January 18, 2025 • 30 mins
Amy King takes over for Neil Saavedra on a special live edition of The Fork Report from the Dream Center LA. She opens the show by expressing gratitude to those who have generously donated and chats with Dream Center Founder Matthew Barnett about the incredible work being done to uplift the community.
KFI News Anchor Debra Mark joins Amy to discuss the ongoing donation needs at the Dream Center and how listeners can make a difference. Highlighting the resilience of Angelenos, Amy speaks with LA County Fire Captain Kelliher about efforts to contain the wildfires and wraps up the hour with Director of Disaster Relief Clint Carlton, focusing on rebuilding efforts and how to support those in impacted communities.
KFI News Anchor Debra Mark joins Amy to discuss the ongoing donation needs at the Dream Center and how listeners can make a difference. Highlighting the resilience of Angelenos, Amy speaks with LA County Fire Captain Kelliher about efforts to contain the wildfires and wraps up the hour with Director of Disaster Relief Clint Carlton, focusing on rebuilding efforts and how to support those in impacted communities.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, it's Neil Savedra. You're listening to KFIM six forty
the Fork Report on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
My name is Amy King. This is the Fork Report.
I know it's supposed to be Neil Savader. He's still
under the weather. I think he got a bad stomach
flu and so I am so thrilled to be here
this afternoon filling in for Neil because we are broadcasting
live all afternoon from dream Center LA. We've been talking
(00:29):
about it on KFI because these guys are really really
stepping in and helping the people who so desperately need
your help. Dream Center LA is taking donations, both money
and goods for the wildfire victims. If you'd like to
make a donation. Again, I mentioned we're going to be
(00:49):
here all afternoon and we are at two three zero
one Bellevue in Los Angeles. We're right in the heart
of Echo Park and you can come on down there
are I gotta tell you, I'm astounded by the response
of Angelino's who have come forward, open up their hearts
and their homes and their wallets. I'm gonna be crying
(01:12):
all afternoon. I just you know, we talk about this
all the time, because it's what almost two weeks since
these fires started and it hasn't dropped off. I was
talking to Dave Weese, who's our promotions guy. He's been
out here every single day helping, helping dream Center LA
facilitate this to in our partnership with iHeart, and I said,
(01:33):
are the donations dropping off? And he said no, he
said they're not. I'm like, but there's no fire. You know,
there's no smoke in the air right now, and I
mean there's the fires are still active, but there's no
active flames. We're actually going to be talking to Captain
Kelleher with La County Fire a little bit later to
talk about what the situation is on the fire lines
(01:55):
right now. But it's just amazing how you guys have
come out and are still continuing to do it. Wanted
to welcome Pastor Matthew Barnett, who is the founder of
Dreams Center LA. Thank you so much for stopping by.
We wanted to go right to the source and find
out exactly what we're doing and how people can help.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah, this is the coolest thing ever.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
I mean, you're broadcasting and cars are coming in and
getting food and relief and aid. What's wild is when
we just on Tuesday said we're going to open up
our campus, let people get food and housing and shelter.
The dreams there, that basic, that simple, that elementary. Well,
by Wednesday, people started showing up and the line started
growing the.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Day after the fire start and I said, oh.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Yes exactly. I said, what in the world's going on here?
Look at all the people that are here. And then
we just kept just throwing the message out. We didn't
have the ability to keep this line going to iHeart
showed up and say hey, we're going to help you.
And then this line started for me. People driv from
Orange County. Debbie Gibson, the singer for driving It from
Las Vegas. She did last night. Car broke down five
(02:59):
hours she got here. And so and let me tell
you what's happened to this line here? Yeah, tell us
about the line. You a picture for us. People are
coming by to get food, their basic need, Joe. Because
Las all everyone gets impacted with.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Something like this.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
You know, people who short term jobs two or three days,
just everything gets thrown to a frenzy. And but now
what we're seeing, we were able to do that in
the first few days. But now what we're seeing is
what I just experienced. I almost missed his interview because
there's a lady that ran through the hall and and
she was weeping.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
She said, I've lost everything.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
This is all that I have and and she began
to tell her story and and it was just such
a heartbreaking experience, you know. And my dad always taught
me to keep an extra check around, like, here's five
thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
I mean, that's that's what's going on here.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
And what's happening is when she was walking around there,
people are saying, go to the Dream Center.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
They'll figure something out.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
Yeah, that's what's That's why this is so important because
now this plus all that is coming here, we are
the ground central stage of every every single thing that's impacted.
Only fifteen minutes north is coming right to this line,
and they're telling us all their stories.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Didn't I think that would happen though, Yeah, and we're
going to be talking about this through the afternoon, so
we're really going to help you paint the picture of
not only taking donations and letting people come and pick
up donations.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
But there's the rescue, there's the relief, there's the recovery phase,
and then there's the rebuilding phase, which is the long
term because these people who've lost everything, the fires don't
go out, they don't just go back to their homes.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
There's twelve thousand homes and buildings and schools and churches
that have burned thousands, which if you look at the
families then and add that up, so then you like
that there's fifty thousand plus the apartment buildings that have
burned down because not everybody was a home owner who
lost their home. Some of them were apartments and condos
and that kind of stuff. So, I mean, it's so
(04:49):
far reaching, and I think it's just like I said,
you will be in awe when you come down here
and make your donation and seeing the donations come in.
We had lines of trucks in and we have little
compact cars dropping off what they can. We have trucks
with car loads of donations.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Surf schools.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
I mean, all these crazy it's it's it's a beautiful
kind of pandemonium.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
It's the kind that lay needs.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Beautiful because it's I call this a care of self
compassion because people keep driving around over and over again
and they get one lady said, I drove by a
second time because I just want to see happy people
because everything has been lost in my community.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
I'm like, you just want to see happy beeing. So
it's kind of like the old town Square.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
People are coming together and they're just sharing what they
have one one with another, and then stories are unlocking, situations,
needs are being met, you know. And I met with
a family in the park because they heard what's going
on here or is able to talk to The park
given fifty chromebooks so the kids can go back to
the school in the school they burned down.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
So we're a dive at the schools in the Pasadena
School District. You're either severely damaged or destroyed. Where are
they going to go all of their stuff that, like
you said.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
I called Dave.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
I called Dave. I'm like, Dave figuring out figured it out.
You've got to know somebody all these years. He's like, yeah,
I know Best Buy and different companies. I'll put you
on the spot.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
So he's working on it.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
But he was like, I'll get you.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
A deal, and uh so Dave was like, you've already
on it. So, you guys, we have things very valuable.
