January 26, 2025 • 37 mins
Five days into his presidency, Trump lands in L.A. to survey damage after criticizing fire response. Insurance is the main reason many Pacific Palisades residents won't return: Million Dollar Listing's Josh Altman. No neighbors, no market, no town: For people whose homes survived, a painful road ahead. Why are lost pets turning into an afterthought as fire recovery begins.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Took me Hobbs here with you filling in today from
two to four. You usually hear me in that song
on Saturdays from five to seven. But I am here
today in the big chair on this very rainy, very rainy,
welcomed rain of course, but very rainy Sunday. Nevertheless, it
is picking up here in Burbank. When I was driving
(00:27):
in there was a lull. I was like, it's the
rain over already?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Was that it?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
No, it is absolutely not it. It just came down
super hard. The clouds are low, and it looks to
be that we are in for a lot more rain,
I would say, over the course of the rest of.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
This day and potentially overnight.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
So stay tuned to KFI for updates on the weather.
And ye know what they say, when you do weather,
people cannot turn away. So we'll have lots of weather
updates as the day and the evening progresses.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Night as well.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
If you're following Tim Conway Junior on his Instagram Conway Show,
you will have seen that Tim Conway was out there
being a.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Big reporter mane. Did you hear that?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Did you hear him go oKFI news. Yeah, he was
doing his best impersonation and it was awesome.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
He was out there everywhere.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
In the valley and I kept thinking to myself, Tim,
go home, Why are you out?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Go home? But he was out.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
He was giving a play by play, as Andrew Caravella said,
man on the street. He was man on the freeway,
man on the street, man on the overpass, man in
his car, giving a play by play of the rain
as it came in. Because it's big news. It's huge news. Obviously,
we need the rain. It can help quell a lot
(01:53):
of these fire hot spots that are still burning. Remember,
the fires are contained, but that does not mean that
they are fully extinguished. There are still areas that are
very remote, kind of down in those canyons where the
fires are still somewhat burning. It's still a hot spot,
is the technical term. And we're hoping that these fires
(02:15):
will help really give the firefighters a boost. They've done
so much over the last three weeks now, and this
rain is something we've been looking forward to. The La
Times predicts two to three inches in the mountains because
La Times is now doing meteorology, so they predict two
to three inches in the mountains and anywhere from a
(02:37):
half inch to an inch here in the La Basin.
But according to all of the meteorologists across all of
the local channels, we are on floodwatch in the La
Basin and in the mountains from ten am today through
four pm twomorrow. And that is especially where there are
burn scars. So obviously that includes the Palace Aids, That
(03:01):
includes the Mandevo Canyon area, that includes the eaten fire
zones of Altadena past Sadena. Those areas, those fire zones
are under a very important blood watch, So if you
are in those areas, please be on alert.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Please be on alert. You don't need.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Anything else, You don't need anything else to worry about.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
You've been through a lot this last three weeks.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
More than anyone could have imagined, and you do not
need another thing on your plate. But yet here we are.
The rain is a double edged sword. It's wonderful in
some cases, but it could be very dangerous in others,
So be careful. If you need sand bags, which are
very helpful. I can tell you can get sandbags for
(03:54):
free from a number of places, and the main place
you can get sandbags from would include fires stations and
you can google.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
The closest fire station.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
To you, or you can go on pw dot La
County dot gov. That's the La County Public Works website
pw dot La County dot gov, and they'll tell you
what fire stations have what. Okay, I say fire stations
have sandbags, but here's the caveat for instance, fire station
(04:25):
number eighty in Actin over there on Sierra Highway, they
have fire or uh sand bags, but they do not
have sand.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
They have bags but no sand.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
The same deal with both stations currently as of today
in Altadna they have bags but no sand, but the
fire station in Agora Hills on Forest Cove Lane has
bags and sand. So instead of just showing up to
your local fire station and expecting to have a bag
(04:58):
and a sand at your dis maybe call ahead, maybe
check that pw dot La County dot gov website and
it will be allowed you to put in your own
address and find what's closest to you and again what
fire stations have what. So you don't make a trip
out there and come up short. You need as much
as you can get, and these sandbags can be very helpful.
(05:21):
Use that website put your address in so that you
can get prepared. Okay as well with this rain, if
you can maybe stay home, maybe stay inside. Some of
us don't have that luxury. I'm here. I had to
commute in and I saw people driving extremely fast on
the freeway. People were speeding along. You probably saw that
(05:44):
the city is already stretched very thin. Ladies and gentlemen,
the city is stretched extremely thin. Our first responders are
scattered all over the place. They don't need accidents to
respond to. They don't need to pull your car out
of a ditch because you hides re planed off because
you were checking TikTok, because you still have it on
(06:04):
your phone. You didn't delete it like a bunch of
people who are now panicking that they don't have the
TikTok on their phone.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Stay home if you can.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
The Dream Center, who iHeartRadio is paired up with for
donating to the victims of the fires. The Dream Center
is actually closed today, so if you're expecting to go
to the Dream Center, don't do that.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Stay home.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Get on KFIAM six forty dot com, backslash.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Donate and donate.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
That way, there's a lot you can do that's online
that can keep you home, all right, and keep you
safe because safety is very paramount. We're gonna be talking
about safety quite a bit today in terms of the fires.
Of course, we want people to be safe when they're
returning to their properties, to their homes.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
That's a big story.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
And Trump was here just on Friday, President Trump, five
days into his new term, discussing exactly what safety is
with Mayor Karen Bass. Did you catch that press conference
with Trump and Mayor Bas. It was the opposite of calm.
It was explosive in many ways, and it made for
(07:16):
pretty good entertainment. I will say that, but I'm not
exactly sure. A lot of questions were answered. But let's
hear one of the main questions about safety and how
President Trump and Karen Bass actually responded to that question.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Two thousand dollars to do his lot. Yeah, I think
you have to.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
You have emergency powers, just like I do, and I'm
exercising my emergency powers. You have to exercise them also,
I did exercise them.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
As I look.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
I mean, you have a very powerful emergency power and
you can do everything within twenty four hours. Yes, and
if individuals want to clear out their property they can.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
Well, yes, But you know that you will be able
to go back too present.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
We think within a week.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
That's a long time.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
A week, I'll be honest to me, that everyone's standing
in front of the house. They want to go to
work and they're not allowed to do it. In the
most long people to be safe. They're safe, they're safe.
You know what, They're not safe.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
They're not safe now, They're not safe now.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
And safety again is a big issue that is being
talked about, talked around because of the urgency that a
lot of people rightfully have to get back to their
properties to start the clearing process. We are in that
phase now. The fires have happened, they are practically contained,
and people want to move on to the next phase
(08:46):
of their recovery, whether it is returning to homes that
are still standing or clearing lots of homes that were
burned to the ground as many many were. The estimate
now is somewhere around sixteen thousand and homes and structures
across the Palisades Fire and the Eaten fire. But the
issue of safety is very complicated. There are lots of factors.
