Speaker 1: You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 5: With Mo Kelly on.
Speaker 2: Six We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. I remember
Speaker 2: when I was working here at KFI a few weeks
Speaker 2: ago talking to you about the fires not only in
Speaker 2: Pacific Palisades but in Altadena and the human impact, how
Speaker 2: people were losing everything, and then eventually we heard about
Speaker 2: how people were losing their lives and the human told
Speaker 2: that this has taken on Southern Californians, but for me
Speaker 2: it was somewhat distant. I told you about the struggles
Speaker 2: that producer Twalla Sharp has gone through, but it all
Speaker 2: pales in comparison to what my next guest has gone through.
Speaker 2: Let me introduce you to Zier Calvin High School football coach.
Speaker 2: Not only did he lose everything in the Eaton Canyon fire,
Speaker 2: he also lost his sister back in January, and he
Speaker 2: joins me right now on the show to talk about
Speaker 2: his journey, the struggle, and also what the city of
Speaker 2: Altadena has to do as it tries to rebuild. Sayer,
Speaker 2: I've seen you all over the news from KTLA on down,
Speaker 2: and I've heard you tell versions of this story, but
Speaker 2: thank you for agreeing to come in and tell the
Speaker 2: story one more time. How are you all things considered
Speaker 2: this evening.
Speaker 3: Just taking it breath by breath, day by day.
Speaker 2: If you can take me back to the day in
Speaker 2: which the fire started in how that situation progressed.
Speaker 3: For you.
Speaker 4: The night of early on in that night, you know
Speaker 4: it was high windstorms. We're used to that now today
Speaker 4: to the point where I still at my training which
Speaker 4: is right up the street, So I had kids actually
Speaker 4: running in the high winds.
Speaker 5: You as a football coach.
Speaker 4: As a football coach, I actually I have my own
Speaker 4: program also called Extreme Athletics, where I trained all kids
Speaker 4: from across all diversities, background, everything and has a focus
Speaker 4: on Tytoo diabetes. So that program is teaching these kids
Speaker 4: how to run. So I've tracked kids all different type
Speaker 4: of kids. But at that night of the fire, we
Speaker 4: were training at Farnsworth Park, which is approximately like a
Speaker 4: couple of blocks away from my home. We're always training
Speaker 4: us my facility, and we were running up and down
Speaker 4: doing our regular laps, doing everything that we normally go through.
Speaker 4: And the kids notice that it was a fire and
Speaker 4: that got started. They saw the thing and they stopped
Speaker 4: in the middle, and I have actually had footage of it.
Speaker 5: Did they see like the transformer explode?
Speaker 4: Yes, they actually saw the start of the fire. So
Speaker 4: I got my phone out and I started recording where
Speaker 4: the was and all that stuff from the fire or whatever.
Speaker 3: But it was so far away.
Speaker 4: It was down a cross, not far away, but off
Speaker 4: in the distance, as we would say. You know, we're
Speaker 4: at the top of a mountain, so it was off
Speaker 4: in the distance. And so we finished up training. I left.
Speaker 4: I stopped it early. Once I saw that. I was like, oh,
Speaker 4: so fire over there. I might want to get you home.
Speaker 4: I don't want your parents panicking.
Speaker 2: Were you aware of what was already going on at
Speaker 2: Pacific Palisades at that point?
Speaker 4: No, actually important, Actually no, and I didn't. That was
Speaker 4: not I didn't. I was not aware of that. So
Speaker 4: at this time I'm just thinking, oh, you know, it's
Speaker 4: a little fire down there was you know, they'll put
Speaker 4: it out and then you know the night would continue.
Speaker 4: But because it was a fire, I was like, and
Speaker 4: it was already high winds and we were already out
Speaker 4: there just for a little bit, just to say, you know,
Speaker 4: we're extreme athletics. You know, the weather doesn't really stop us,
Speaker 4: you know, but for their safety. I was like, nah,
Speaker 4: we're going to cut a short tonight. Let me get
Speaker 4: you back to your parents. So we left there, got
Speaker 4: them home. As I'm going back home, winds or picking up,
Speaker 4: everything seems like it's still going to be Okay. I
Speaker 4: get home, the fire from that point will move a
Speaker 4: few hours forward. And at this point now the fire
Speaker 4: is more east north, so it's coming up the mountain,
Speaker 4: coming up the mountain. It's coming up the mountain. So
Speaker 4: we go over. At this time, my cousin comes over
Speaker 4: and he's like, well, do you want to go see
Speaker 4: how close it is? Because it's actually burning up places
Speaker 4: that are close closer to our side.