We have manpower that Dreams Star are normally houses six
hundred people every single.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Day, which we'll talk about later, so we can move fast.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
But you guys have the goodwill so many of the
places that could help us maximize everything that we have,
so which is an unbelievable partnership.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, and our listeners along with the KFI listeners, and
we have kiss Him FM here this afternoon and and
coached and like all of our stations have kind of
gathered together, and I think it's a huge mass of people,
and you guys are turning out in droves and we
just can't even can't even begin to say thank you.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Can I say one more story?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Special love stories.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
See people are driving.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Around and there's like they're given like Kenny over there
a worker, like the chips for the workers, and thank
you for doing this, give them tips, right, you know,
just for serving them. And like when they got that money,
they're like, I don't want that money that has belonged
to me.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I just can't really serve their good will, and so
they took it.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
And then I said, well, I'm going to go down
and be some of the families over there at the park.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
And then you know, in my heart.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
I was saying, I'd like to give him at least
two or fifty dollars something, you know, just be a
blessing to them. Yeah, And the tip jar people came
up and said that goes to them, not to us,
And I go.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Well, you've been working all day, you know, Nope, that
goes to them.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
So I took it and added four thousand from the
Dream Center to it, and we went over there and
we just.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
You know, started handing out to yeah, because they got
they've got, I mean nothing. And I was talking to
Clint Carlton, who's your director of National Or of Disaster Services. Sorry,
I'll get the titles right one of these days. He's
a master of disaster, Master of disaster. Yeah, and he
was saying that one lady came by and she didn't
have a toothbrush. I mean, like you, when you lose everything,
it's everything and you just have no idea how devastating
(07:48):
that could be. Like where do you even start to
start to rebuild? So we're going to be talking to
you more. Matthew Barnett, thank you so much for stopping by,
But tell us where they can be and where they
can drop off and until when so.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Seven pm tonight, two three zero one Bellevue Avenue, Los Angeles.
Dreams Start two three zero one Bellvue Avenue and make it.
Just arrive and everybody will unload it for you and
you can stay as long as you want. You get
back and serve.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
If you want, you can go home, but we're here
for you. You want to feel good about being an Angelino,
you got to come to dreamstend loss after Orange County.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Coming out to Orange Counties represent hard is awesome.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
All right, and Dreams Center LA not the only ones
who are raising money to help the fire victims. We're
going to be talking about some of the restaurants that
are ponying up holding fundraisers to help the victims. That's
coming up next.
Speaker 6 (08:36):
You're listening to the Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
We are broadcasting live this afternoon at dream Center LA.
Here's where we are because we want you to come
down and bring your donations to help fire victims. We're
at twenty three zero one Bellevue in Los Angeles. We're
right in Echo Park. You can just type it into
ways and it'll get you right here and it is
an amazing operation. I mean there are palelettes and palettes
(09:04):
and palettes of supplies, because there are lines and lines
of cars of people who've lost everything and need your help.
And they're coming through and they're loading up cars and
off they drive. And then there's a whole separate line
of cars that are dropping off donations to help out
their their neighbors. And look who's in the house. Our
(09:25):
very own little Deborah Mark came over. Hi, Deborah, Hey,
what are you doing here?
Speaker 7 (09:30):
My neighbor, my friends? She said, Hey, let's go to
the Dream Center and go and volunteer. And she bought
a bunch of stuff from Costco. So we've been here,
We've been loading cars with bags and bagging things and
it's an unbelievable turnout here.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
How many times leave your crowd? Oh?
Speaker 7 (09:47):
I was just telling my friend, I said, I'm so emotional.
I'm so emotional on.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
So many different levels.
Speaker 7 (09:52):
But that the community has come together, right.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
That's what's that's what is just tugging at my heart.
Springs and castrings leave.
Speaker 7 (09:59):
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
And as we were talking to Matthew Bradford a little
bit earlier, the lines aren't diminishing. No, there's so.
Speaker 7 (10:08):
Many cars coming through, so many people that are in need,
and they're so grateful.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
That's what's so, that's what I was going to tell you.
What's the what's the response to the people as they're
getting the door they donated.
Speaker 7 (10:18):
Thank you, thank you, God, bless you, thank you. It's
it's so heartwarming. People are so grateful, and uh, yeah,
I've I've.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Never seen anything like this before, I know, and it's
so you know, for me, it's like thank God Los
Angeles because we live in a very cynical place. You know,
it's a it's a hard place, and a lot of
times we go, oh, people aren't very friendly here or whatever.
And this people are opening up their hearts and they're
opening up their wallets and as I mentioned, they're opening
(10:48):
up their homes and loading up their cars and bringing donations.
We just had are here's a pickup truck. It's a
four by four Silverado, beautiful truck, and it is loaded.
It is loaded with donations and they're going to drop
it off.
Speaker 8 (11:02):
Well.
Speaker 7 (11:02):
You know what else, amy which is just so amazing,
is that the cars that were going through the area
that I was kind of staged at where they're picking
up yeah, yeah, where they're picking up stuff.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
There's so much stuff.
Speaker 7 (11:13):
I mean, we have bags and bags and bags of
things and we're just shoving it into cars to make
sure that everybody has enough things.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Well, and the need is so great, So let's go
over just a real quick of some of the things
that we still need. There are some things that they're like,
you know what, we don't need any clothes right now.
We're good for that. But here's what we need. Non
perishable food items, bottled water, sports drinks. And there is
a lot of water out here, like in Pasadena. You
can't drink the water right now.
Speaker 7 (11:41):
I can't believe how much water is sitting right in
front of us.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
It's amazing, amazing, all right. And also hygiene products, things
like toothpaste, soap, shampoo, feminine products, baby supplies. Last time
I was out here on Tuesday or Wednesday, and there
was piles and piles of diapers and formula and wipes
and baby food. They need it all they do. And
here's another thing you might not think about, but I
(12:06):
put this in my go bag is flashlights, batteries, es,
portable phone chargers, any kind of phone charger, I mean
if you ran out of your house, oh I grab
your chargers, No you ran.
Speaker 7 (12:15):
I absolutely And you know what, somebody sent me the
other day to the station, which I was so grateful
for a transistor radio because when you are leading, for instance,
when our power went out, I was so afraid to
use my phone because I had no way of charging it.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I only had that charger.
Speaker 7 (12:31):
So transistor radios are another really good thing, yep.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
And then pet food and supplies of course, the animals.
We both You're a dog person, I'm a cat person,
and we love our fur babies.
Speaker 7 (12:43):
And somebody that just came through the line, we're, you know,
giving all kinds of food, apples and dry goods and
all this stuff. And she said, oh what about pet food?
Speaker 2 (12:53):
And I think they're they're take it.
Speaker 7 (12:54):
Yeah, exactly, So I definitely pet food is important.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
And here's something that's new on the list that we
just Scott from dream Center. La. Listen to this sunscreen
chapstick and working gloves. I mean, think about that. You
need some good industrial gloves because as you head into
those neighborhoods and start cleaning up and sifting through the rubble,
you're gonna need that and even though it's January, it's
a beautiful sunny day. So Sunscreen, Chapstick, Working Gloves, Debra Mark,
(13:20):
thank you so much for coming down and donating your
time today.
Speaker 7 (13:23):
Oh of course, Amy, and thank you for filling in
for Neil and the Fork Reporter. That's awesome. I didn't
even know you were here, so that was cool.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Weren't you listening to cafe? I I wasn't.
Speaker 6 (13:34):
I wasn't.
Speaker 7 (13:35):
I'm sorry. I was with my friend and we were
listening to music.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
We are at dream Center, LA. We're at twenty three
oh one Bellevue in Los Angeles, right in the heart
of Echo Park. We're going to be here with the
Fork Report until five o'clock and then they're going to
be accepting donations until seven o'clock tonight. Go through your house,
put together some you know, if you have some extra food,
wouldn't it be great? And again the sunscreen, chapstick, working gloves.
