You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from KFI AM six forty.
Oe Kelly, Jackie Ray. We're going beyond the box Score and we're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Jackie Ray.
It's been one hell of a week and a half, I would say, just going on in southern California. You know the basics that at this point the Rams played earlier tonight against the Minnesota Vikings. They didn't play at SOFI Stadium, they played out in Arizona. And you had the Lakers playing at home tonight in downtown Los Angeles, and you had the Clippers playing down the street from SOFI tonight.
The game's still going on right now.
I know they're different leagues, but why the different expectations as far as appropriate, not appropriate, timely, untimely to move these games. We know the NBA they postponed the previous Laker and Clipper games, but now they're playing tonight. The wins are gusting right now. Can hear it outside the studio? The games are going going on in LA except for the Rams there in Arizona.
I you know, I.
Can't explain this one because in my mind, the NFL especially should have at least played in La versus moving to the State Farm Arena. Considering all the homes that now don't have fire insurance.
The optics of that just looks bad to me.
You would have been better playing off in so far so when we have teams like you said, the Clippers are playing, I don't understand the logic. I do get because I was one of the first people that said, it's just weird going about I went to karaoke last night. It still felt very, very weird to be there having a good time when earlier in the day I had just been out to Alta Dina donating and seeing how it's this weird dichotomy of feeling sad and then doing
something that feels great. So I'm not upset that they moved forward, because at the end of the day, we have to move forward, but it just seems like the timing is a little bit.
Off to me.
In previous shows, I talked about the historical implications of canceling or postponing games, how the nation by and large has hued more closely to playing the games as a way of ensuring emotional continuity. I talked about how the World Series was not canceled. During World War Two. I talked about how rare it was to cancel games except for like the eighty nine earthquake in San Francisco or nine to eleven. Had to be very very extreme reasons to cancel or postponed games. Not that this is not
along those levels. But going back to what I said before, it seems like there's an inconsistency and the approach where inside the same city, on the same street, you have a game which is going on, and if you don't know, into a dome, it's literally one block away on the same street as Sofi Stadium. And having these games on where you put off in any way that there are games going on. Going back to your point of kind, I'm moving on with life and celebrating and having fun
and you know, goat Lakers. Oh, by the way, the city's burning down right.
It's a tough one because if you're here, if you're listening from abroad, it's not something that you feel like it impacts the I live in Long Beach, and now in Long Beach, the air quality was bad. Long Beach is thirty miles away from where the fire is, so it's not like it's just exclusive to the Palisades or Pasadena or Allta Dina. It's literally affecting a large range of people and places. People with asthma in Long Beach are having a hard time, so it really doesn't matter
that you're so far away. On the contrast, what we've seen is and I think this is why people are having a hard time with the games just resuming as normal. So cow has had an amazing outreach of people. People have been boots on the ground, immediately taking off work to go and help people, try to help people find pets or maybe even albums that have priceless memorabili in them. So people have really stepped up to help their fellow neighbor.
So it again, I'm not upset that it's moving forward, but I understand when you're talking about people who have lost everything and don't have the means to replace it. Sometimes I think internally we would want those who have more to step up more. So maybe that's what we're seeing where people are saying it's just a game. You guys can take this off and even donate time and money and resources to help people who have lost everything.
So I understand both sides of it.
I don't know if there's an answer, but there is an inconsistency, and I would love the teams to just sit down and say going forward, because as long as humans exist, there's going to be tragedies that impact us. Going forward, this is how we are going to move when it comes to canceling games or not canceling games, because if there's a policy set, then there's nothing.
To argue about.
Let's drill down on that one because I know, watching the Lakers, or watching the Clippers, or watching the NFL football playoff games this weekend, yes, there's the obligatory thoughts and prayers.
Our hearts are with the people who are so in Los Angeles.
Please go to NFL dot com, forward slash donat or something. They will do the minimum. But what should be the expectation as far as the involvement of these leagues. That's part one, and also of the players. It's one thing to say, you know, we shouldn't play the game. It's another thing to say, Hey, the Lakers, you as an organization need to be doing more.
You Clippers need to be doing more.
You Chargers and Rams need to be doing more as an organization. And also my word pressure on players to get involved as well.
What would you say to that?
Well, I always say players are people.
JJ Reddick lost his home, the head coach of the LA Lakers, he lost his home in the Palisades fire, and now he has to go out and coach a game. And I don't know if you've ever had that kind of loss, It is difficult to just go back out there.
Athletes do it all the time.