Speaker 3: And I'm like, has it come across Lake Street? Do
Speaker 3: you know what time this is?
Speaker 4: I was training from six thirty to seven thirty, so
Speaker 4: this would be fast forward to about nine o'clock.
Speaker 2: Okay, So just to fast forward. So the fire is
Speaker 2: well under way at this point.
Speaker 4: So the fire is well on way going up the
Speaker 4: mountain at this point, but it's still nowhere near on
Speaker 4: our side. It hasn't crossed over. It's no way that
Speaker 4: it would even move that fast to get over to
Speaker 4: our side. At least that's what's the thought. So we
Speaker 4: go over, me and my cousins. We both jump in
Speaker 4: the car and literally go see where the fire is.
Speaker 4: So we drive across lom Mauta's prop approximately a mile away.
Speaker 4: We drive over and we actually see where there's houses burning,
Speaker 4: so through the canyon and we're going, oh, these houses
Speaker 4: are burning over here. It's crazy, and people are getting
Speaker 4: their horses out and getting their families out, and it's
Speaker 4: really burning. And this is on the east side of
Speaker 4: out Tadena, and it's like wow. And then we're like,
Speaker 4: you know, start praying for them, and we're like, okay,
Speaker 4: but it's nowhere close to where two three miles from you,
Speaker 4: maybe two three miles from me, so it's nowhere close.
Speaker 4: And it's it's not even north enough to even come
Speaker 4: across and come down. So at this point we see that,
Speaker 4: you know, we help some people at the time, and
Speaker 4: then we leave and I go back home. So now
Speaker 4: it's about ten o'clock at night, getting later ten eleven,
Speaker 4: and I'm trying to start my generator. I have my
Speaker 4: baby in the house, my wife's in the house, and
Speaker 4: she's like, are you gonna get to go ahead.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 2: I was wondering from a news standpoint, were you aware
Speaker 2: of any type of evacuation order?
Speaker 4: No, flat out no, So there was no There was
Speaker 4: you can evacuate meanings advisory, but get out, you need
Speaker 4: to leave fires coming. No, And I can tell you
Speaker 4: from my own at ten o'clock at night, there was
Speaker 4: still no smoke, there's no embers, and there was no
Speaker 4: fires even on our side of the mountain.
Speaker 5: Period.
Speaker 4: This is about ten o'clock. So while I'm sitting there
Speaker 4: trying to start my generator because my wife is like,
Speaker 4: are you every time it's a windstorm, I get the
Speaker 4: generator and I plug everything back up.
Speaker 5: And you had a degree of preparation for a moment.
Speaker 4: Like this one because this is a normal thing out today.
Speaker 4: You've had fires, you've had wins. So I'm starting to
Speaker 4: for and this is only God. God had to be
Speaker 4: the one my generator. And I don't know if it
Speaker 4: was some rats that did it, but my generator just
Speaker 4: would not stay started. It kept starting and it would
Speaker 4: just put her out a start for a minute and
Speaker 4: I'm like, okay, I'm about to run the cords and
Speaker 4: it would just keep cutting.
Speaker 5: Off mine had the same problem. Go ahead.
Speaker 4: So for the next two hours, I'm literally frustrated with
Speaker 4: a skull cap with a light on the front of it,
Speaker 4: you know, just trying to start my generator for hours.
Speaker 4: Just like I got to the wife, she's gonna be mad.
Speaker 4: I got to get something going, so you know, we
Speaker 4: get some heat, get the TV going, get something comfortable
Speaker 4: so she can be comfortable with my baby, and so
Speaker 4: the baby can be comfortable in the room because I
Speaker 4: didn't want it to be cold. So at that point,
Speaker 4: there's still no smoke, no embers, no ash nothing.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you, as we get ready to go
Speaker 2: to this first brick, what was the singular event or
Speaker 2: the sign that changed everything?
Speaker 4: The fire. I saw the fire finally emerge in the backyard,
Speaker 4: and when I looked over my fence, it was just
Speaker 4: on you. It was going up the mountain on my
Speaker 4: side now, so now I could actually see this crazy
Speaker 4: fire that was inflamed, but it was still going up
Speaker 4: the mountain.