(14:02):
Come drop it off because there's so many people who
need it. And of course the water and the sports
drinks they need that for hydration. We'll take it. Seven
o'clock is when we're gonna be here until and would
love to see your smiling face, and I'm gonna tell
you it's good for your soul. If you need a
little pick me up for your heart and your soul,
this is a good place to be. It's dream Center, LA.
(14:22):
And when we come back, we're going to be talking
to La County Fire Captain kelliher about the status of
the fires. Now that the flames have been tamed, the
fires are not out. We're gonna be talking about that
coming up next.
Speaker 6 (14:33):
You're listening to the Fork Report with Neil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
I know it doesn't sound like Neil. It's not Neil.
I'm Amy King in for Neil Savadra. This afternoon, we
are broadcasting live at Dreams Center LA. Here's the location
in case you want to stop by and donate some
of your your goods and or make a cash donation
to the people who need it the most, who've lost
literally every in these devastating wildfires. We're at twenty three
(15:03):
oh one Bellevue in Los Angeles. It's in Echo Park
and we're gonna be here with Fork Report until five
o'clock and then they're going to be open until seven o'clock.
Taking your donations and also for people who need those donations.
We'll they're also getting donations until seven o'clock tonight and
(15:24):
then tomorrow just for future planning. If you can't make
it down today, tomorrow they're going to take a day
and sort of regroup and reset. These people have been
working for ten, twelve, fifteen hours a day since these
fires broke out. We were talking to Matthew Barnett, the
Dream Center's founders, that the donations started coming in on Wednesday,
the day after the fire started, so January eighth, and
(15:46):
they've just kept going and kept going. And these people,
all these volunteers, Like the other day it was at
like twenty five hundred so far, and I know it's
a lot more than that. They're just turning out in droves,
and we can't thank you enough. I wanted to do
a little kind of reset with oh. I wanted to
finish my thought. They're going to do a reset and
(16:08):
regroup tomorrow, so they won't be taking donations tomorrow, but
then they're going to reopen on Monday and all next
week they're going to be taking donations and also giving
out those donated goods to the people who need them.
You know, we're like fifteen minutes away from the Eating fire.
It's just amazing how close this fire is. And of
(16:28):
course then there's the Palisades fire too, and if you're
coming over from Palisades Fire, of course we'll help you
out too for that. But I would love to have
you come and donate what you can. These people lost everything.
I was just listening to his story, a man named
Randy who is talking about how he lost literally everything,
and they were asking, you know, what did you what
(16:49):
are you most sad about. He's like, the memories. You know,
there's family photos of parents and grandparents and kids, that
those are those are what's gone. And still, in spite
of that, he is grateful for what he still has,
and grateful for the people who are volunteering and helping,
and he wants to turn around and help others once
he gets back on his feet. I mean, it's amazing
(17:10):
to see the spirit of Angelinos. So back to the
reset part. We know that as you look out, it's
a beautiful day in southern California. There's no big, nasty,
black plume of smoke that's ominously hanging over the skies
of Los Angeles. But the fires are not out. The
(17:31):
fires are still burning, and so we need to make
sure that we kind of grasp what's being done because
the firefighters are still working. So the flames have been tamed,
the skies are cleared. People are thinking the fires are up,
but they're not. So I wanted to talk to La
County Fire Captain Kellerher so we can understand what work
(17:52):
still needs to be done. So, Captain Kellerher, can you
tell us as we work to get containment of these fires,
what exactly does that mean? So, Captain Kellerher, now that
the fires aren't growing and the skies are clear, people
are thinking, Hey, these fires are out, but that's not
really the case. And that's why I wanted to talk
to you today to talk about some of the fire
(18:13):
terms that we've been hearing and find out where we
are with the fires. So, first of all, captain, can
you tell us, as we work to get containment of
the fires, what exactly does that mean?
Speaker 8 (18:24):
So what we're trying to do is have a line
all the way around the fire that is in from
the burn line, where that's clear and there are no
hot spots all the way around the fire. It's like
a fuel break where there's no active fires, there's no smoldering,
there's nothing. So that's what we're working on right now.
And you know, this fire is at twenty three seven
hundred and thirteen acres. We did make a little more
(18:47):
progress at twenty two percent containment and overnight that fire
stayed within that footprint. So that's great news right there.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Yeah, it actually hasn't grown for a couple of days,
right that.
Speaker 8 (18:59):
Yeah, we've we've done our job as far as those
air assets in the sky have really done an incredible job,
you know, painting the hill with the fire retardant and
pre treating those hillsides out in front of the fire.
They really wanted to make sure they got ahead of
that before the winds kicked up the next four and
that really helped dramatically. And so, yeah, the strategies and
(19:21):
tactics are working to keep this fire from going anywhere.
They're in there with the hand crews and the doser
teams and the real hard, kind of heavy arduous work
in there, just you know, getting in those areas and
making sure there are no hotspots with the hose and
there'll be a lot of work because this is such
a large fire.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Right, And what about the helicopters. Are those still being used.
Speaker 8 (19:41):
As of right now? Not at the moment. Because there
is no active flame, that doesn't mean that a fire
isn't smoldering, but that really is about the ground crews
doing their job.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Okay, so that was going to be my next question,
Captain Kellerher You said there's no active flame, but there
are hot spots, and what what's defined as a hot spot?
Speaker 8 (20:02):
So remember so few moistures are critically low, and our
vegetation is extremely dry and receptive to you know, fire,
and a lot that burned. You've got these you know,
huge and massive trees and shrubs and things like that,
and something can smolder in that mulch and still be hot.
And you know, that's that's the thing that we've got
(20:23):
to make sure we turn everything over. We as you
look out, you'll see something smoking, just a light smoke
or just a low ember though those are all the
things that they're going in there, turning all that over,
getting it down deep, getting water on it, so it
doesn't have the potential should a wind kick back up,
should anything else like that happened. That's what that means.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Okay, And how do you find the hot spots just
looking at them or do you have sensing.
Speaker 8 (20:47):
Material both, Yeah, a little of both. You know, when
you walk in there, you can see it, especially in
the morning, you can see those little smoldering, uh, little
little smoke little columns are small like you know, but
you can see them. But then on top of that,
we do have our drone team out there and they're
doing infrared shots so they can also see It's like, hey,
we got a hot area over here, there's a spot,
(21:07):
and so they'll radio that down to the crews that
are on the ground and they'll go get it okay.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
And then do we have any kind of idea when
you might have the fire surrounded or contained.
Speaker 8 (21:18):
I don't have that number. You can kind of look
at pass fires and kind of march out the timeline
and some of these big fires when the weather cooperates
and stays the way that the weather is right now,
which is in totally our favor. But actually I don't
have that timeline. But you know, they're working as hard
as fast as We've got crews on the ground that
are refreshed, they're fresh in today, spirits are high, morale
(21:41):
is up. Everybody knows the mission and they're doing an
incredible job.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Any parting words for anyone who's listening, because I know
that we are still mesmerized by this tragedy and just
so thankful for all the work that you guys are doing.