We saw Isaiah Thomas do it when he lost I believe was a sister or whatnot.
So we've seen players do this over and over again.
But it's difficult, and so I think instead of saying yes, there needs to be a policy in play as far as what we're going to do as an organization, but when you're talking about people, I do think backing away and letting people is in players in this case. But people who are impacted by this have the space to be impacted by this for more than just a day or two. Kawhi Leonard had to take a step away
from the Clippers because his family had to evacuate. So we're not talking about people who aren't impacted and just these superstars that are making this kind of money, they are also impacted. They want to help and they need the space to do it. So maybe it's a case by case situation. I do understand the knee jerk reaction of thinking that people that have more should do more. There's that, but I also think that people who are impacted should have the space to be impacted.
I wonder, and it's not for me to try to get in the head of JJ Reddick you mentioned right and coach the Los Angeles Lakers. Lakers are finishing up their game right now against the San Antonio Spurs at Crypto dot Com Arena, but I know that JJ Reddick's head cannot be fully invested in the Lakers or that game. It just can't be because we are to your point humans. I wonder, and I'm not blaming Genie Buss, but I
would ask her the question. Was there any conversation where you said, JJ, I appreciate you wanting to coach, but right now I need you to take care of your business so you are even better coach on the other side of this tragedy, because I remember when Kareem Abdul Jabbar's house burned down, he wasn't thinking about basketball.
Nope, it's difficult, like when you think, sometimes people say, oh, I just want to get back to work, no matter what it is, I want to get back to work to keep my mind off of it. When I lost my dad, that was what I did. I mourned for three months and I was like, I want to get back to work. I thought three months was enough time. And then I got back to work and every fifteen minutes I have to run to the bathroom because I'm crying. You know, so you don't really know how you're going
to mentally move. But losing everything and just seeing him talk about it in a practice and talking about what it was, you could see that kind of in play. He was solid for a minute and then he wasn't. And that's what human emotions do. So again, I think humans need space to be humans and just deal with these types of things.
We'll have more on this in just a moment.
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from KFI AM six forty.
KFI Mo Kelly and Jackie Ray. We're continuing to go Beyond the box Score and we're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, and we're also continuing our conversation about athletes, sports, and also tragedy. There are these expectations that we have of athletes as people, athletes as performers, and athletes as representatives of communities. Invariably, there will come a point in time. And this is not some grand prediction. It's just that I've lived on this earth long enough to have seen
and I know it's coming. There will be some grand pronouncement by an athlete about these fires, about the response to the fires. And I'm not trying to predicate it's going to be this or that. I just know it's coming. Someone's going to have a microphone in front of their face. They're gonna be asked a question, and they're gonna be asked and they're going to answer as honestly as possible. How much grace do you give athletes for something like this?
And I know this is hypothetical, but you know they're going to say something which is gonna piss half the people off.
That's a great question, because as a journalist who's been in that situation, I would give a tremendous amount of grace in this specific instance because of the tragedy, and I would probably ask if, especially if it if it was a response that I knew was inflammatory, I would definitely give a follow up question that would give them a chance to maybe clarify that.
Say that again, that is so key because a lot of times you only hear the question, which could lead the athlete to it in flatt platy air quotes response, but there's no follow up to give the athlete room to further elaborate, right.
And I think that's important as a journalist to do that because again, not just a journalist, I'm also a human and I've been in situations. I'm pretty calculated with my words, so I'm not saying it's never happened to me. But when your emotions are at the forefront of your mind, I don't care how calculated you are, You're going to speak from an emotional place. So that journalistic integrity says, ask that follow up question.
Now.
If they double down on that, now you can run with it. But I do think we should allow people enough grace to speak in their emotion and then clarify their emotion, especially when they're dealing with tragedy.
But that's not the society we live in.
The society even if they do, even if someone does follow up with a great question, and they clarify they're gonna lead with the inflammatory comment because that's going to get more clicks and more views. So but I think that that's what in my journalism, that's what I lead with the humanity of the player, the humanity of everyone. So I think that's what we need to lean into, especially in times of tragedy.
All right, let's keep going down this road. We talk about the responsibility of players. We talked about the responsibility of organizations and employees of an organization, So let's talk more about the responsibility of journalists, specifically sports journalists. What other recommendations might you have other than asking that follow up question? Don't just ask JJ Reddick about what he feels about again, hypothetically what he feels about the response
to the fires. If you don't have an adequate follow up, But what are the recommendations would you have?