Speaker 2: If you're just shoting in. My guests in the studio
Speaker 2: right now is Zira Calvin. He's telling the painstaking story
Speaker 2: of what led to him losing everything, including his older
Speaker 2: sister Evan McClinton, and we're going to talk about that
Speaker 2: when we come back. It's Later with Moe Kelly talking
Speaker 2: about the fired Eaton Canyon and the path to rebuild
Speaker 2: out Todta.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2: I'm right in the middle of a conversation with Zira Calvin,
Speaker 2: who lost his sister, Evelyn McLendon in the Eaton Canyon
Speaker 2: fire last month. Not only did he lose his older sister,
Speaker 2: Calvin and his family lost everything in the fires, all
Speaker 2: of their belongings and possessions, and he's here tonight to
Speaker 2: not only tell his story, but also talk about what
Speaker 2: needs to be done to rebuild lives and also make
Speaker 2: people hole in the city of Aaltadena. And before the break, Zia,
Speaker 2: you were expressing how I'm just paraphrasing, the fire was
Speaker 2: way over there, and all of a sudden, it was
Speaker 2: up on you almost immediately, and then I assumed you
Speaker 2: had to quickly evacuate. Where was your sister when you evacuated?
Speaker 4: She was in the back house of my mother's house,
Speaker 4: which is next door. So own both properties and they're
Speaker 4: pretty large properties, and she stayed in one of the
Speaker 4: ADUs in the back. So when we were evacuating, because
Speaker 4: now if we moved past the fire going up the mountain,
Speaker 4: then all these crosswinds happened, and you can see the
Speaker 4: fire attacking. It seemed like it was attacking the city
Speaker 4: the way it was coming off the mountain. So I
Speaker 4: do want to give this brief description. The fire never
Speaker 4: came off the mountain and burned straight down. That's what
Speaker 4: people don't understand. So when people are trying to conceptually
Speaker 4: understand why certain houses got burned and then whole neighborhoods disappear,
Speaker 4: you would have to understand that these crosswinds whereas actually
Speaker 4: shooting embers the size of snowballs and stuff, which were
Speaker 4: hitting houses and burning them up.
Speaker 5: I saw the visiting going sideways horizontally.
Speaker 4: Yes, so it was literally like being attacked. And that's
Speaker 4: never happened. So the only thing I would say if
Speaker 4: there was any conspiracy, the crosswinds to continue with one
Speaker 4: hundred miles an hour winds over and over and over
Speaker 4: again and it doesn't stop. It's the only thing that
Speaker 4: confused me because that's never happened. I understand when shifts
Speaker 4: understand all of that can happen. But the cross winds
Speaker 4: over and over again, just repeatedly, is why.
Speaker 3: Everything burnt so fast.
Speaker 4: So for it to move that fast, shoot all the
Speaker 4: embers off of it looked like a volcanic eruption and
Speaker 4: it was literally just burning up things. But you in
Speaker 4: the beginning stages, you couldn't see that this wasn't until
Speaker 4: I got to my street. My cousin came running down
Speaker 4: knocking on the door again. He's like, Zee, have you
Speaker 4: seen like this isn't supposed to be possible. We've been
Speaker 4: in a gang of fires and windstorms. It's no way
Speaker 4: the fire should be on us like this right now.
Speaker 2: Was it chaos and people trying to get out of
Speaker 2: the neighborhood and just I don't want to call it
Speaker 2: fog of war, but the only way I could describe
Speaker 2: it is where people could lose contact with each other
Speaker 2: in a moment like that.
Speaker 3: And it was so late, we were still there so late.
Speaker 4: It was the people who there were other people who
Speaker 4: aren't used to any windstorms, fires, who aren't from the neighborhood,
Speaker 4: who left earlier.
Speaker 5: Was there any power at that time?
Speaker 2: No, So I'm imagining a pitch black scene with the
Speaker 2: exception of the fire.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 5: Yes, Is this where you lost contact with your sister.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 4: So when we get out, I remember I have my wife,
Speaker 4: I have my one year old daughter, and I have
Speaker 4: to get my mother who's still next door and she's
Speaker 4: handicapped and there's a whole set of stairs.
Speaker 3: I got to get her out of the house.
Speaker 4: So when we're rushing through, literally put the baby in
Speaker 4: the car, got the wife in the car.
Speaker 3: So chaotic in that scene.
Speaker 4: Wife didn't even grab her purse because we still think
Speaker 4: we're coming back, to be honest, that's what's crazy. Then
Speaker 4: I rush get my mom. You know, I have to
Speaker 4: carry down all these steps to get her down because
Speaker 4: she can't walk, and we're doing all this in chaos.
Speaker 4: Ran up the driveway before that, told my sister, let's go,
Speaker 4: let's go.
Speaker 3: You should have left earlier. What are you doing. Let's go.