Speaker 8 (21:54):
You can let your listeners know we just couldn't be
more touched by the outpouring of support, not only to
the firefighters, because we've been here all hours of the
day and night, and things keep showing up at the
right time when we need it. But we're well taken
care of now. I feel like we've got what we
need and the focus should really be on the residents
that have lost everything, and we're grateful for the generous
(22:14):
spirit of everybody.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
It's been heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time and
a beautiful thing to see.
Speaker 8 (22:20):
Yeah, it's crazy, right, but thank you guys for all
your support. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
All right, Thank you Captain Kellerher.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
You've been listening to the Fork Report. You can always
hear us live on KFI AM six forty two to
five pm on Saturday and anytime on demand on the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
This afternoon, we're broadcasting live from dream Center, LA, taking
your donations to help out the fire victims who, for
so many of them, have literally lost absolutely everything. We're
just talking about Randy who literally got out got out
of his house in Alta Dina with his the shirt
on his back, and then he's been sharing videos of
(22:58):
us that we got to post these too Instagram. It's
going to just you're gonna load up your car and
you're gonna come down and you're gonna donate everything you
possibly can. After seeing this, he has videos of his
house literally burning as he's driving away to escape the flames.
It's just just heartbreaking. We are at twenty three oh
one Bellevue in Los Angeles. We're right here in Echo Park.
(23:19):
FOK Report's going to be here until five o'clock and
Dream Center LA is going to be accepting your donations
until seven o'clock and then tomorrow they're gonna take a
day to regroup. And like I said earlier, they've been
working so hard for you since January eighth, when the
donation started coming in. So they're going to regroup and
then they're going to reopen Monday. Is it at nine
(23:40):
o'clock or noon noon on Monday noon to seven on
Monday and they're gonna be taking donations all next week too,
But we do hope you come out this afternoon. If
you need a little heartwarming activity, you want to feel
good about your community and the response from people who
are who are helping in this tragedy, this is the
place to be. It's Dream Center, LA, and we have
(24:02):
with us right now the director of Disaster Services. It's
Clint Carlton. And Clint, you and I got to talk
earlier this week when I came out. We did a
little out and about segment that you can see on
our Instagram at Amy K King and also at k
IF I am six forty. If you haven't seen what
they're doing down here at Dream Center LA, you can
take a peek. But Clint, I'm amazed because from Wednesday
(24:26):
when we were here Tuesday or Wednesday today, it's not
slowing down.
Speaker 9 (24:29):
It's not slowing down yet, and I don't think it will.
I think that the needs there as I think fastor
Matthew might have shared with you today. As the days
go on, the needs get bigger and then needs. You know,
we kind of zero in on the needs that people have.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
The immediate needs, what needs. It's like top of mind.
But we're going to see as the days and weeks
and months progress, how deep the need is actually going
to be.
Speaker 9 (24:57):
Absolutely, and that's that's where we get into the different
state ages of the disasters.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Okay, so let's go let's go over the four stages.
First of all, there is rescue.
Speaker 9 (25:06):
Yeah, so the rescue phase is what we saw happen.
And you know the Palisades fire, Alta, Dina and then
the Hollywood fire. You saw that. You saw the rescue
phase happen at nighttime. The news was on Hollywood. The
fire erupted and everybody needs to start evacuating quick. And
that's what you saw with Altadena. I mean you say,
(25:29):
you know, people had fifteen minutes to get out, and
there's there wasn't a lot of time and so and
so we did start that, you know, that rescue phase.
But then we were in the relief phase as we
were still doing the rescue phase.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Right, Yeah, because Matthew, who was the founder of a
Dream Center LA, said, all of a sudden on Wednesday,
the fires had just started, they were you know, twelve
twenty four hours old, and people started showing up to
make donations.
Speaker 9 (25:57):
Yeah, and opening up the Dream Center as an event
ecuation shelter, uh you know, one that that's not obviously
affiliated with the Red Cross or anything. But but we
have beds, we have space open and I think what's
what's great about the Dream Center is if you need
six nine months a year to get your life back
on track, because some people do live paycheck to paycheck,
we have to think of that as a reality here
(26:19):
in Los Angeles and and for the Dream Center to
be able to have that luxury of time with people
and say, Okay, if you want to come to the
Dream Center and you want to stay here for six
months not have to pay electricity. We have three hot
meals a day for your family. I mean that's going
to help a family out a lot.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Oh absolutely, think of the burden that that's going to
take off them so they can focus on the next steps.
Speaker 9 (26:43):
And I feel like we're going to have a lot
of families you know, take that. We have shock right now.
There's a lot of shock going on to where you
know they might be looking and saying, Okay, I don't
need that much right now, but then you know they
had they get out.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Of the shelter.
Speaker 9 (26:58):
They the uncomfortableness staying with friends and family is kind
of you know, gonna wear off, and they're gonna need
a place to stay long term until they can get
back into a house or apartment.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Okay, So if you are one of those people, you
can always call Dream Center LA and talk to them
and see what what might be available to you after
the rescue and the relief comes the recovery.
Speaker 9 (27:20):
Yeah, and that's what we're we're on that where we
have to get into these areas of you know, helping
these people out. And and I'm saying that with not
if houses are completely you know, demolished, I'm saying that
for people that have smoke ash in their house, they
(27:41):
go in their house, the refrigerators are full of spoiled
food because they've been out of their house for two weeks.
We're gonna begin to send teams out going door to
door in the Altadene area that that wasn't you know,
destroyed by the fire, and knock on their doors and say, hey,
what do you need? How can we help you? And
we'll go we'll do yard work because the winds have
(28:01):
been blown, so maybe fence has been knocked down.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
We'll go do yard work.
Speaker 9 (28:05):
And so we'll just start doing that recovery effort, uh
with with the Altadena residents, probably this next week as
you know, as we began to gain more relationships. Obviously,
Pastor Matthew talked about the school that we're involved with
as well. And so the recovery efforts, you know, kind
of lead into the rebuilding.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Okay, and the rebuilding is this.
Speaker 9 (28:27):
Is a lot down the road is down the road,
but it's also it's also kind of given them that
rebuilding their mindset. It's where you look at kids in
Altadena that that they've been out of school since mid December,
they've been out of school since mid December, and they
came back what last week, they came back to school
and then they had one day in school once in
(28:48):
school since midb back for one day and they're not
in school yet. So so what what the Dream Center
is doing is we're starting the real building phase with
these children and and you know, getting them back on track,
kind of giving them a little repetitive in life, yep,
some sustainability so that so that they can actually feel
(29:09):
like children again, you know. And that's the thing is
there was a lot of disruptiveness during COVID and so
and so we opened up during COVID. I'm getting off
a little truck, but underneath that that uh solar panel
right there. We did a learning center during COVID because
we were seeing, we were hearing from parents that during COVID,
children missed that connectiveness in classrooms. So we started a
(29:32):
learning center. We built up, you know, a little makeshift
desk out there and started a learning center so kids
could feel normal again. I love it, and I think
that's what we're gonna do when we rebuild, we start
to rebuild in the mindset. I think we're looking at
the mindset. But you have you have things coming out
now with with the palisades and different things that it
might take a year to clean up this debris.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Yeah, this is not this is not the short term.