(09:09):
There's the ash, and the rain is tempering that for now,
but the ash is still very much present, and as
things dry back out, that ash will be there. There
are the other toxins. There's talk of asbestos, there's the
unstable ground, there are wires still exposed, and I know
(09:30):
this to be true. I drove through Outta Dina twice
in the last week helping a family friend locate a
missing cat. We're still looking for that cat. Her name
is Lucy. So this impacts me as well. Out there
in ow To Dina, looking around, navigating down wires, tree limbs, debris,
all sorts of things, and the ash was everywhere, especially
(09:56):
in my just in my own personal little zone, went
home with ash in places that ash didn't deserve to
be because ash is very sneaky. And as people return
to their homes and start these clearing processes, ash is
going to be a huge factor. And what the ramifications
of those toxins could possibly be safety has to be discussed.
(10:21):
We're going to come back and talk a bit more
about something else that is complicating people's ability to not
only return to their property, but to in fact begin
what they want to be or what they want to
consider as a rebuilding process. If you are someone who
wants to rebuild, what could potentially be standing in your way.
(10:43):
And we have some predictions from a reality star who
is also a very successful real estate agent, and he's
going to share those predictions with us.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
On the other side of the break, you're.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Tiffany Hobbs here with you until four filling in today,
and we're talking about the fires in a slightly different way.
More so, how these fires are in fact a cautionary
tale for many of us, especially if you weren't directly impacted.
(11:22):
There are thousands of people who are navigating the process
of what has happened to them, their properties, their livelihoods
because of these fires. But even if you weren't directly
affected by the fires, say you live in Torrents, or
you live in Covena or Westchester or someplace far away
(11:42):
from one of these fire zones, we all need to
use what happened as a reminder to not just be
ready with this ubiquitous go bag. That's kind of the
term dujore. Now we know about the go bag, have
your items, you're important items packed and ready to go,
but not just that, what else should you know? You
(12:07):
should know exactly what is in your homeowner's insurance policy
or your renters insurance policy, including things like what kind
of alternative living expenses does your policy provide? How long
will they provide that subsidized rent There are people who
(12:28):
are navigating the rental market trying to figure out how
to find housing, how to secure a rental and it
is the wild wild West out there. Already it's a
pretty bad environment to be a renters. We have the
highest rental prices in most of the country, and now
you add in this extreme, unprecedented disaster in thousands of
(12:50):
people entering into the rental market, and they're finding that
their insurance policies will in fact pay for this housing.
But for how long and for how much? You also
need to know what kind of deductible you have, what
are you paying into, what are you paying for? What
(13:11):
is the cost to rebuild? Many insurance, many insurance providers
cover a lot, including personal items. How much does your
policy include? There are all these questions now about insurance,
and as we know here in California, many homeowners were
recently dropped just in the fall by State Farm and
(13:34):
they picked up the fare plan. What are the differences
can you then add to your premium. Can you then
change or modify in the wake of these fires. These
are the things that now, in the wake of these fires,
we all should be preparing to investigate. You don't want
to wait for it to happen. And I'm not suggesting
(13:54):
that any of these homeowners did. Surely they did not.
No one expects this to happen to them. But insurance
does in fact prepare for the worst, or at least
tell us that we will be prepared in some way
for the worst. But what does that mean? And there's
a real estate agent. His name is Josh Autman. He's
(14:14):
from the show Million Dollar Listing. You might have seen
that show or seen commercials for that show somewhere, very
popular reality show about celebrity real estate agents and their
high priced clientele all over Los Angeles. Well, Josh Autman
made some predictions about just who he feels will return
(14:37):
to the Pacific Palisades and why he thinks that that
number seventy percent of Pacific Palisades residents won't return to rebuild.
We have some audio from Josh Autman. I'll let him
tell you what he thinks.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
What's the vibe like? Obviously you've said you've lost, You've
had friends that have lost. Someone said, what's the vibe, like,
do they want to move back to the Palisades? Are
they considering moving elsewhere?
Speaker 6 (15:04):
Do they?
Speaker 7 (15:05):
Yeah, so that's a great question. I look, this is
hard to say. I strongly believe that fifty percent of
the people who lived in the Palisades are not gonna
be moving back to the palasaids Why. Yeah, And honestly
that number wasn't as big last week. Yeah, in my mind,
but after the fast people who are moving to Brentwood,
(15:27):
Santa Monica, bel Air, Beverly Hills. So it's going to
be the markets that are gonna go up because people
want to be as close to normalcy as possible. Yeah,
and those are those towns right around the Palisades.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Those are going to go up.
Speaker 7 (15:40):
That market, that's where they're gonna move.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
It's gonna be too long.
Speaker 7 (15:43):
You gotta realize, the Palisades is the all American town,
right The families are running around. It's like what you
picture towns and movies that we used to watch. These
kids that are five years old right now that live
in the Palisades and go to school. There's a chance
that if things don't move fast. It could be fortified
years before they're back there. These kids are now ten,
they're going to different schools, different lives now, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
So it's it's.
Speaker 7 (16:08):
It's tough because picture you're living on a street. You're
the first house finish and every other house on the
street is in construction.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Think about that. You don't want to do that.
Speaker 7 (16:16):
You want to wake up every single morning and remind
and be reminded of that.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
It's traumatic.
Speaker 7 (16:21):
I'm negotiating almost a dozen deals right now on land
in the Palisades, a much faster than I ever thought
it would be going.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
People are already trying to sell.
Speaker 7 (16:30):
Their dirt knowing that they're not going to go back
there to home builders that will then build their house
and either keep it or sell it.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
So who's because because obviously some people with the Woosely
fire this is this could be their second time rebuilding
with Malibu and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
It's just hard.
Speaker 5 (16:47):
Who's going to move to the Palisades or or are
we going to see that city?
Speaker 7 (16:51):
Kind of the cause of God have been across the
board of I'm seventy years old, I just evacuated for
my last time.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I'm out.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
Where are they going.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Okay, that was the Pali Stads.
Speaker 7 (17:02):
So they they're either going locally or because of you know,
they're fed up with the regulations and government. They're out.
They're out in California, California. And if they're not and
they're out of LA, they're going out in Newport Beach.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
Oh.
Speaker 7 (17:14):
I'm getting a huge amount of calls. Some people want to.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Move down Orange County.
