danger isn't over.
Speaker 1: The red flag warnings are going to be in effect,
Speaker 1: but we might get a little bit of a break hopefully.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you can see it if you're watching, you know,
Speaker 4: I'm watching some of the local news stations here. And
Speaker 4: Steve Krieger again, a buddy of mine who's with La
Speaker 4: County Fire, retired captain. He said, he's been fire, you know,
Speaker 4: he's been retired for a couple of years now, but
Speaker 4: spent forty years with.
Speaker 3: La County Fire.
Speaker 4: He's fought in these sant Ana winds where you know,
Speaker 4: you literally have a hose and you're trying to put
Speaker 4: out a fire. And you're pointing at north as the
Speaker 4: winds are coming out of the north and it's doing
Speaker 4: nothing but spraying you in the face. So it's very
Speaker 4: challenging out there. When you have rough terrain, you've got
Speaker 4: these big palm trees, and you have the sant Ana winds.
Speaker 4: It's almost impossible to put these fires out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the fires they're so quick and move so erratically.
Speaker 1: I know that we've also seen some pictures of there.
Speaker 1: It appeared there was a house that was up on
Speaker 1: like a hilltop. Yeah, why wouldn't you want to build
Speaker 1: a beautiful house on the rolltop and have these beautiful
Speaker 1: panoramic views of the ocean and southern California. And the
Speaker 1: flames were like two hundred feet away and rushing up
Speaker 1: the mountain side. At that point, you just have to well, one,
Speaker 1: get out right and hope that you did as much
Speaker 1: as you can to prepare your homes for that kind
Speaker 1: of right fire.
Speaker 4: And they always talk about really, you know, the ready,
Speaker 4: set go. You know that that's thing like you to
Speaker 4: learn as a child. But they teach us, you know,
Speaker 4: over and over, ready, set go, get your stuff, ready,
Speaker 4: get set, And when the fire department or the cops
Speaker 4: tell you to go get the hell out.
Speaker 3: You can always rebuild, exactly.
Speaker 1: And about two thousand people have been told to get
Speaker 1: the hell out, that's right. So they're headed hopefully to
Speaker 1: the event that evacuation center where Michael Monks is in
Speaker 1: Palisades at the Where did I say, at the evacuation
Speaker 1: center at Palisades?
Speaker 4: Right, But these winds are kicking up. If you're watching TV,
Speaker 4: if you're listening to a KFI, you can hear it,
Speaker 4: you can feel it. These winds are starting to kick up.
Speaker 1: And they're expected to continue for quite a while. And
Speaker 1: as as Tim said, as soon as the sun comes up,
Speaker 1: the planes are going to be up and they're going
Speaker 1: to give an assist to the firefighters on the ground
Speaker 1: and the water dropping helicopters that have been work all
Speaker 1: night long. We're going to keep you updated here on
Speaker 1: KFI all morning with the latest on the closures. We
Speaker 1: do have a live press conference coming up the La
Speaker 1: County Sheriff's Department is going to be in Malibu. That's
Speaker 1: happening in just about an hour, and of course we'll
Speaker 1: bring you that live. We know there's a lot going
Speaker 1: on around the Southland. We're focusing on Malibu because that's
Speaker 1: where the immediate danger is if you can stay away
Speaker 1: from that area. Of course, stay away from that area,
Speaker 1: and as I mentioned, we will bring you the latest.
Speaker 1: Thank you Tim Conway Junior for being on all night.
Speaker 1: We're gonna let you maybe go take a nap before
Speaker 1: you have to come back and be on the air
Speaker 1: again this afternoon, and I would imagine you'll be talking
Speaker 1: about the fire once again. This is KFI and kost
Speaker 1: HD two Los Angeles, Orange County Southland Weather from KFIS.
Speaker 1: So we've been talking about those red flag warnings are
Speaker 1: in effect for high fire danger with gus up to
Speaker 1: about fifty miles per hour. Winds of eighty miles per
Speaker 1: hour with even higher gusts are possible in the canyons
Speaker 1: and passes. It's going to be sunny, highs in the
Speaker 1: low seventies at the beaches Metro LA and inland O
Speaker 1: c sixties to low seventies in the valleys, and Ie
Speaker 1: just forties and fifties in the Antelope Valley. It'll become
Speaker 1: cloudy tomorrow with highs in the sixties to low seventies
Speaker 1: and then cooler.
Speaker 5: Thursday and Friday.
Speaker 1: We lead local live from the KFI twenty four hour
Speaker 1: newsroom for producer and technical producer Kno and traffic specialist Will.
Speaker 5: I'm Amy King.
Speaker 1: This has been your wake up Call, and if you
Speaker 1: missed any of wake Up Call, you can listen anytime
Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app. You've been listening to wake Up
Speaker 1: Call with me, Amy King. You can always hear wake
Speaker 1: Up Call five to six am Monday through Friday on
Speaker 1: KFI Am six forty and anytime on demand on the
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