This is the in for the long haul. But Clinton, Carlton,
thank you so much for information. We want to talk
to you again before we leave here today, but for
right now, we want to remind you that we're here
and taking donations until seven o'clock. We'd love to have
you come down to Dream Center La donate what you
can because so many thousands of people are affected and
(30:16):
so far, I mean the outpouring of generosity has been
just absolutely astounding, and it's beautiful. We're at Dream Center
LA twenty three oh one Bellevue in Los Angeles in
Echo Park.
Speaker 6 (30:26):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty
Hey, it's Neil Savedra. You're listening to KFIM six forty
the Fork Report on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
My name is Amy King. This is the Fork Report.
I know it's supposed to be Neil Savader. He's still
under the weather. I think he got a bad stomach
flu and so I am so thrilled to be here
this afternoon filling in for Neil because we are broadcasting
live all afternoon from dream Center LA. We've been talking
(00:29):
about it on KFI because these guys are really really
stepping in and helping the people who so desperately need
your help. Dream Center LA is taking donations, both money
and goods for the wildfire victims. If you'd like to
make a donation. Again, I mentioned we're going to be
(00:49):
here all afternoon and we are at two three zero
one Bellevue in Los Angeles. We're right in the heart
of Echo Park and you can come on down there
are I gotta tell you, I'm astounded by the response
of Angelino's who have come forward, open up their hearts
and their homes and their wallets. I'm gonna be crying
(01:12):
all afternoon. I just you know, we talk about this
all the time, because it's what almost two weeks since
these fires started and it hasn't dropped off. I was
talking to Dave Weese, who's our promotions guy. He's been
out here every single day helping, helping dream Center LA
facilitate this to in our partnership with iHeart, and I said,
(01:33):
are the donations dropping off? And he said no, he
said they're not. I'm like, but there's no fire. You know,
there's no smoke in the air right now, and I
mean there's the fires are still active, but there's no
active flames. We're actually going to be talking to Captain
Kelleher with La County Fire a little bit later to
talk about what the situation is on the fire lines
(01:55):
right now. But it's just amazing how you guys have
come out and are still continuing to do it. Wanted
to welcome Pastor Matthew Barnett, who is the founder of
Dreams Center LA. Thank you so much for stopping by.
We wanted to go right to the source and find
out exactly what we're doing and how people can help.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah, this is the coolest thing ever.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
I mean, you're broadcasting and cars are coming in and
getting food and relief and aid. What's wild is when
we just on Tuesday said we're going to open up
our campus, let people get food and housing and shelter.
The dreams there, that basic, that simple, that elementary. Well,
by Wednesday, people started showing up and the line started
growing the.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Day after the fire start and I said, oh.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Yes exactly. I said, what in the world's going on here?
Look at all the people that are here. And then
we just kept just throwing the message out. We didn't
have the ability to keep this line going to iHeart
showed up and say hey, we're going to help you.
And then this line started for me. People driv from
Orange County. Debbie Gibson, the singer for driving It from
Las Vegas. She did last night. Car broke down five
(02:59):
hours she got here. And so and let me tell
you what's happened to this line here? Yeah, tell us
about the line. You a picture for us. People are
coming by to get food, their basic need, Joe. Because
Las all everyone gets impacted with.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Something like this.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
You know, people who short term jobs two or three days,
just everything gets thrown to a frenzy. And but now
what we're seeing, we were able to do that in
the first few days. But now what we're seeing is
what I just experienced. I almost missed his interview because
there's a lady that ran through the hall and and
she was weeping.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
She said, I've lost everything.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
This is all that I have and and she began
to tell her story and and it was just such
a heartbreaking experience, you know. And my dad always taught
me to keep an extra check around, like, here's five
thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
I mean, that's that's what's going on here.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
And what's happening is when she was walking around there,
people are saying, go to the Dream Center.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
They'll figure something out.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
Yeah, that's what's That's why this is so important because
now this plus all that is coming here, we are
the ground central stage of every every single thing that's impacted.
Only fifteen minutes north is coming right to this line,
and they're telling us all their stories.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Didn't I think that would happen though, Yeah, and we're
going to be talking about this through the afternoon, so
we're really going to help you paint the picture of
not only taking donations and letting people come and pick
up donations.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
But there's the rescue, there's the relief, there's the recovery phase,
and then there's the rebuilding phase, which is the long
term because these people who've lost everything, the fires don't
go out, they don't just go back to their homes.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
There's twelve thousand homes and buildings and schools and churches
that have burned thousands, which if you look at the
families then and add that up, so then you like
that there's fifty thousand plus the apartment buildings that have
burned down because not everybody was a home owner who
lost their home. Some of them were apartments and condos
and that kind of stuff. So, I mean, it's so
(04:49):
far reaching, and I think it's just like I said,
you will be in awe when you come down here
and make your donation and seeing the donations come in.
We had lines of trucks in and we have little
compact cars dropping off what they can. We have trucks
with car loads of donations.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Surf schools.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
I mean, all these crazy it's it's it's a beautiful
kind of pandemonium.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
It's the kind that lay needs.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Beautiful because it's I call this a care of self
compassion because people keep driving around over and over again
and they get one lady said, I drove by a
second time because I just want to see happy people
because everything has been lost in my community.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
I'm like, you just want to see happy beeing. So
it's kind of like the old town Square.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
People are coming together and they're just sharing what they
have one one with another, and then stories are unlocking, situations,
needs are being met, you know. And I met with
a family in the park because they heard what's going
on here or is able to talk to The park
given fifty chromebooks so the kids can go back to
the school in the school they burned down.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
So we're a dive at the schools in the Pasadena
School District. You're either severely damaged or destroyed. Where are
they going to go all of their stuff that, like
you said.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
I called Dave.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
I called Dave. I'm like, Dave figuring out figured it out.
You've got to know somebody all these years. He's like, yeah,
I know Best Buy and different companies. I'll put you
on the spot.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
So he's working on it.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
But he was like, I'll get you.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
A deal, and uh so Dave was like, you've already
on it. So, you guys, we have things very valuable.
We have manpower that Dreams Star are normally houses six
hundred people every single.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Day, which we'll talk about later, so we can move fast.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
But you guys have the goodwill so many of the
places that could help us maximize everything that we have,
so which is an unbelievable partnership.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, and our listeners along with the KFI listeners, and
we have kiss Him FM here this afternoon and and
coached and like all of our stations have kind of
gathered together, and I think it's a huge mass of people,
and you guys are turning out in droves and we
just can't even can't even begin to say thank you.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Can I say one more story?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Special love stories.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
See people are driving.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Around and there's like they're given like Kenny over there
a worker, like the chips for the workers, and thank
you for doing this, give them tips, right, you know,
just for serving them. And like when they got that money,
they're like, I don't want that money that has belonged
to me.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I just can't really serve their good will, and so
they took it.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
And then I said, well, I'm going to go down
and be some of the families over there at the park.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
And then you know, in my heart.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
I was saying, I'd like to give him at least
two or fifty dollars something, you know, just be a
blessing to them. Yeah, And the tip jar people came
up and said that goes to them, not to us,
And I go.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Well, you've been working all day, you know, Nope, that
goes to them.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
So I took it and added four thousand from the
Dream Center to it, and we went over there and
we just.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
You know, started handing out to yeah, because they got
they've got, I mean nothing. And I was talking to
Clint Carlton, who's your director of National Or of Disaster Services. Sorry,
I'll get the titles right one of these days. He's
a master of disaster, Master of disaster. Yeah, and he
was saying that one lady came by and she didn't
have a toothbrush. I mean, like you, when you lose everything,
it's everything and you just have no idea how devastating
(07:48):
that could be. Like where do you even start to
start to rebuild? So we're going to be talking to
you more. Matthew Barnett, thank you so much for stopping by,
But tell us where they can be and where they
can drop off and until when so.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Seven pm tonight, two three zero one Bellevue Avenue, Los Angeles.