Speaker 7 (17:17):
Really. Yeah, majority of the people, Unfortunately, because I've been
on the phone with my insurance agent for hours every day,
majority of the people were heavily uninsured. And that's an issue,
and that's why they're not going to go back to
the Palisades. Yeah, because in order to recreate the house
that they lived in, their dream house, they're not going
(17:38):
to be able to afford it. And that's just the
horrible thing.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Check your insurance policy, see what your insurance covers. If
you are one of those homeowners who does not have
insurance because you've paid your home off, get insurance because
you never know. It may not be a wildfire. It
could be some other disaster, a flood, It could be
(18:01):
a gas leak, it could be anything that renders your
home unlivable. Temporarily or permanently find out exactly what your
insurance covers, so that you are not in a situation
where you're depending on what you thought might happen, and
in fact that is not the case. When we come back,
we're going to talk about something else that is going
(18:23):
on within these fires and now in the recovery, and
that is the fact that there are quite a few,
quite a large number of pets that survived the initial fires,
but now are unclaimed, unrecovered, and are out there in
the fire zones, and people are saying, we are running
(18:44):
out of time to get to these pets. I'll tell
you about this article and some of the information therein
when we come back as well, we will talk about
what is going on with survivor's remorse.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
So what happens when your entire town is gone? Do
you live there, what do you do?
Speaker 1 (19:05):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand tak
me Hobbs.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Here with you until four o'clock, and we're talking about
some of the stories, some of the nuance of the fires,
what's been happening over the last three weeks in southern California,
and how some of that nuance is somewhat flying under
the radar, and I wanted to bring some information forward
that you might not be aware of, but that is
(19:33):
looming and could make for a really big news story
very soon. And one of those stories. One such issue
is from the La Times, and it's an editorial. It's
titled We're running out of time to rescue the pets
that survived the Palisades Fire. Now, this editorial is specific
(19:59):
to the Palaceades, but it does in fact include the
Eton burn zone as well as Hearst Sunset Fire and
any other impacted area. All of those impacted areas could
attest to what's going on in this editorial.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
And let me tell you what's going on.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
So, when the fires were raging on January seventh in
the Palisades and Altadena, people evacuated. Obviously we know that, however,
many people were forced to leave their pets for a
number of reasons. Either they were at work and they
couldn't get back to their pets in time before the
(20:39):
roads were blocked because of the fire, or they left
their homes and were unable to locate their pets in time.
There have been a number of anecdotes of people saying
that they only had ten minutes and it was completely dark,
and they couldn't find anything, and they left with only
what was were the clothes on their backs, so they
(21:02):
were unable to take their pets along with them. Lots
of reasons for why pets were left behind, and I
want to definitely make note that there were some accusations
kind of lobbied online people from outside of the zone.
Because the internet is a sortid place. It can be
a very complicated, sortid place, and people were waxing poetically
(21:26):
about why people left their pets and how cruel could
people be. But you should know that in most cases,
if not all cases, no one left their pets because
they wanted to.
Speaker 8 (21:38):
I just want to make a note, please do okay
as you're talking about pets, because that would have been
the first thing I got, you know, forget the kids,
forget everything else, The.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Pets are the first to go.
Speaker 8 (21:49):
That fire broke out right around ten o'clock on Tuesday,
January seventh. The first evacuation orders came just afternoon, so
about two hours after the fire broke out. If you're
like in Pasadena or you know, hall An Empire or
wherever you work, it would be pretty hard to get
back there within the first two hours to get your
(22:09):
pets after it broke out.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Absolutely, and we know traffic, and on a normal day
a commute could could absolutely turn into you know, forty
five minutes to an hour and a half just to
get back again with normal conditions. But this was a
time when the roads were clogged. It was a dangerous time.
And as Andrew Caravelli so eloquently said, there was a
(22:32):
two hour interim in between the time in which the
fire broke out and when evacuation orders were actually issued.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
And if you.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Weren't even privy to that, who's to say you knew,
just that you know how dire it was that you
needed to get home. There were lots of people who
thought that the fires would have been contained quickly. These
things got out of control very very fast. And that's
just Palisades. With the Eaton fire, many people evacuated somewhere
(23:03):
around two to four a m. That next morning overnight,
so people were literally asleep, and then the darkness and
all these factors led to people unfortunately not being able
to take or secure their pets. However, in the wake
of the fires, many organizations, including Pasadena Humane society have
(23:25):
stepped up, whether individual trappers or privatized rescue organizations, to
locate and secure these missing animals. They are all over
all of the burn areas and they are doing very
arduous and tiring work to reunite families with their pets. However,
Pasadena Humane Society, although they took in hundreds of animals,
(23:50):
hundreds of pets, have taken in this many. They say
that a speedy response is key because pets in burned areas,
when they are not located, when they are not tended to,
are at risk of starvation, thirst or.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
Being attacked by predators.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
And as we have seen, animals are being driven out
of the mountains and are coming into the lower lands.
That happens on a normal day, and now you have
all of this mixing in together under these really tumultuous,
dangerous conditions, and pets are unsecured and time is key
(24:31):
in the Pacific Palisades, as this LA Times editorial says, quote,
few residents have been allowed into the area to search
for their pets. Nonprofit animal welfare groups with experienced animal
rescuers in general have also not been allowed in to search.
(24:52):
End quote that comes from the LA times continuing. It
says that in La City, officials made the decision to
allow evacuation zones to open only to animal control and
humane officers from LA's Animal Services, our shelter systems, and
other local government organizations. That means private rescue organizations were
(25:18):
not allowed in. People were not allowed in. And that's
according to Mayor Karen Bassi's spokesman, who said that this
was a law enforcement decision to keep residents safe. There's
that issue of safety again. Safety is very complicated. Safety
(25:40):
can prevent safely. A safety can help you, of course,
keep your safe or yourself out of harm's way, but
it is preventing people from getting to what they left behind.
And in this case, what they've left behind, what they
were unable to secure, are their pets going on quickly.
Residents are desperate to search for their animals. They say
(26:02):
that animals are likely wandering the ruins of their homes.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
I've seen this.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I am in many groups online as I help my
loved one look for their missing cat. And there are
trail cams and all sorts of fightings of animals everywhere
on these burned out properties. And now that the rains
are here, now that people are starting to be in
the area. There are animals that are just kind of
(26:28):
coming out of the woodworks, and the trappers are saying
they are overwhelmed. Pasadena Humane is saying they are overwhelmed
with the number of animals that are being brought to them.
When we come back, I'll tell you a bit more
about one specific nonprofit animal protection group and the work
they are doing on the ground. They're actually how I
(26:49):
came across this La Times story because I appealed to
this group to help find my loved one's cat that's
still missing in Alta Dina. But it continues with the
idea that the very real truth that time is of
the essence, and as this article says in the La Times,
(27:10):
we're running out of time to rescue the pets that
survived the fires. I'll continue with this story when we
come back, and then we'll talk about what happens when
your town burns down. You have no neighbors, no market,
no town.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
What do you do?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
How do you go back? There's a very painful road
ahead for people who want to return to these burn zones.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Just talking off air to producer Richie Super producer Richie
about just the anxiety around being a pet owner and
how this anxiety seems to have been upped multi fold
because there are so many disasters that are unpredictable. Hello,
live in earthquake country, and there are earthquakes all the time,
(28:03):
and I think we're all somewhat waiting for that quote
unquote proverbial big one to strike. And what happens if
that disaster and earthquake God forbid? Another fire? And fires
happen all year round. This is our new reality, folks.