Speaker 4: Come back down the driveway, got mom, putting her in
Speaker 4: the car, got her in the car, got the baby
Speaker 4: in the car, got wife in the car. Two separate
Speaker 4: cars at this point, and then we start to leave.
Speaker 4: When did you know that your sister wasn't with you?
Speaker 4: It was more of an unconscious thought like, meaning when
Speaker 4: I remember getting my mom and turning the corner. So
Speaker 4: it wasn't until the next day, but it's when I
Speaker 4: turned the corner and I kept remember, why is her
Speaker 4: car still there? Did she leave with somebody else? Why
Speaker 4: is her car still in front of the house. So
Speaker 4: to give you timeframe of what this is so you
Speaker 4: can really understand it, this is at four o'clock in
Speaker 4: the morning, I plan on coming back at six in
Speaker 4: the morning. By time six in the morning, everything is gone.
Speaker 4: So we're talking about two hours because you plan on
Speaker 4: coming back, so there was never any thought that you know,
Speaker 4: we were coming right back in the morning.
Speaker 3: I didn't leave the city. I went down to where it.
Speaker 4: Was a little safer at my other cousin's house in
Speaker 4: his apartment, and we just stayed there, and I was
Speaker 4: just waiting for it to be daylight, just to go
Speaker 4: back to get my stuff, to.
Speaker 3: Get my sister to check.
Speaker 4: I didn't honestly, I can't even say to get her
Speaker 4: because I thought she was gone. I thought she left.
Speaker 4: But the subconscious part is where you remember that.
Speaker 2: What was the realization beyond seeing her car that she
Speaker 2: was gone.
Speaker 4: She doesn't really leave anywhere without her car, and that's
Speaker 4: what it really was. And she was more of a
Speaker 4: recluse at this stage in life, like she's she's older
Speaker 4: than you. She's older, she's fifty nine, and she's a
Speaker 4: god fearing, church praising woman who was a bus driver,
Speaker 4: you know who her bus driving.
Speaker 3: People loved her, we talk about it.
Speaker 4: But because corporate America was really hard on her as
Speaker 4: a black woman, it caused her to, you know, become
Speaker 4: a recluse, a recluse where she just didn't like dealing
Speaker 4: with a lot of people all the time. So from that,
Speaker 4: I mean, when I saw that, I was just devastated.
Speaker 4: My family's hearts are shattered. It's just so much like
Speaker 4: I can't even wrap my mind to run. Our family
Speaker 4: can't wrap minds around how this happened or why it happened. Basically,
Speaker 4: who did you first have to tell? Well, the first
Speaker 4: thing was I had to make sure she.
Speaker 3: Didn't leave.
Speaker 4: And I was still hopeful, to be honest, so I
Speaker 4: was literally just going, yeah, she's still there.
Speaker 3: My cousin EJ was like, do you want me to check?
Speaker 3: And I was like yeah.
Speaker 4: So that morning the next day he just first it
Speaker 4: was the police did a check, but it was too hot,
Speaker 4: so we had to wait some hours because the smoke
Speaker 4: was still not clear. And then after that he went
Speaker 4: up there and he took a shovel and he went
Speaker 4: to go check. He was like, we take care of
Speaker 4: our own. Let's see, we don't need to wait, and
Speaker 4: he's sitting here heartbroke. We need to know either way.
Speaker 4: So he asked me where and he checked and as
Speaker 4: he moved a bree around, he found her remains. He
Speaker 4: found her skull, her ribs, all that type of stuff,
Speaker 4: her fever bone, so he has to even deal with
Speaker 4: that mentally. He asked me like, dang, zee, do you
Speaker 4: think I have trauma behind this? And I was like,
Speaker 4: one thousand percent, you go have trauma behind us because
Speaker 4: you know, I know you're taking it in stride. But yeah,
Speaker 4: it was the most heartbreaking thing and he found her.
Speaker 4: I was that brought me some type of piece just
Speaker 4: because we knew immediately. But then I'm heartbroke even more
Speaker 4: so because I'm thinking what about all my friends and community,
Speaker 4: because we're all friends, and people don't understand everybody everybody
Speaker 4: knows that everybody. So now that has me thinking how
Speaker 4: many people are up here dead that they have no
Speaker 4: idea and they won't know till later, Like I know
Speaker 4: my loved one is gone now, but they still have
Speaker 4: to wait and figure it out when they go and
Speaker 4: search the place to find these other people.
Speaker 3: So it's in come.