Dreams Start two three zero one Bellvue Avenue and make it.
Just arrive and everybody will unload it for you and
you can stay as long as you want. You get
back and serve.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
If you want, you can go home, but we're here
for you. You want to feel good about being an Angelino,
you got to come to dreamstend loss after Orange County.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Coming out to Orange Counties represent hard is awesome.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
All right, and Dreams Center LA not the only ones
who are raising money to help the fire victims. We're
going to be talking about some of the restaurants that
are ponying up holding fundraisers to help the victims. That's
coming up next.
Speaker 6 (08:36):
You're listening to the Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
We are broadcasting live this afternoon at dream Center LA.
Here's where we are because we want you to come
down and bring your donations to help fire victims. We're
at twenty three zero one Bellevue in Los Angeles. We're
right in Echo Park. You can just type it into
ways and it'll get you right here and it is
an amazing operation. I mean there are palelettes and palettes
(09:04):
and palettes of supplies, because there are lines and lines
of cars of people who've lost everything and need your help.
And they're coming through and they're loading up cars and
off they drive. And then there's a whole separate line
of cars that are dropping off donations to help out
their their neighbors. And look who's in the house. Our
(09:25):
very own little Deborah Mark came over. Hi, Deborah, Hey,
what are you doing here?
Speaker 7 (09:30):
My neighbor, my friends? She said, Hey, let's go to
the Dream Center and go and volunteer. And she bought
a bunch of stuff from Costco. So we've been here,
We've been loading cars with bags and bagging things and
it's an unbelievable turnout here.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
How many times leave your crowd? Oh?
Speaker 7 (09:47):
I was just telling my friend, I said, I'm so emotional.
I'm so emotional on.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
So many different levels.
Speaker 7 (09:52):
But that the community has come together, right.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
That's what's that's what is just tugging at my heart.
Springs and castrings leave.
Speaker 7 (09:59):
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
And as we were talking to Matthew Bradford a little
bit earlier, the lines aren't diminishing. No, there's so.
Speaker 7 (10:08):
Many cars coming through, so many people that are in need,
and they're so grateful.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
That's what's so, that's what I was going to tell you.
What's the what's the response to the people as they're
getting the door they donated.
Speaker 7 (10:18):
Thank you, thank you, God, bless you, thank you. It's
it's so heartwarming. People are so grateful, and uh, yeah,
I've I've.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Never seen anything like this before, I know, and it's
so you know, for me, it's like thank God Los
Angeles because we live in a very cynical place. You know,
it's a it's a hard place, and a lot of
times we go, oh, people aren't very friendly here or whatever.
And this people are opening up their hearts and they're
opening up their wallets and as I mentioned, they're opening
(10:48):
up their homes and loading up their cars and bringing donations.
We just had are here's a pickup truck. It's a
four by four Silverado, beautiful truck, and it is loaded.
It is loaded with donations and they're going to drop
it off.
Speaker 8 (11:02):
Well.
Speaker 7 (11:02):
You know what else, amy which is just so amazing,
is that the cars that were going through the area
that I was kind of staged at where they're picking
up yeah, yeah, where they're picking up stuff.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
There's so much stuff.
Speaker 7 (11:13):
I mean, we have bags and bags and bags of
things and we're just shoving it into cars to make
sure that everybody has enough things.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Well, and the need is so great, So let's go
over just a real quick of some of the things
that we still need. There are some things that they're like,
you know what, we don't need any clothes right now.
We're good for that. But here's what we need. Non
perishable food items, bottled water, sports drinks. And there is
a lot of water out here, like in Pasadena. You
can't drink the water right now.
Speaker 7 (11:41):
I can't believe how much water is sitting right in
front of us.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
It's amazing, amazing, all right. And also hygiene products, things
like toothpaste, soap, shampoo, feminine products, baby supplies. Last time
I was out here on Tuesday or Wednesday, and there
was piles and piles of diapers and formula and wipes
and baby food. They need it all they do. And
here's another thing you might not think about, but I
(12:06):
put this in my go bag is flashlights, batteries, es,
portable phone chargers, any kind of phone charger, I mean
if you ran out of your house, oh I grab
your chargers, No you ran.
Speaker 7 (12:15):
I absolutely And you know what, somebody sent me the
other day to the station, which I was so grateful
for a transistor radio because when you are leading, for instance,
when our power went out, I was so afraid to
use my phone because I had no way of charging it.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I only had that charger.
Speaker 7 (12:31):
So transistor radios are another really good thing, yep.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
And then pet food and supplies of course, the animals.
We both You're a dog person, I'm a cat person,
and we love our fur babies.
Speaker 7 (12:43):
And somebody that just came through the line, we're, you know,
giving all kinds of food, apples and dry goods and
all this stuff. And she said, oh what about pet food?
Speaker 2 (12:53):
And I think they're they're take it.
Speaker 7 (12:54):
Yeah, exactly, So I definitely pet food is important.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
And here's something that's new on the list that we
just Scott from dream Center. La. Listen to this sunscreen
chapstick and working gloves. I mean, think about that. You
need some good industrial gloves because as you head into
those neighborhoods and start cleaning up and sifting through the rubble,
you're gonna need that and even though it's January, it's
a beautiful sunny day. So Sunscreen, Chapstick, Working Gloves, Debra Mark,
(13:20):
thank you so much for coming down and donating your
time today.
Speaker 7 (13:23):
Oh of course, Amy, and thank you for filling in
for Neil and the Fork Reporter. That's awesome. I didn't
even know you were here, so that was cool.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Weren't you listening to cafe? I I wasn't.
Speaker 6 (13:34):
I wasn't.
Speaker 7 (13:35):
I'm sorry. I was with my friend and we were
listening to music.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
We are at dream Center, LA. We're at twenty three
oh one Bellevue in Los Angeles, right in the heart
of Echo Park. We're going to be here with the
Fork Report until five o'clock and then they're going to
be accepting donations until seven o'clock tonight. Go through your house,
put together some you know, if you have some extra food,
wouldn't it be great? And again the sunscreen, chapstick, working gloves.
(14:02):
Come drop it off because there's so many people who
need it. And of course the water and the sports
drinks they need that for hydration. We'll take it. Seven
o'clock is when we're gonna be here until and would
love to see your smiling face, and I'm gonna tell
you it's good for your soul. If you need a
little pick me up for your heart and your soul,
this is a good place to be. It's dream Center, LA.