A flood, a landslide, and fortunately have not heard too
(28:25):
much about any landslides with this rain, and if we
do hear anything, will definitely update you here in the
KFI newsroom. But what happens when you're not home? What
happens when you're not home or you are home and
disaster strikes and you are unable to secure your pets.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Well, that's what's.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Going on in this La Times editorial says we're running
out of time to rescue the pets that survived the
Palisades fire. And I'm adding to that conversation, or to
this byline, the Eaten fire as well, and any other
fire that is broke out in southern California in the
last few weeks.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
I came across this editorial because I.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Was looking for rescue organizations to assist with the recovery
of my aunt's best friends cat, and one of the
organizations I found was called Social Compassion Social Compassion, and
they are a nonprofit animal protection group which has a
separate lobbying arm headed by a woman named Judy Mancuso,
(29:30):
and they've been trying to get an agreement, some sort
of memorandum of understanding unsuccessfully so far, with the city
of La to let their experienced rescue partners go into
these burn areas. Robin on the boards there, we have
some more audio from this story. About this story, let's
(29:53):
go to that now.
Speaker 9 (29:54):
This is absolutely heartbreaking.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
You know, these animals that did.
Speaker 9 (29:58):
Manage to survive the fire are now starving to death,
so many of them still trapped in the rubble. And
the only reason that hundreds have been saved really is
because of these good hearted rescuers, and they are just
begging for more help from the city before it's too late.
Speaker 10 (30:15):
Hei Kado, my husband who is still in the area,
just wants to get in to rescue our cat, and
the authorities aren't letting him in.
Speaker 9 (30:29):
This is Lisa Boyle's cat, Blue, hiding in the rubble,
crying for her mom to come home. Their house burned
to the ground, and for days the animal rescuers have
been trying to coax.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
The kitty to come out.
Speaker 9 (30:40):
They've saved hundreds of pets in the Palisades fire, chickens, goats, birds, tortoises, coyfish,
and mostly resilient cats.
Speaker 6 (30:49):
As a almost twenty five year disaster responder for animals,
I've never seen such a large, progressive city have such
a lack less her response. Any animal that survived the
fire now would be dead from starvation or dehydration if
it weren't for the boots on the ground teams.
Speaker 9 (31:09):
But it hasn't been easy for these teams to get
in the fire zone, still largely off limits and heavily guarded,
and animal rescuers who deployed the disasters around the world
say LA didn't follow typical emergency response, which would have
made it much easier and faster for them to do
what they do best.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
The city really has failed to make this a priority.
So thankfully there's a lot of us that are just
in there doing everything we can to find these animals.
Speaker 9 (31:37):
The Palisades is now mostly flattened, a melted down mess,
but rescuers have caught dozens of kiddies and traps many
more inside homes with owners permission. They caught this cat
from inside a kitchen cabinet eleven days after the fire started.
Speaker 10 (31:58):
It's been so devastating all I mean, I can't stop
all of the voices of the owners that are just
calling me and calling me, just begging.
Speaker 9 (32:06):
Me, begging rescuers to find their beloved dog or cat
in the ruins, Scared, starving, and too loyal to leave
home like Blue before it's too late.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
These people have.
Speaker 9 (32:20):
Lost absolutely everything and all they want is their family member,
their beloved pet back. And as good as these rescuers
are at their job, a lot of these scared animals,
they don't know who they are. They don't trust them
or recognize their voices. So residents are just asking for
a police escort to their rubble that was once their
house so that their cat or their dog can hear
(32:42):
their voice and help get them out of this mess before.
Speaker 10 (32:46):
They start to death.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
What a tough break man, What an absolutely tough break,
especially for those people who are being told, yeah, and
you know, we've spotted your cat, or we've seen some
a dog that looks like your dog, or we have
a camera that has picked up movement and we think
it's your pet, and you can't get back to your
(33:08):
pet because of more red tape, literal red tape in
many cases, because there are still areas that are zoned
off because they are considered to be very unsafe. They
are still extremely hazardous, and that is the case for
a lot of the burn zoned areas. But as we've
(33:31):
been talking about, time is of the essence, and there's
not a lot of attention being paid to what's going
on when it when it comes to pets in the
recovery of pets.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
And I've seen.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
TMZ, I think of all places, all sites cover this story.
I've maybe seen a couple of things in social media
floating around. But I'm you know, I'm really happy that
we're able to talk about it here and that we
have this platform because they need this in for to
get out in hopes that it will put pressure on
our local municipalities to actually let these rescue organizations, these
(34:08):
verified organized groups go in and search for and hopefully
recover these pets that are so desperately missed by owners
who have gone.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Through hell, literal hell.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Why create another hell in terms of not being able
to reunite them with their lost pets. So please, if
you can put the pressure on. I don't know who
we're going to put the pressure on. I don't know
where to direct the pressure, but we should all know
that this is going on. So if you are well
connected in any way, put that pressure on, and quickly,
(34:48):
let's say you do return. Let's say your home is
not behind that red tape and your area has now
been allowed to repopulate. There's a story that came out.
It is also from the La Times, and it talks
about devastation being a hindrance to returning to normal life.
(35:09):
It uses the Lahina fire and people who survived whose
homes survived the Lahina fire and Maui, and they say
that while their homes were still standing, returning to their
neighborhoods neighborhoods that were dilapidated were that their house may
have been the only house or one of very few
standing brought its own sort of trauma because everything you
(35:33):
are used to is now literally flattened, and you are
there not only in the middle being one a few
able to survive, but now you are left there trying
to navigate utilities, trying to navigate toxins, trying to navigate
whether or not the air is breathable, should you wear
(35:54):
a hazmat suit. They're saying that in Lahina, just as
is the case now in our La County fire zones.