Speaker 4: It's inconceivable to understand the feeling of losing your sister,
Speaker 4: losing everything in the families that have lost in out
Speaker 4: toa dina everyone. We're such a tight kit type community
Speaker 4: that everybody knows everyone. So even when the neighbor lost somebody,
Speaker 4: or the neighbor that dies, that's another family member.
Speaker 3: That's what people don't understand. They keep thinking it's just
Speaker 3: one What.
Speaker 4: About my friends that I grew up with that are
Speaker 4: around the corner and he lost his mom. This is
Speaker 4: all I'm trying to say. It becomes so many people
Speaker 4: that you're connected to. Especially when you're a community person
Speaker 4: and you've helped the community, you've been a harder community.
Speaker 4: It makes it harder because now you're connected to everyone.
Speaker 2: When we come back, as Altadda tries to go from
Speaker 2: the crisis to the recovery, you have been very instrumental
Speaker 2: in continuing to stay within the community and help the community.
Speaker 2: When we come back. I want to hear from you.
Speaker 2: What does Altadena need, what is it not getting or
Speaker 2: what could it use more of to get past this
Speaker 2: moment and keep Alta Dina out to Dina?
Speaker 5: Can you do that for me?
Speaker 3: Yes, sir.
Speaker 2: My guest is studio Zaire Calvin as he tells his
Speaker 2: story of the Eaton Canyon fire, how he lost his
Speaker 2: older sister, and how the city is still battling to
Speaker 2: come back.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2: And Zaire Calvin joins me in studios. Has been telling
Speaker 2: the heartbreaking story of not only losing everything, but losing someone,
Speaker 2: his older sister who perished in the Eaton Canyon fire,
Speaker 2: and Zaire, I wanted to move the conversation forward because
Speaker 2: you were telling me off air about how Altadena is
Speaker 2: a community.
Speaker 5: It's almost like Pleasantville where.
Speaker 2: Everyone knows everyone, everyone has seen everyone's kids grow up
Speaker 2: and grandparents grow old and that kind of thing. But
Speaker 2: they're all collectively going through this trauma together at the
Speaker 2: same time. Where if you got off easy, if you
Speaker 2: didn't lose everything or lose someone or combination of both.
Speaker 5: But where is Alta Dina?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 2: I hear about the communal meeting where people will find
Speaker 2: each other at the post office on most days. But
Speaker 2: what is left in out to Dina and what can
Speaker 2: be brought back, what's.
Speaker 4: Left in out to Dana is the pride of Altadena.
Speaker 4: So the people are so uniquely connected and joined. As
Speaker 4: you were saying that, the pride and the feeling of
Speaker 4: out to Diana, there's no way to describe it.
Speaker 3: There's no place on earth.
Speaker 4: I've had people who moved to different places Texan and go.
Speaker 4: I always have to come back home to Altadena because
Speaker 4: it's totally different, and it's such an integrated community. And
Speaker 4: that's what people don't understand is now, So like I
Speaker 4: know personally like four hundred and fifty Black friends that
Speaker 4: lost their home.
Speaker 3: Personally, that many people.
Speaker 4: But that's not including all the hundreds of people that
Speaker 4: are Jewish, White, or many in Asian, Hispanic, every race.
Speaker 3: I have hundreds of.
Speaker 4: Those who all lost their home also, so that I'm
Speaker 4: just trying to put it in context. These are hundreds
Speaker 4: and hundreds and hundreds of people who are all connected
Speaker 4: in the community and support each other and love each
Speaker 4: other and have been communal the whole time to create
Speaker 4: this ambiance because this is a city that's unique because
Speaker 4: it was seventy percent black ownership in the city. With
Speaker 4: all of these integrated society, it's like the happiness. It
Speaker 4: was the conjunction of everyone being together and being of
Speaker 4: real community and everybody supporting each other and everybody loving
Speaker 4: on each other, the neighbors, everybody.
Speaker 2: The politicians have come and now they've gone. We know
Speaker 2: that Altadena is an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County,
Speaker 2: so that help will come from the LA County Board
Speaker 2: of Supervisors.
Speaker 5: What is Altadena in need of or what are they
Speaker 5: waiting on.
Speaker 4: In need of assistance past when everybody's gone, assistance passed,
Speaker 4: when all these cameras and all the interviews, and it's
Speaker 4: not the hot story about what's going on assistance with
Speaker 4: people who didn't have proper insurance and the sharks that
Speaker 4: are going to come in and try to this already
Speaker 4: out here, No, what's happening.
Speaker 3: I'm telling you.
Speaker 4: When I left my property doing an interviews, a guy
Speaker 4: came right by and was passing out cards asking to sell.