I would recommend you go to an area that has been damaged by the fire. If you're following me on Instagram at Jackie Ray TV. I went out and I saw that, and I'm telling you, the devastation that you see in real life is nothing like the devastation you see on television, it just hits different.
The smell and the air is different.
As you're stepping on the ground and you're stepping over glass that has exploded from a car, or you'll see a baby crib that you can just make it out because of the little bars, but it's burned to the ground. You can literally see humanity or someone's life burned to the ground. So it gives you a frame of reference that will allow you to have grace because now you can picture yourself in that situation.
When you're just talking about what you see on TV, it.
Does look like a lot of armor againon movies that I see, so we can easily just say that's happened over there. But when you put yourself in that situation as a journalist, it gives you a frame of reference to tap into to help you not only understand where that athlete is coming from, but to feel their emotion and then thereby give them more grace, which I think we should do that across the board sometimes, I think, especially Americans, we have these opinions about people and we've
never been in their shoes. So if you put yourself in somebody's shoes, it enables you to have a little bit more grace.
Boy, you are preaching tonight to bring up grace and then to say imagine yourself in that person's shoes.
It seems a very simple formulation.
But I guess it's kind of complex because people, for the most part, are not willing to do that. We all have these opinions and recommendations from literally thousands of miles away, but aren't emotionally impacted, aren't physically impacted, aren't in any way connected to what actually is going on here. I've heard all sorts of opinions about California and what the HeLa fire departments supposed to do from like Australia.
Are Australia, Yeah, I know, you know something about fires, but you don't know anything about la what's going on. You don't know anything about Santa Ana wins. And then also the people who want to politicize this for their own purposes, their own personal political purposes and Grant stunding.
There will be the investigation, you know, there will be a post mortem, as I said, and we'll find out who was wrong and why to what degree, what facilities and structures and parameters whatever failed, and the people who didn't meet the bark, but right now, it should be about the.
People, because the people are who's suffering. And if you can't see it in your heart to I saw a woman who lives in the Palisades, and that's the thing. The Palisades has been the point of contention for a lot of people. If you guys don't live in California, let me just put it out here right now. Everybody in California is not rich. Everybody in California does not have the means to build a new house. I don't care if they live in Beverly Hills or the Pacific Palisades.
Whatever you have.
In your head about the money out here, just throw it in the trash because it's not real.
Life, and it sure doesn't cover everything like that. That's a whole different conversation.
Right So, I saw a woman who lived in the Pacific Palisades, which is an affluent area, but she lives completely off the land. And again the insurance, the fire insurance specifically for that area was canceled, and this woman's heart was overjoyed.
She was crying because she knew her house was burned down.
She didn't have the means to replace it because again her whole life is. She lives off the land. But then her sheep ran up to her and she found out her her sheep were alive. And the joy that that woman had, you would have thought that someone had given her a million dollars. So again, you don't know what people are going through. But in that moment, it wasn't about the materialistic things. It was about an animal, a group of animals that brought her joy and she
knew she hadn't lost everything. Just open your hearts and your minds a little bit to just that it's not about the house. It's about what the house represents, the life that people built, how they chose to raise their family, their animals, things. This is a whole person's culture, if you will, in one space and it's gone now, So have a little empathy.
Your word is the last word and the best word. I'm o Kelly.
She's Jackie Ray KFI AM six forty were live everywhere in the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from KFI AM six forty.
From We've been giving you a lot of information on the course of the evening. Be sure if there's something that you missed or there's something that you just want to hear again, you can always go to our podcast, which is available on the iHeartRadio app or any podcast provider that you might happen to listen to the show. I recommend the iHeartRadio app because that's the only place where you can get this show live and hear it
as it happens. But Twala does a wonderful job at putting this podcast together so you can have all the relevant information, especially in a time like now. Earlier in the show, we were talking about the fires from a law enforcement perspective. We listen back to the remarks of La County DA Nathan Hawkman, who basically was letting everyone know he's following through on his promises to prosecute crimes in a way that we haven't seen for a few
years since George Cascone was in that seat. We also heard from Sheriff Robert Luna talking about respecting the curfew and how you'll be arrested if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, stay out of the evacuated zone owns, and also we heard from LAPD Assistant Chief Dominic Troy, who was detailing people are not being arrested for just crimes related to the fire. Talked about how an individual was arrested regarding the use of illegal use
of a drone. Also people who were doing things completely not connected to the events, but just happened to be in an area committee of crime and they were subsequently arrested. Now, I want to talk about it from the fire first responders perspective, from what we heard earlier today. First up is LAPD Chief Crowley from this morning.