These areas are like war zones. They're war zones, and
there are schools within these war zones that are closed,
children that are displaced from their schools, adults that are
(36:16):
displaced from their jobs, families displaced from their homes, and
when you try to return to that to embrace or
create another type of normal, it is practically impossible. It's
practically impossible. And that's in addition to that emotional turmoil
(36:36):
and guilt that people are thrust into, or that are
thrust upon people because they are one of few who
were able to go back to what they had before
when so many have lost everything. This is going to
be a really long road, ladies and gentlemen, a very
long road, a very sad road, and so we just
(36:57):
have to keep that in mind.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
We might move on from the news.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
We might start covering other topics as we do because
this is a news talk station. There's other things going on,
but this will always be in the background. It will
always be in the background because we have years ahead
of us before normal is a reality. When we come back,
we're going to talk about why Lausd is in hot
water and it's not because of what you think.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Kfi A six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Took me Hobbs here with you filling in today from
two to four. You usually hear me in that song
on Saturdays from five to seven. But I am here
today in the big chair on this very rainy, very rainy,
welcomed rain of course, but very rainy Sunday. Nevertheless, it
is picking up here in Burbank. When I was driving
(00:27):
in there was a lull. I was like, it's the
rain over already?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Was that it?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
No, it is absolutely not it. It just came down
super hard. The clouds are low, and it looks to
be that we are in for a lot more rain,
I would say, over the course of the rest of.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
This day and potentially overnight.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
So stay tuned to KFI for updates on the weather.
And ye know what they say, when you do weather,
people cannot turn away. So we'll have lots of weather
updates as the day and the evening progresses.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Night as well.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
If you're following Tim Conway Junior on his Instagram Conway Show,
you will have seen that Tim Conway was out there
being a.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Big reporter mane. Did you hear that?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Did you hear him go oKFI news. Yeah, he was
doing his best impersonation and it was awesome.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
He was out there everywhere.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
In the valley and I kept thinking to myself, Tim,
go home, Why are you out?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Go home? But he was out.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
He was giving a play by play, as Andrew Caravella said,
man on the street. He was man on the freeway,
man on the street, man on the overpass, man in
his car, giving a play by play of the rain
as it came in. Because it's big news. It's huge news. Obviously,
we need the rain. It can help quell a lot
(01:53):
of these fire hot spots that are still burning. Remember,
the fires are contained, but that does not mean that
they are fully extinguished. There are still areas that are
very remote, kind of down in those canyons where the
fires are still somewhat burning. It's still a hot spot,
is the technical term. And we're hoping that these fires
(02:15):
will help really give the firefighters a boost. They've done
so much over the last three weeks now, and this
rain is something we've been looking forward to. The La
Times predicts two to three inches in the mountains because
La Times is now doing meteorology, so they predict two
to three inches in the mountains and anywhere from a
(02:37):
half inch to an inch here in the La Basin.
But according to all of the meteorologists across all of
the local channels, we are on floodwatch in the La
Basin and in the mountains from ten am today through
four pm twomorrow. And that is especially where there are
burn scars. So obviously that includes the Palace Aids, That
(03:01):
includes the Mandevo Canyon area, that includes the eaten fire
zones of Altadena past Sadena. Those areas, those fire zones
are under a very important blood watch, So if you
are in those areas, please be on alert.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Please be on alert. You don't need.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Anything else, You don't need anything else to worry about.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
You've been through a lot this last three weeks.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
More than anyone could have imagined, and you do not
need another thing on your plate. But yet here we are.
The rain is a double edged sword. It's wonderful in
some cases, but it could be very dangerous in others,
So be careful. If you need sand bags, which are
very helpful. I can tell you can get sandbags for
(03:54):
free from a number of places, and the main place
you can get sandbags from would include fires stations and
you can google.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
The closest fire station.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
To you, or you can go on pw dot La
County dot gov. That's the La County Public Works website
pw dot La County dot gov, and they'll tell you
what fire stations have what. Okay, I say fire stations
have sandbags, but here's the caveat for instance, fire station
(04:25):
number eighty in Actin over there on Sierra Highway, they
have fire or uh sand bags, but they do not
have sand.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
They have bags but no sand.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
The same deal with both stations currently as of today
in Altadna they have bags but no sand, but the
fire station in Agora Hills on Forest Cove Lane has
bags and sand. So instead of just showing up to
your local fire station and expecting to have a bag
(04:58):
and a sand at your dis maybe call ahead, maybe
check that pw dot La County dot gov website and
it will be allowed you to put in your own
address and find what's closest to you and again what
fire stations have what. So you don't make a trip
out there and come up short. You need as much
as you can get, and these sandbags can be very helpful.
(05:21):
Use that website put your address in so that you
can get prepared. Okay as well with this rain, if
you can maybe stay home, maybe stay inside. Some of
us don't have that luxury. I'm here. I had to
commute in and I saw people driving extremely fast on
the freeway. People were speeding along. You probably saw that
(05:44):
the city is already stretched very thin. Ladies and gentlemen,
the city is stretched extremely thin. Our first responders are
scattered all over the place. They don't need accidents to
respond to. They don't need to pull your car out
of a ditch because you hides re planed off because
you were checking TikTok, because you still have it on
(06:04):
your phone. You didn't delete it like a bunch of
people who are now panicking that they don't have the
TikTok on their phone.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Stay home if you can.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
The Dream Center, who iHeartRadio is paired up with for
donating to the victims of the fires. The Dream Center
is actually closed today, so if you're expecting to go
to the Dream Center, don't do that.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Stay home.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Get on KFIAM six forty dot com, backslash.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Donate and donate.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
That way, there's a lot you can do that's online
that can keep you home, all right, and keep you
safe because safety is very paramount. We're gonna be talking
about safety quite a bit today in terms of the fires.
Of course, we want people to be safe when they're
returning to their properties, to their homes.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
That's a big story.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
And Trump was here just on Friday, President Trump, five
days into his new term, discussing exactly what safety is
with Mayor Karen Bass. Did you catch that press conference
with Trump and Mayor Bas. It was the opposite of calm.
It was explosive in many ways, and it made for
(07:16):
pretty good entertainment. I will say that, but I'm not
exactly sure. A lot of questions were answered. But let's
hear one of the main questions about safety and how
President Trump and Karen Bass actually responded to that question.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Two thousand dollars to do his lot. Yeah, I think
you have to.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
You have emergency powers, just like I do, and I'm
exercising my emergency powers. You have to exercise them also,
I did exercise them.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
As I look.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
I mean, you have a very powerful emergency power and
you can do everything within twenty four hours. Yes, and
if individuals want to clear out their property they can.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
Well, yes, But you know that you will be able
to go back too present.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
We think within a week.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
That's a long time.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
A week, I'll be honest to me, that everyone's standing
in front of the house. They want to go to
work and they're not allowed to do it. In the
most long people to be safe. They're safe, they're safe.
You know what, They're not safe.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
They're not safe now, They're not safe now.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
And safety again is a big issue that is being
talked about, talked around because of the urgency that a
lot of people rightfully have to get back to their
properties to start the clearing process. We are in that
phase now. The fires have happened, they are practically contained,
and people want to move on to the next phase
(08:46):
of their recovery, whether it is returning to homes that
are still standing or clearing lots of homes that were
burned to the ground as many many were. The estimate
now is somewhere around sixteen thousand and homes and structures
across the Palisades Fire and the Eaten fire. But the
issue of safety is very complicated. There are lots of factors.