Speaker 4: I've gotten cold calls of people literally asking do you
Speaker 4: want to sell your home? And I had to hang
Speaker 4: up on them so, and I'm getting letters from relatives
Speaker 4: asking questions like that in the nicest way possible.
Speaker 5: Given that reality, how many people are going to stay?
Speaker 4: The majority of our community is going to stick together.
Speaker 4: You can't keep everybody, and everybody's situation is not the same.
Speaker 4: So I won't be mad at anybody. I just hope
Speaker 4: that our community. The hope for our community is for
Speaker 4: it to stay our community. It's literally for us to
Speaker 4: stay our community.
Speaker 2: Can you at this point, and I say this, as
Speaker 2: this atmospheric river approaches, can people move in and I
Speaker 2: should say, move about in the Altadena area, go back
Speaker 2: to where their homes were, try to secure and say
Speaker 2: whatever remains, can you move about freely?
Speaker 3: Right now? We can?
Speaker 4: They the National Guard has finally left and they've let
Speaker 4: people after it's already been looted. National Guard gument after
Speaker 4: it was looted, but a lot of the families and
Speaker 4: homes were looted, and then they came in, I guess
Speaker 4: to protect it. And then now we're able to actually
Speaker 4: go up and travel and see our homes, which there
Speaker 4: are no homes. So to give my mother's definition, who
Speaker 4: just talked about it, because I just took her up
Speaker 4: to see it and to process everything, and she said,
Speaker 4: I don't know what I'm looking at. I don't know
Speaker 4: what you What am I supposed to say to this
Speaker 4: my neighborhood. This is gone, this is fire, this is burnt.
Speaker 4: I've never seen it. This looks like a war zone.
Speaker 4: This looks like a volcanic eruption. I don't know what
Speaker 4: I'm looking at.
Speaker 2: Could you recognize the streets driving down them because there
Speaker 2: were no street signs?
Speaker 5: Probably? Did you? Was it easy to figure out where
Speaker 5: you were?
Speaker 4: Because I've been there my entire life. I've lived on
Speaker 4: the same block that my entire life. I can drive
Speaker 4: there without thinking when this is how bad it is.
Speaker 4: I have a cousin that lives three doors down from
Speaker 4: my home of the left. I was going to take
Speaker 4: pictures of his house. I know exactly where the driveway is,
Speaker 4: and I couldnot focus to take a picture because I
Speaker 4: did not know where his house was.
Speaker 3: That's how bad everything is.
Speaker 4: Level I could not find my cousin's house that I've
Speaker 4: been going to since I was one year. I was
Speaker 4: a one year old in his house, back and forth.
Speaker 4: I could not find his house. I literally had to
Speaker 4: go I know that's the rocks where it is. I
Speaker 4: know that's the tree, but I don't know what I'm
Speaker 4: looking at. It's that bad best case scenario. And I
Speaker 4: know you said that everyone situation is different. What's the
Speaker 4: best case hope for six months from now, two years
Speaker 4: from now?
Speaker 3: Best case scenario is that.
Speaker 4: The politicians, the senators, everybody who's involved, all of these foundations, fundraisers,
Speaker 4: all this stuff that's being had for the fire victims
Speaker 4: of Altadena, that the money actually goes to the fire
Speaker 4: victims of Altadena.
Speaker 5: There's no guarantee exactly.
Speaker 4: So if all that money actually goes to the rebuilding
Speaker 4: and helping of the victims of Altadena and everybody who's lost,
Speaker 4: then there's a little bit of hope there. If it
Speaker 4: doesn't and all that money is funneled and talked about,
Speaker 4: because that's what everybody's fear is, where's all this money going?
Speaker 4: We hear, oh seven million, ray this made? How who
Speaker 4: is that going to? How is that going to help
Speaker 4: the community?
Speaker 2: Do you know where these When I say where, supposedly
Speaker 2: these millions and millions of dollars are initially supposed to go.
Speaker 2: In other words, if I were a former resident of Altadena.
Speaker 2: How do I know that I'm looked in? Do you
Speaker 2: know what that process is like at this point?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 3: And that's that's the fear.
Speaker 4: The fear is trying to understand where these finances are
Speaker 4: going and how that's going to help the community and
Speaker 4: to make sure it's going to help the buyback of
Speaker 4: each individual's house to be able to stay in their community.
Speaker 4: And that's the most important part. So my again, there's
Speaker 4: hope from the people because everyone wants to stay and build.