(14:22):
And when we come back, we're going to be talking
to La County Fire Captain kelliher about the status of
the fires. Now that the flames have been tamed, the
fires are not out. We're gonna be talking about that
coming up next.
Speaker 6 (14:33):
You're listening to the Fork Report with Neil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
I know it doesn't sound like Neil. It's not Neil.
I'm Amy King in for Neil Savadra. This afternoon, we
are broadcasting live at Dreams Center LA. Here's the location
in case you want to stop by and donate some
of your your goods and or make a cash donation
to the people who need it the most, who've lost
literally every in these devastating wildfires. We're at twenty three
(15:03):
oh one Bellevue in Los Angeles. It's in Echo Park
and we're gonna be here with Fork Report until five
o'clock and then they're going to be open until seven o'clock.
Taking your donations and also for people who need those donations.
We'll they're also getting donations until seven o'clock tonight and
(15:24):
then tomorrow just for future planning. If you can't make
it down today, tomorrow they're going to take a day
and sort of regroup and reset. These people have been
working for ten, twelve, fifteen hours a day since these
fires broke out. We were talking to Matthew Barnett, the
Dream Center's founders, that the donations started coming in on Wednesday,
the day after the fire started, so January eighth, and
(15:46):
they've just kept going and kept going. And these people,
all these volunteers, Like the other day it was at
like twenty five hundred so far, and I know it's
a lot more than that. They're just turning out in droves,
and we can't thank you enough. I wanted to do
a little kind of reset with oh. I wanted to
finish my thought. They're going to do a reset and
(16:08):
regroup tomorrow, so they won't be taking donations tomorrow, but
then they're going to reopen on Monday and all next
week they're going to be taking donations and also giving
out those donated goods to the people who need them.
You know, we're like fifteen minutes away from the Eating fire.
It's just amazing how close this fire is. And of
(16:28):
course then there's the Palisades fire too, and if you're
coming over from Palisades Fire, of course we'll help you
out too for that. But I would love to have
you come and donate what you can. These people lost everything.
I was just listening to his story, a man named
Randy who is talking about how he lost literally everything,
and they were asking, you know, what did you what
(16:49):
are you most sad about. He's like, the memories. You know,
there's family photos of parents and grandparents and kids, that
those are those are what's gone. And still, in spite
of that, he is grateful for what he still has,
and grateful for the people who are volunteering and helping,
and he wants to turn around and help others once
he gets back on his feet. I mean, it's amazing
(17:10):
to see the spirit of Angelinos. So back to the
reset part. We know that as you look out, it's
a beautiful day in southern California. There's no big, nasty,
black plume of smoke that's ominously hanging over the skies
of Los Angeles. But the fires are not out. The
(17:31):
fires are still burning, and so we need to make
sure that we kind of grasp what's being done because
the firefighters are still working. So the flames have been tamed,
the skies are cleared. People are thinking the fires are up,
but they're not. So I wanted to talk to La
County Fire Captain Kellerher so we can understand what work
(17:52):
still needs to be done. So, Captain Kellerher, can you
tell us as we work to get containment of these fires,
what exactly does that mean? So, Captain Kellerher, now that
the fires aren't growing and the skies are clear, people
are thinking, Hey, these fires are out, but that's not
really the case. And that's why I wanted to talk
to you today to talk about some of the fire
(18:13):
terms that we've been hearing and find out where we
are with the fires. So, first of all, captain, can
you tell us, as we work to get containment of
the fires, what exactly does that mean?
Speaker 8 (18:24):
So what we're trying to do is have a line
all the way around the fire that is in from
the burn line, where that's clear and there are no
hot spots all the way around the fire. It's like
a fuel break where there's no active fires, there's no smoldering,
there's nothing. So that's what we're working on right now.
And you know, this fire is at twenty three seven
hundred and thirteen acres. We did make a little more
(18:47):
progress at twenty two percent containment and overnight that fire
stayed within that footprint. So that's great news right there.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Yeah, it actually hasn't grown for a couple of days,
right that.
Speaker 8 (18:59):
Yeah, we've we've done our job as far as those
air assets in the sky have really done an incredible job,
you know, painting the hill with the fire retardant and
pre treating those hillsides out in front of the fire.
They really wanted to make sure they got ahead of
that before the winds kicked up the next four and
that really helped dramatically. And so, yeah, the strategies and
(19:21):
tactics are working to keep this fire from going anywhere.
They're in there with the hand crews and the doser
teams and the real hard, kind of heavy arduous work
in there, just you know, getting in those areas and
making sure there are no hotspots with the hose and
there'll be a lot of work because this is such
a large fire.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Right, And what about the helicopters. Are those still being used.
Speaker 8 (19:41):
As of right now? Not at the moment. Because there
is no active flame, that doesn't mean that a fire
isn't smoldering, but that really is about the ground crews
doing their job.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Okay, so that was going to be my next question,
Captain Kellerher You said there's no active flame, but there
are hot spots, and what what's defined as a hot spot?
Speaker 8 (20:02):
So remember so few moistures are critically low, and our
vegetation is extremely dry and receptive to you know, fire,
and a lot that burned. You've got these you know,
huge and massive trees and shrubs and things like that,
and something can smolder in that mulch and still be hot.
And you know, that's that's the thing that we've got
(20:23):
to make sure we turn everything over. We as you
look out, you'll see something smoking, just a light smoke
or just a low ember though those are all the
things that they're going in there, turning all that over,
getting it down deep, getting water on it, so it
doesn't have the potential should a wind kick back up,
should anything else like that happened. That's what that means.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Okay, And how do you find the hot spots just
looking at them or do you have sensing.
Speaker 8 (20:47):
Material both, Yeah, a little of both. You know, when
you walk in there, you can see it, especially in
the morning, you can see those little smoldering, uh, little
little smoke little columns are small like you know, but
you can see them. But then on top of that,
we do have our drone team out there and they're
doing infrared shots so they can also see It's like, hey,
we got a hot area over here, there's a spot,
(21:07):
and so they'll radio that down to the crews that
are on the ground and they'll go get it okay.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
And then do we have any kind of idea when
you might have the fire surrounded or contained.
Speaker 8 (21:18):
I don't have that number. You can kind of look
at pass fires and kind of march out the timeline
and some of these big fires when the weather cooperates
and stays the way that the weather is right now,
which is in totally our favor. But actually I don't
have that timeline. But you know, they're working as hard
as fast as We've got crews on the ground that
are refreshed, they're fresh in today, spirits are high, morale
(21:41):
is up. Everybody knows the mission and they're doing an
incredible job.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Any parting words for anyone who's listening, because I know
that we are still mesmerized by this tragedy and just
so thankful for all the work that you guys are doing.
Speaker 8 (21:54):
You can let your listeners know we just couldn't be
more touched by the outpouring of support, not only to
the firefighters, because we've been here all hours of the
day and night, and things keep showing up at the
right time when we need it. But we're well taken
care of now. I feel like we've got what we
need and the focus should really be on the residents
that have lost everything, and we're grateful for the generous
(22:14):
spirit of everybody.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
It's been heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time and
a beautiful thing to see.