(09:09):
There's the ash, and the rain is tempering that for now,
but the ash is still very much present, and as
things dry back out, that ash will be there. There
are the other toxins. There's talk of asbestos, there's the
unstable ground, there are wires still exposed, and I know
(09:30):
this to be true. I drove through Outta Dina twice
in the last week helping a family friend locate a
missing cat. We're still looking for that cat. Her name
is Lucy. So this impacts me as well. Out there
in ow To Dina, looking around, navigating down wires, tree limbs, debris,
all sorts of things, and the ash was everywhere, especially
(09:56):
in my just in my own personal little zone, went
home with ash in places that ash didn't deserve to
be because ash is very sneaky. And as people return
to their homes and start these clearing processes, ash is
going to be a huge factor. And what the ramifications
of those toxins could possibly be safety has to be discussed.
(10:21):
We're going to come back and talk a bit more
about something else that is complicating people's ability to not
only return to their property, but to in fact begin
what they want to be or what they want to
consider as a rebuilding process. If you are someone who
wants to rebuild, what could potentially be standing in your way.
(10:43):
And we have some predictions from a reality star who
is also a very successful real estate agent, and he's
going to share those predictions with us.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
On the other side of the break, you're.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Tiffany Hobbs here with you until four filling in today,
and we're talking about the fires in a slightly different way.
More so, how these fires are in fact a cautionary
tale for many of us, especially if you weren't directly impacted.
(11:22):
There are thousands of people who are navigating the process
of what has happened to them, their properties, their livelihoods
because of these fires. But even if you weren't directly
affected by the fires, say you live in Torrents, or
you live in Covena or Westchester or someplace far away
(11:42):
from one of these fire zones, we all need to
use what happened as a reminder to not just be
ready with this ubiquitous go bag. That's kind of the
term dujore. Now we know about the go bag, have
your items, you're important items packed and ready to go,
but not just that, what else should you know? You
(12:07):
should know exactly what is in your homeowner's insurance policy
or your renters insurance policy, including things like what kind
of alternative living expenses does your policy provide? How long
will they provide that subsidized rent There are people who
(12:28):
are navigating the rental market trying to figure out how
to find housing, how to secure a rental and it
is the wild wild West out there. Already it's a
pretty bad environment to be a renters. We have the
highest rental prices in most of the country, and now
you add in this extreme, unprecedented disaster in thousands of
(12:50):
people entering into the rental market, and they're finding that
their insurance policies will in fact pay for this housing.
But for how long and for how much? You also
need to know what kind of deductible you have, what
are you paying into, what are you paying for? What
(13:11):
is the cost to rebuild? Many insurance, many insurance providers
cover a lot, including personal items. How much does your
policy include? There are all these questions now about insurance,
and as we know here in California, many homeowners were
recently dropped just in the fall by State Farm and
(13:34):
they picked up the fare plan. What are the differences
can you then add to your premium. Can you then
change or modify in the wake of these fires. These
are the things that now, in the wake of these fires,
we all should be preparing to investigate. You don't want
to wait for it to happen. And I'm not suggesting
(13:54):
that any of these homeowners did. Surely they did not.
No one expects this to happen to them. But insurance
does in fact prepare for the worst, or at least
tell us that we will be prepared in some way
for the worst. But what does that mean? And there's
a real estate agent. His name is Josh Autman. He's
(14:14):
from the show Million Dollar Listing. You might have seen
that show or seen commercials for that show somewhere, very
popular reality show about celebrity real estate agents and their
high priced clientele all over Los Angeles. Well, Josh Autman
made some predictions about just who he feels will return
(14:37):
to the Pacific Palisades and why he thinks that that
number seventy percent of Pacific Palisades residents won't return to rebuild.
We have some audio from Josh Autman. I'll let him
tell you what he thinks.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
What's the vibe like? Obviously you've said you've lost, You've
had friends that have lost. Someone said, what's the vibe, like,
do they want to move back to the Palisades? Are
they considering moving elsewhere?
Speaker 6 (15:04):
Do they?
Speaker 7 (15:05):
Yeah, so that's a great question. I look, this is
hard to say. I strongly believe that fifty percent of
the people who lived in the Palisades are not gonna
be moving back to the palasaids Why. Yeah, And honestly
that number wasn't as big last week. Yeah, in my mind,
but after the fast people who are moving to Brentwood,
(15:27):
Santa Monica, bel Air, Beverly Hills. So it's going to
be the markets that are gonna go up because people
want to be as close to normalcy as possible. Yeah,
and those are those towns right around the Palisades.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Those are going to go up.
Speaker 7 (15:40):
That market, that's where they're gonna move.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
It's gonna be too long.
Speaker 7 (15:43):
You gotta realize, the Palisades is the all American town,
right The families are running around. It's like what you
picture towns and movies that we used to watch. These
kids that are five years old right now that live
in the Palisades and go to school. There's a chance
that if things don't move fast. It could be fortified
years before they're back there. These kids are now ten,
they're going to different schools, different lives now, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
So it's it's.
Speaker 7 (16:08):
It's tough because picture you're living on a street. You're
the first house finish and every other house on the
street is in construction.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Think about that. You don't want to do that.
Speaker 7 (16:16):
You want to wake up every single morning and remind
and be reminded of that.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
It's traumatic.
Speaker 7 (16:21):
I'm negotiating almost a dozen deals right now on land
in the Palisades, a much faster than I ever thought
it would be going.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
People are already trying to sell.
Speaker 7 (16:30):
Their dirt knowing that they're not going to go back
there to home builders that will then build their house
and either keep it or sell it.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
So who's because because obviously some people with the Woosely
fire this is this could be their second time rebuilding
with Malibu and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
It's just hard.
Speaker 5 (16:47):
Who's going to move to the Palisades or or are
we going to see that city?
Speaker 7 (16:51):
Kind of the cause of God have been across the
board of I'm seventy years old, I just evacuated for
my last time.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I'm out.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
Where are they going.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Okay, that was the Pali Stads.
Speaker 7 (17:02):
So they they're either going locally or because of you know,
they're fed up with the regulations and government. They're out.
They're out in California, California. And if they're not and
they're out of LA, they're going out in Newport Beach.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
Oh.
Speaker 7 (17:14):
I'm getting a huge amount of calls. Some people want to.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Move down Orange County.