Speaker 4: Like I have a whole group text of everybody. That's
Speaker 4: not everyone, but the majority of my whole block. So
Speaker 4: we all talk about what we're gonna do, how they're helping,
Speaker 4: Like the whole community is having that conversation, but they're
Speaker 4: all in fear also, like what is this going to
Speaker 4: look like? How long is this gonna be? Is the
Speaker 4: money gonna run out? Yeah, it's two years, it's a
Speaker 4: year from now, But then two years when you're spending
Speaker 4: up all the money that you have to live and
Speaker 4: to be until your house is built, what is that
Speaker 4: going to look like?
Speaker 2: When we come back on to finish up with Zira
Speaker 2: Calvin as he tells his story, despair my word and
Speaker 2: also hope for the future. What has happened in Altadena
Speaker 2: and what likely comes next.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty with.
Speaker 2: We're Live Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. And I'm finishing
Speaker 2: on my conversation with Zaire Calvin, who joins me in studio.
Speaker 2: He lost his house, he lost his older sister who
Speaker 2: perished in the Eaton Canyon fire in Alta, Dina. And
Speaker 2: he was telling me, and I'm not going to give
Speaker 2: you too many specifics, his family now has spread all
Speaker 2: over southern California because it's more than just losing the structure.
Speaker 2: It's about trying to keep the family together as well,
Speaker 2: living in different places. But my question to you, Zire,
Speaker 2: before we end this conversation is what's next? And I
Speaker 2: say that if only because we know the rains are coming.
Speaker 2: There's a concern with mud slides, there's a concern with
Speaker 2: debris removal. I'm not even sure about the toxicity of
Speaker 2: the area. What's the first in immediate OPSTA concern.
Speaker 4: Well, in the midst of our morning and we're ready
Speaker 4: to begin real accountability for the devastation. You know now
Speaker 4: that the toxic dust is settled and literally beginning to
Speaker 4: settle around us, we're turning into action. So holding who's
Speaker 4: responsible for the fire is kind of important. Also, So
Speaker 4: the power company Edison that literally knows that the fire
Speaker 4: started from their transformers and.
Speaker 2: Stuff like that, they're not going to go quietly into
Speaker 2: that gentle good night, You know that, right?
Speaker 4: No, And that's the battle, and that's the war for
Speaker 4: you know, especially when you're talking about your money is
Speaker 4: more important than the lives that have been lost in
Speaker 4: the community and these homes and his family and this culture.
Speaker 4: You literally just burnt up a whole culture. So how
Speaker 4: does that money even matter? And how would you fight
Speaker 4: this when you know that you're responsible for burning up
Speaker 4: this whole culture of people.
Speaker 2: Given all that, and I know you can't speak for
Speaker 2: everyone's situation, but the general consensus is what is fat
Speaker 2: as owners homeowner's insurance? Are people finding that their policies
Speaker 2: are being honored or not.
Speaker 4: Their policies are being honored? But is it enough? Is
Speaker 4: the issue. So that's the whole conversation with Senator Berger.
Speaker 4: She's been doing with what she's been saying and keeping
Speaker 4: up with what she's been doing has actually been very
Speaker 4: on point.
Speaker 3: So I do appreciate her.
Speaker 4: I will say that publicly because she has been putting
Speaker 4: her money in her actions where her mouth has been
Speaker 4: so far.
Speaker 3: But the issue I have, like I said, is the back.
Speaker 4: End of all of this, when it time, when it
Speaker 4: comes time to build, when it comes time to get
Speaker 4: all these things in place, all like you said, we
Speaker 4: have to clean up the debris and clearing all these
Speaker 4: plots in these lands and doing all that stuff. My
Speaker 4: community is so concerned about, Okay, we got this done,
Speaker 4: but now what happens if we run out of money?
Speaker 3: Now what then we still have to sell? Then we
Speaker 3: still have to be.
Speaker 4: Like, well, of course I have to take this deal,
Speaker 4: because yeah, they're sitting there knocking at the door and
Speaker 4: I don't have enough money to finish, or I don't
Speaker 4: have enough money after I finished, I still have a
Speaker 4: mortgage on my place.
Speaker 3: People aren't really stuff like that.
Speaker 5: I know what, the houses were free and clear.
Speaker 3: Yeah I still have to pay a mortgage. And the
Speaker 3: way I was paying that mortgage.
Speaker 4: In our families in different things is people had people
Speaker 4: living in the back house and living and it was
Speaker 4: shared communal stuff that was happening a lot of times
Speaker 4: because these are hard working, blue collar people A lot
Speaker 4: of times.