But to start off with just a moment to share with everybody out there that's been impacted by these wildland fires, that the entire LAFD family sworn civilian, our city family, mayor Bass City leadership, everybody, Our thoughts and hearts and prayers go out to you as we continue to push forward and mitigate this emergency. We understand the impacts and we're working and will continue to work very, very very
hard for everyone. Another point I want to make is that also we are so very grateful for the firefighters and the first responders that have already arrived and continue to arrive in the southern California region. We absolutely know that we cannot do this on our own, and we are tremendously appreciative of all of your continued support as the increasing wind event is upon us as we speak. The Los Angeles City Fire Department has maximized our resource
capabilities and response capabilities. All available LAFD resources.
Have been staffed.
I have strategically preposition engine strike teams and task forces which are dedicated to rapid response for any new fire that breaks out in the city. In addition, I've directed the Fire Prevention Bureau to augment wildfire patrols in high hazard areas the Palisades fire. Your LFD remains committed to this fire and we have significant number of engines that
have been dedicated to this fire. The crews that are involved, we have crews from up and down the state outside of the state, have made excellent, excellent work overnight mopping up flare ups and hotspots. Their primary focus last night was on the Maneville Canyon area, and this fire is now at twenty three thousand, seven hundred and thirteen acres
with fourteen percent containment. With five thousand, one hundred and twenty three personnel assigned to the Palisades incident, firefighters will continue to work diligently throughout the day to increase containment and prevent further fire spread. Again, I want to focus our my comments on the amount of resources that are here in the Palisades, from the first responders all the way up to our incident command teams. Again, we're going to keep working really, really hard for you. Just a
brief comment on the Hearst fire. It's been held to seven and ninety nine acres with ninety five percent containment. Again, thank you to the community members that are out there for remaining vigilant.
We are not in the clear.
I want to make sure of that we are not in the clear as of yet, and we must not let our guard down as we have right now extreme fire behavior, and we need to make sure that the community is staying updated with the most information updated information as well, follow all evacuation warnings and orders without delay, and please please stay safe.
Let me just interject something here.
Some people may not know how, especially if you're not from a LA area, you may not know how the municipality works. Crowley is the fire chief for the LA Fire Department as in city that's not county, and a lot of these fires are happening in portions of LA County. Which are not subject to the jurisdiction of La City Fire Department. It falls under the county. Like, for example, we were talking at length about Altadena. That's an unincorporated area of La County, which is not subject to the
jurisdiction of La City Fire Department. I live within an address which is LA but I live in an unincorporated portion of LA which means that if I call for a first responder, it will be La County Fire Department. It'll be La County Sheriff who will respond, even though my address says Los Angeles. So we have to be mindful of this when we want to assess and parse blab about who's responsible for this and who's responsible for that, Just know that there are a number of overlapping agencies
involved in this endeavor. And to that end, we also heard from La County Fire Chief Maroni.
The Eton fire is now estimated to be fourteen thousand, and.
If you noticed, he's adjusting specifically the Eton fire, which is we were talking about Altadina that is La County, not La City.
The Eton fire is now estimated to be fourteen thousand, one hundred and seventeen acres with thirty three percent containment. We gained no acreage yesterday, which is a very good thing. We know that over seven thousand structures are damaged or destroyed, and we have three thousand, four hundred and eight firefighting personnel assigned to the incident. Twenty six percent of our
damaged Inspections for dwellings have been completed. Impacted residents may visit recovery dot LA County dot gov to view preliminary maps showing damage assessments. Please note that the preliminary maps have been posted and are being updated daily. If there is not a color icon on your address, it means the building has not yet been inspected. Severe fire weather conditions will continue through Wednesday. Please be assured that all fire departments and all law enforcement agencies in the area
will be prepared. The anticipated winds, combined with low humidities and low fuel moistures, will keep the fire threat in all of Los Angeles County critical. I ask all Los Angeles County residents in wildfire prone areas to understand that the necessary public safety power shows are important for our collective safety in preventing the next wildfire natural disaster. I did wanted to spell one rumor the La County Fire Department has never turned down any offers for mutual aid,
assistance and resources. Repopulation will not occur until all areas are safe. Additionally, our Col four point fifteen super Scooper that was damaged because of a drone incursion is reportedly going to be flying tomorrow morning. It has been repaired and we're waiting for the FAA to give us approval to fly again. Thank you to Board Chair Supervisor Catherine Barger and Supervisor Lindsey Horvath for your unwavering leadership and
conte and you'd support throughout this unprecedented disaster. And finally, to all the Los Angeles County residents affected by this catastrophe, please be assured your firefighters continue to work towards full containment of these wildfires from the air and on the ground. We stand alongside each of you as you begin the repopulation of evacuated areas when safe, and the rebuilding of your homes, your communities, and your lives. Thank you for me.