Speaker 8 (22:20):
Yeah, it's crazy, right, but thank you guys for all
your support. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
All right, Thank you Captain Kellerher.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
You've been listening to the Fork Report. You can always
hear us live on KFI AM six forty two to
five pm on Saturday and anytime on demand on the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
This afternoon, we're broadcasting live from dream Center, LA, taking
your donations to help out the fire victims who, for
so many of them, have literally lost absolutely everything. We're
just talking about Randy who literally got out got out
of his house in Alta Dina with his the shirt
on his back, and then he's been sharing videos of
(22:58):
us that we got to post these too Instagram. It's
going to just you're gonna load up your car and
you're gonna come down and you're gonna donate everything you
possibly can. After seeing this, he has videos of his
house literally burning as he's driving away to escape the flames.
It's just just heartbreaking. We are at twenty three oh
one Bellevue in Los Angeles. We're right here in Echo Park.
(23:19):
FOK Report's going to be here until five o'clock and
Dream Center LA is going to be accepting your donations
until seven o'clock and then tomorrow they're gonna take a
day to regroup. And like I said earlier, they've been
working so hard for you since January eighth, when the
donation started coming in. So they're going to regroup and
then they're going to reopen Monday. Is it at nine
(23:40):
o'clock or noon noon on Monday noon to seven on
Monday and they're gonna be taking donations all next week too,
But we do hope you come out this afternoon. If
you need a little heartwarming activity, you want to feel
good about your community and the response from people who
are who are helping in this tragedy, this is the
place to be. It's Dream Center, LA, and we have
(24:02):
with us right now the director of Disaster Services. It's
Clint Carlton. And Clint, you and I got to talk
earlier this week when I came out. We did a
little out and about segment that you can see on
our Instagram at Amy K King and also at k
IF I am six forty. If you haven't seen what
they're doing down here at Dream Center LA, you can
take a peek. But Clint, I'm amazed because from Wednesday
(24:26):
when we were here Tuesday or Wednesday today, it's not
slowing down.
Speaker 9 (24:29):
It's not slowing down yet, and I don't think it will.
I think that the needs there as I think fastor
Matthew might have shared with you today. As the days
go on, the needs get bigger and then needs. You know,
we kind of zero in on the needs that people have.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
The immediate needs, what needs. It's like top of mind.
But we're going to see as the days and weeks
and months progress, how deep the need is actually going
to be.
Speaker 9 (24:57):
Absolutely, and that's that's where we get into the different
state ages of the disasters.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Okay, so let's go let's go over the four stages.
First of all, there is rescue.
Speaker 9 (25:06):
Yeah, so the rescue phase is what we saw happen.
And you know the Palisades fire, Alta, Dina and then
the Hollywood fire. You saw that. You saw the rescue
phase happen at nighttime. The news was on Hollywood. The
fire erupted and everybody needs to start evacuating quick. And
that's what you saw with Altadena. I mean you say,
(25:29):
you know, people had fifteen minutes to get out, and
there's there wasn't a lot of time and so and
so we did start that, you know, that rescue phase.
But then we were in the relief phase as we
were still doing the rescue phase.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Right, Yeah, because Matthew, who was the founder of a
Dream Center LA, said, all of a sudden on Wednesday,
the fires had just started, they were you know, twelve
twenty four hours old, and people started showing up to
make donations.
Speaker 9 (25:57):
Yeah, and opening up the Dream Center as an event
ecuation shelter, uh you know, one that that's not obviously
affiliated with the Red Cross or anything. But but we
have beds, we have space open and I think what's
what's great about the Dream Center is if you need
six nine months a year to get your life back
on track, because some people do live paycheck to paycheck,
we have to think of that as a reality here
(26:19):
in Los Angeles and and for the Dream Center to
be able to have that luxury of time with people
and say, Okay, if you want to come to the
Dream Center and you want to stay here for six
months not have to pay electricity. We have three hot
meals a day for your family. I mean that's going
to help a family out a lot.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Oh absolutely, think of the burden that that's going to
take off them so they can focus on the next steps.
Speaker 9 (26:43):
And I feel like we're going to have a lot
of families you know, take that. We have shock right now.
There's a lot of shock going on to where you
know they might be looking and saying, Okay, I don't
need that much right now, but then you know they
had they get out.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Of the shelter.
Speaker 9 (26:58):
They the uncomfortableness staying with friends and family is kind
of you know, gonna wear off, and they're gonna need
a place to stay long term until they can get
back into a house or apartment.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Okay, So if you are one of those people, you
can always call Dream Center LA and talk to them
and see what what might be available to you after
the rescue and the relief comes the recovery.
Speaker 9 (27:20):
Yeah, and that's what we're we're on that where we
have to get into these areas of you know, helping
these people out. And and I'm saying that with not
if houses are completely you know, demolished, I'm saying that
for people that have smoke ash in their house, they
(27:41):
go in their house, the refrigerators are full of spoiled
food because they've been out of their house for two weeks.
We're gonna begin to send teams out going door to
door in the Altadene area that that wasn't you know,
destroyed by the fire, and knock on their doors and say, hey,
what do you need? How can we help you? And
we'll go we'll do yard work because the winds have
(28:01):
been blown, so maybe fence has been knocked down.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
We'll go do yard work.
Speaker 9 (28:05):
And so we'll just start doing that recovery effort, uh
with with the Altadena residents, probably this next week as
you know, as we began to gain more relationships. Obviously,
Pastor Matthew talked about the school that we're involved with
as well. And so the recovery efforts, you know, kind
of lead into the rebuilding.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Okay, and the rebuilding is this.
Speaker 9 (28:27):
Is a lot down the road is down the road,
but it's also it's also kind of given them that
rebuilding their mindset. It's where you look at kids in
Altadena that that they've been out of school since mid December,
they've been out of school since mid December, and they
came back what last week, they came back to school
and then they had one day in school once in
(28:48):
school since midb back for one day and they're not
in school yet. So so what what the Dream Center
is doing is we're starting the real building phase with
these children and and you know, getting them back on track,
kind of giving them a little repetitive in life, yep,
some sustainability so that so that they can actually feel
(29:09):
like children again, you know. And that's the thing is
there was a lot of disruptiveness during COVID and so
and so we opened up during COVID. I'm getting off
a little truck, but underneath that that uh solar panel
right there. We did a learning center during COVID because
we were seeing, we were hearing from parents that during COVID,
children missed that connectiveness in classrooms. So we started a
(29:32):
learning center. We built up, you know, a little makeshift
desk out there and started a learning center so kids
could feel normal again. I love it, and I think
that's what we're gonna do when we rebuild, we start
to rebuild in the mindset. I think we're looking at
the mindset. But you have you have things coming out
now with with the palisades and different things that it
might take a year to clean up this debris.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Yeah, this is not this is not the short term.
This is the in for the long haul. But Clinton, Carlton,
thank you so much for information. We want to talk
to you again before we leave here today, but for
right now, we want to remind you that we're here
and taking donations until seven o'clock. We'd love to have
you come down to Dream Center La donate what you
can because so many thousands of people are affected and
(30:16):
so far, I mean the outpouring of generosity has been
just absolutely astounding, and it's beautiful. We're at Dream Center
LA twenty three oh one Bellevue in Los Angeles in
Echo Park.
Speaker 6 (30:26):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty
The Fork Report w Neil Saavedra News
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