Speaker 7 (17:17):
Really. Yeah, majority of the people, Unfortunately, because I've been
on the phone with my insurance agent for hours every day,
majority of the people were heavily uninsured. And that's an issue,
and that's why they're not going to go back to
the Palisades. Yeah, because in order to recreate the house
that they lived in, their dream house, they're not going
(17:38):
to be able to afford it. And that's just the
horrible thing.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Check your insurance policy, see what your insurance covers. If
you are one of those homeowners who does not have
insurance because you've paid your home off, get insurance because
you never know. It may not be a wildfire. It
could be some other disaster, a flood, It could be
(18:01):
a gas leak, it could be anything that renders your
home unlivable. Temporarily or permanently find out exactly what your
insurance covers, so that you are not in a situation
where you're depending on what you thought might happen, and
in fact that is not the case. When we come back,
we're going to talk about something else that is going
(18:23):
on within these fires and now in the recovery, and
that is the fact that there are quite a few,
quite a large number of pets that survived the initial fires,
but now are unclaimed, unrecovered, and are out there in
the fire zones, and people are saying, we are running
(18:44):
out of time to get to these pets. I'll tell
you about this article and some of the information therein
when we come back as well, we will talk about
what is going on with survivor's remorse.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
So what happens when your entire town is gone? Do
you live there, what do you do?
Speaker 1 (19:05):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand tak
me Hobbs.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Here with you until four o'clock, and we're talking about
some of the stories, some of the nuance of the fires,
what's been happening over the last three weeks in southern California,
and how some of that nuance is somewhat flying under
the radar, and I wanted to bring some information forward
that you might not be aware of, but that is
(19:33):
looming and could make for a really big news story
very soon. And one of those stories. One such issue
is from the La Times, and it's an editorial. It's
titled We're running out of time to rescue the pets
that survived the Palisades Fire. Now, this editorial is specific
(19:59):
to the Palaceades, but it does in fact include the
Eton burn zone as well as Hearst Sunset Fire and
any other impacted area. All of those impacted areas could
attest to what's going on in this editorial.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
And let me tell you what's going on.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
So, when the fires were raging on January seventh in
the Palisades and Altadena, people evacuated. Obviously we know that, however,
many people were forced to leave their pets for a
number of reasons. Either they were at work and they
couldn't get back to their pets in time before the
(20:39):
roads were blocked because of the fire, or they left
their homes and were unable to locate their pets in time.
There have been a number of anecdotes of people saying
that they only had ten minutes and it was completely dark,
and they couldn't find anything, and they left with only
what was were the clothes on their backs, so they
(21:02):
were unable to take their pets along with them. Lots
of reasons for why pets were left behind, and I
want to definitely make note that there were some accusations
kind of lobbied online people from outside of the zone.
Because the internet is a sortid place. It can be
a very complicated, sortid place, and people were waxing poetically
(21:26):
about why people left their pets and how cruel could
people be. But you should know that in most cases,
if not all cases, no one left their pets because
they wanted to.
Speaker 8 (21:38):
I just want to make a note, please do okay
as you're talking about pets, because that would have been
the first thing I got, you know, forget the kids,
forget everything else, The.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Pets are the first to go.
Speaker 8 (21:49):
That fire broke out right around ten o'clock on Tuesday,
January seventh. The first evacuation orders came just afternoon, so
about two hours after the fire broke out. If you're
like in Pasadena or you know, hall An Empire or
wherever you work, it would be pretty hard to get
back there within the first two hours to get your
(22:09):
pets after it broke out.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Absolutely, and we know traffic, and on a normal day
a commute could could absolutely turn into you know, forty
five minutes to an hour and a half just to
get back again with normal conditions. But this was a
time when the roads were clogged. It was a dangerous time.
And as Andrew Caravelli so eloquently said, there was a
(22:32):
two hour interim in between the time in which the
fire broke out and when evacuation orders were actually issued.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
And if you.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Weren't even privy to that, who's to say you knew,
just that you know how dire it was that you
needed to get home. There were lots of people who
thought that the fires would have been contained quickly. These
things got out of control very very fast. And that's
just Palisades. With the Eaton fire, many people evacuated somewhere
(23:03):
around two to four a m. That next morning overnight,
so people were literally asleep, and then the darkness and
all these factors led to people unfortunately not being able
to take or secure their pets. However, in the wake
of the fires, many organizations, including Pasadena Humane society have
(23:25):
stepped up, whether individual trappers or privatized rescue organizations, to
locate and secure these missing animals. They are all over
all of the burn areas and they are doing very
arduous and tiring work to reunite families with their pets. However,
Pasadena Humane Society, although they took in hundreds of animals,
(23:50):
hundreds of pets, have taken in this many. They say
that a speedy response is key because pets in burned areas,
when they are not located, when they are not tended to,
are at risk of starvation, thirst or.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
Being attacked by predators.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
And as we have seen, animals are being driven out
of the mountains and are coming into the lower lands.
That happens on a normal day, and now you have
all of this mixing in together under these really tumultuous,
dangerous conditions, and pets are unsecured and time is key
(24:31):
in the Pacific Palisades, as this LA Times editorial says, quote,
few residents have been allowed into the area to search
for their pets. Nonprofit animal welfare groups with experienced animal
rescuers in general have also not been allowed in to search.
(24:52):
End quote that comes from the LA times continuing. It
says that in La City, officials made the decision to
allow evacuation zones to open only to animal control and
humane officers from LA's Animal Services, our shelter systems, and
other local government organizations. That means private rescue organizations were
(25:18):
not allowed in. People were not allowed in. And that's
according to Mayor Karen Bassi's spokesman, who said that this
was a law enforcement decision to keep residents safe. There's
that issue of safety again. Safety is very complicated. Safety
(25:40):
can prevent safely. A safety can help you, of course,
keep your safe or yourself out of harm's way, but
it is preventing people from getting to what they left behind.
And in this case, what they've left behind, what they
were unable to secure, are their pets going on quickly.
Residents are desperate to search for their animals. They say
(26:02):
that animals are likely wandering the ruins of their homes.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
I've seen this.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I am in many groups online as I help my
loved one look for their missing cat. And there are
trail cams and all sorts of fightings of animals everywhere
on these burned out properties. And now that the rains
are here, now that people are starting to be in
the area. There are animals that are just kind of
(26:28):
coming out of the woodworks, and the trappers are saying
they are overwhelmed. Pasadena Humane is saying they are overwhelmed
with the number of animals that are being brought to them.
When we come back, I'll tell you a bit more
about one specific nonprofit animal protection group and the work
they are doing on the ground. They're actually how I
(26:49):
came across this La Times story because I appealed to
this group to help find my loved one's cat that's
still missing in Alta Dina. But it continues with the
idea that the very real truth that time is of
the essence, and as this article says in the La Times,
(27:10):
we're running out of time to rescue the pets that
survived the fires. I'll continue with this story when we
come back, and then we'll talk about what happens when
your town burns down. You have no neighbors, no market,
no town.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
What do you do?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
How do you go back? There's a very painful road
ahead for people who want to return to these burn zones.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Just talking off air to producer Richie Super producer Richie
about just the anxiety around being a pet owner and
how this anxiety seems to have been upped multi fold
because there are so many disasters that are unpredictable. Hello,
live in earthquake country, and there are earthquakes all the time,
(28:03):
and I think we're all somewhat waiting for that quote
unquote proverbial big one to strike. And what happens if
that disaster and earthquake God forbid? Another fire? And fires
happen all year round. This is our new reality, folks.