Speaker 2: Not to get too specific, but I know other people
Speaker 2: will be dealing with this as well as far as
Speaker 2: homeowners insurance and ADUs. How does that play out? And
Speaker 2: that's what we're trying to figure out. It's literally everything
Speaker 2: is up in the air.
Speaker 4: And she said that no, they'll be able to put
Speaker 4: an add but what's that charge going to be? What
Speaker 4: is all these finances that are going to come with
Speaker 4: after the fact.
Speaker 3: That's all it is.
Speaker 4: It's like, yes, it sounds good on the front end,
Speaker 4: and it's just making sure that on the back end
Speaker 4: that everybody is made whole, because if you're not made
Speaker 4: how can you how can you move forward? And that's
Speaker 4: even the devastation because we still have to build our
Speaker 4: family back.
Speaker 3: We still have to grow trees back. You guys don't
Speaker 3: know what it looks like.
Speaker 4: So even that process of replanning trees to have a
Speaker 4: neighborhood that looks it's called beautiful out to dinner because
Speaker 4: it was beautiful.
Speaker 2: Is there one thing because there's no way I could know,
Speaker 2: But is there one thing that I've missed in my
Speaker 2: conversation with you tonight as we get ready to close
Speaker 2: that there's some one hundred thousand people who are listening
Speaker 2: right now who could benefit from your insight, your pain
Speaker 2: even is there one thing that no one should leave
Speaker 2: this conversation without knowing, understanding, or at least hearing.
Speaker 4: I guess that these everybody is devastated right now. Actually,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna switch gears, and I'm so sorry for this,
Speaker 4: but I have to. I want to make a point
Speaker 4: about the elderly and disability that needs to be helped.
Speaker 4: When you asked me earlier, I just do want to
Speaker 4: cover that. I'm so sorry, but I want to cover
Speaker 4: that they do not have anything in place for elderly
Speaker 4: and disabled people during emergencies, the help that they need,
Speaker 4: Like for my mother who's displaced and I'm trying to
Speaker 4: help her and get her in home care and all
Speaker 4: that stuff. They do not have anything in place for
Speaker 4: emergency situations, and that across the board for anybody who
Speaker 4: goes through this absolutely needs to be changed.
Speaker 3: That's one part.
Speaker 4: The other part would just be I don't know, it's hard,
Speaker 4: just we need help, that's all I can say. Like
Speaker 4: as much, and this is not a community that asks
Speaker 4: for anything so it makes it worse. These are people,
Speaker 4: These are very proud people who have worked hard, and
Speaker 4: this is generational wealth where you're prideful about even accepting anything.
Speaker 4: I had to learn how to accept because I'm so
Speaker 4: used to giving.
Speaker 3: Like.
Speaker 4: The whole point is everyone is living by being christ Like,
Speaker 4: and so if you're Christ's Like, you're always giving and
Speaker 4: trying to be of service.
Speaker 3: And that was a while.
Speaker 4: Most of the community is, even though it may be
Speaker 4: all different religion and creeds, but everybody's kind of living
Speaker 4: by that christ Like We help everybody in these situations,
Speaker 4: and we need people to be christ Like and give
Speaker 4: back and really help the people for real, not just
Speaker 4: one day, not just one time, until we are as
Speaker 4: a whole community are made whole.
Speaker 3: We need That's what I was saying.
Speaker 4: We need people to be christ Like until the complete
Speaker 4: community of Outta Dina is whole.
Speaker 5: All right, let me just do this in my small
Speaker 5: part here.
Speaker 2: You said something, you know, something to the effect of,
Speaker 2: don't forget us. After all the cameras have left and
Speaker 2: it's not the lead story. Let's make the commitment here.
Speaker 2: You come on with me every now and again to say, hey,
Speaker 2: we're not getting the help that we need or mo,
Speaker 2: I need you to get me in touch with this
Speaker 2: politician who promised this, that and the other, and they're
Speaker 2: not coming through because I could damn sure do that
Speaker 2: and light a fire under them and make sure that
Speaker 2: out TOADNA gets what it needs to get where it
Speaker 2: once was.
Speaker 4: And I do have a nonprofit Extremeathletics dot org that
Speaker 4: focuses on type two diabetes in inner city youth that
Speaker 4: you can also go to to help those kids.
Speaker 3: In the program and everything like that.
Speaker 2: Zion Calvin, I'll see you soon, appreciate you. It's later
Speaker 2: with Mo Kelly. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1: If you find yourself agreeing with everything we say, we're
Speaker 1: doing it wrong.
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