A flood, a landslide, and fortunately have not heard too
(28:25):
much about any landslides with this rain, and if we
do hear anything, will definitely update you here in the
KFI newsroom. But what happens when you're not home? What
happens when you're not home or you are home and
disaster strikes and you are unable to secure your pets.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Well, that's what's.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Going on in this La Times editorial says we're running
out of time to rescue the pets that survived the
Palisades fire. And I'm adding to that conversation, or to
this byline, the Eaten fire as well, and any other
fire that is broke out in southern California in the
last few weeks.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
I came across this editorial because I.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Was looking for rescue organizations to assist with the recovery
of my aunt's best friends cat, and one of the
organizations I found was called Social Compassion Social Compassion, and
they are a nonprofit animal protection group which has a
separate lobbying arm headed by a woman named Judy Mancuso,
(29:30):
and they've been trying to get an agreement, some sort
of memorandum of understanding unsuccessfully so far, with the city
of La to let their experienced rescue partners go into
these burn areas. Robin on the boards there, we have
some more audio from this story. About this story, let's
(29:53):
go to that now.
Speaker 9 (29:54):
This is absolutely heartbreaking.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
You know, these animals that did.
Speaker 9 (29:58):
Manage to survive the fire are now starving to death,
so many of them still trapped in the rubble. And
the only reason that hundreds have been saved really is
because of these good hearted rescuers, and they are just
begging for more help from the city before it's too late.
Speaker 10 (30:15):
Hei Kado, my husband who is still in the area,
just wants to get in to rescue our cat, and
the authorities aren't letting him in.
Speaker 9 (30:29):
This is Lisa Boyle's cat, Blue, hiding in the rubble,
crying for her mom to come home. Their house burned
to the ground, and for days the animal rescuers have
been trying to coax.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
The kitty to come out.
Speaker 9 (30:40):
They've saved hundreds of pets in the Palisades fire, chickens, goats, birds, tortoises, coyfish,
and mostly resilient cats.
Speaker 6 (30:49):
As a almost twenty five year disaster responder for animals,
I've never seen such a large, progressive city have such
a lack less her response. Any animal that survived the
fire now would be dead from starvation or dehydration if
it weren't for the boots on the ground teams.
Speaker 9 (31:09):
But it hasn't been easy for these teams to get
in the fire zone, still largely off limits and heavily guarded,
and animal rescuers who deployed the disasters around the world
say LA didn't follow typical emergency response, which would have
made it much easier and faster for them to do
what they do best.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
The city really has failed to make this a priority.
So thankfully there's a lot of us that are just
in there doing everything we can to find these animals.
Speaker 9 (31:37):
The Palisades is now mostly flattened, a melted down mess,
but rescuers have caught dozens of kiddies and traps many
more inside homes with owners permission. They caught this cat
from inside a kitchen cabinet eleven days after the fire started.
Speaker 10 (31:58):
It's been so devastating all I mean, I can't stop
all of the voices of the owners that are just
calling me and calling me, just begging.
Speaker 9 (32:06):
Me, begging rescuers to find their beloved dog or cat
in the ruins, Scared, starving, and too loyal to leave
home like Blue before it's too late.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
These people have.
Speaker 9 (32:20):
Lost absolutely everything and all they want is their family member,
their beloved pet back. And as good as these rescuers
are at their job, a lot of these scared animals,
they don't know who they are. They don't trust them
or recognize their voices. So residents are just asking for
a police escort to their rubble that was once their
house so that their cat or their dog can hear
(32:42):
their voice and help get them out of this mess before.
Speaker 10 (32:46):
They start to death.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
What a tough break man, What an absolutely tough break,
especially for those people who are being told, yeah, and
you know, we've spotted your cat, or we've seen some
a dog that looks like your dog, or we have
a camera that has picked up movement and we think
it's your pet, and you can't get back to your
(33:08):
pet because of more red tape, literal red tape in
many cases, because there are still areas that are zoned
off because they are considered to be very unsafe. They
are still extremely hazardous, and that is the case for
a lot of the burn zoned areas. But as we've
(33:31):
been talking about, time is of the essence, and there's
not a lot of attention being paid to what's going
on when it when it comes to pets in the
recovery of pets.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
And I've seen.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
TMZ, I think of all places, all sites cover this story.
I've maybe seen a couple of things in social media
floating around. But I'm you know, I'm really happy that
we're able to talk about it here and that we
have this platform because they need this in for to
get out in hopes that it will put pressure on
our local municipalities to actually let these rescue organizations, these
(34:08):
verified organized groups go in and search for and hopefully
recover these pets that are so desperately missed by owners
who have gone.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Through hell, literal hell.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Why create another hell in terms of not being able
to reunite them with their lost pets. So please, if
you can put the pressure on. I don't know who
we're going to put the pressure on. I don't know
where to direct the pressure, but we should all know
that this is going on. So if you are well
connected in any way, put that pressure on, and quickly,
(34:48):
let's say you do return. Let's say your home is
not behind that red tape and your area has now
been allowed to repopulate. There's a story that came out.
It is also from the La Times, and it talks
about devastation being a hindrance to returning to normal life.
(35:09):
It uses the Lahina fire and people who survived whose
homes survived the Lahina fire and Maui, and they say
that while their homes were still standing, returning to their
neighborhoods neighborhoods that were dilapidated were that their house may
have been the only house or one of very few
standing brought its own sort of trauma because everything you
(35:33):
are used to is now literally flattened, and you are
there not only in the middle being one a few
able to survive, but now you are left there trying
to navigate utilities, trying to navigate toxins, trying to navigate
whether or not the air is breathable, should you wear
(35:54):
a hazmat suit. They're saying that in Lahina, just as
is the case now in our La County fire zones.
These areas are like war zones. They're war zones, and
there are schools within these war zones that are closed,
children that are displaced from their schools, adults that are
(36:16):
displaced from their jobs, families displaced from their homes, and
when you try to return to that to embrace or
create another type of normal, it is practically impossible. It's
practically impossible. And that's in addition to that emotional turmoil
(36:36):
and guilt that people are thrust into, or that are
thrust upon people because they are one of few who
were able to go back to what they had before
when so many have lost everything. This is going to
be a really long road, ladies and gentlemen, a very
long road, a very sad road, and so we just
(36:57):
have to keep that in mind.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
We might move on from the news.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
We might start covering other topics as we do because
this is a news talk station. There's other things going on,
but this will always be in the background. It will
always be in the background because we have years ahead
of us before normal is a reality. When we come back,
we're going to talk about why Lausd is in hot
water and it's not because of what you think.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Kfi A six forty on demand
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