The takeaway outside of the information is he's reiterating that there's a distinction to be made between his area of responsibility, which has to do with La County and those residents versus people who are residents of the municipality the City of Los Angeles with Chief Crowley, which is different. Now, they may overlap at times when you have these fires,
which obviously do not respect boundaries. But let's be sure that we are looking to the right person to figure out who is responsible for our particular area or particular fire. As we go forward, I'm mo Kelly CAFI AM six forty will have more of this important information what was being said and shared over the course of the day.
In just a moment, you're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from KFI AM six forty.
Last second, I was playing some audio from the County LA Fire Department Chief Maroney, and I was explaining how sometimes we forget. We included that a lot of these agencies do overlap as far as how they're trying to help everyone in a crisis like this. And even though we hear more about Mayor Karen Bass and we hear more about LA Fire Department Chief as in City Kristen Crowley, that is only a part of the story. Is it's
much more impactful to La County. And in the last second, we were playing audio from a fire department, Ellie County Fire Department Chief Maroney talking about his area of responsibility and how he was targeting the Eaton Canyon fire. I'm paraphrasing, but at the end of his remarks he made mention he was appreciative of the help of La County Supervisors
Catherine Barger and also Lindsey Horvath. And if you know what the La County Board of Supervisors will do, they're responsible for managing resources and events just like this one. In fact, LA County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath will again join us tomorrow night to give us an update on her particular supervisor district and the areas which are impacted and give us an update there about its residents who have been evacuated in this place, where they will be going
next or what services are available to them. But this is what Supervisor had to say this morning the.
Latest Palisades fire updates. As you've heard, more than twenty three thousand acres have been impacted by this fire and it is fourteen percent contained. We have over fifty one hundred personnel, including forty four helicopters and five hundred forty engines. The fire continues to hold along Mandeville Canyon, and we are grateful for our first responders and all those on the front lines fighting in this area. We know it
is critical and you are doing a great job. We've also made significant progress into Panga Oaks, Sylvia Park to Mescal Ridge to Mholland. All of these areas have been under threat and we are continuing to hold. Santa Monica has lifted their evacuation orders and downgraded to warnings in North San Vicenti, moving from order to warning. At eight am today, all of the warning areas have been lifted. A particularly dangerous situation has been issued strongest wins from
Tuesday morning until Wednesday. We strongly encourage caution and vigilance. This is the weather prediction that the National Weather Service had going into last week's event, so these conditions are significant, they are serious, and we need you to follow all orders. All Santa Monica Malibu United School District schools will remain closed today. All Santa Monica campuses except for Roosevelt Elementary,
will be open. All LAUSD schools will be open today except Canyon Charter Elementary, Kenter, Canyon Charter Elementary, Palisades Charter Elementary, Marquees Charter Elementary, Topanga Charter Elementary, Lenai Road Elementary, and Paul Revere Middle School.
Our Department of Ments Health has.
Resources for how to speak with our young people about wildfires at DMH dot La County dot gov. We need to support our children in this time and make sure they're able to talk about this tragedy. Our DMH helpline is eight hundred eight five four seven seven seven to one. Metro fares continue to be suspended for as long as conditions remain the same. We thank our Chair of the Metro Board, Janis Hahn, and our CEO, Stephanie Wiggins, for
their assistance. Palisades Post Office has been relocated to Rancho Park Post Office. Residents can pick up their mail at one one two seven zero, Exposition Boulevard on the first floor. Recovery dot La County dot gov has launched. You can find initial damage assessments as well as maps to indicate your property location and status. Comprehensive list of county resources
by department, federal, state, local and nonprofit emergency assistants. Once again, that website is Recovery dot Lacounty dot gov.
Our Department of economic opportunities.
East La Entrepreneur Center and America's Job Centers of California open today as well to support impacted workers as well as small businesses. As far as public health updates, the air quality smoke advisory continues through next week. Please wear N ninety five masks outdoors. Find particulates are airborne even in areas not impacted by the fires. Especially children and older adults, especially those with serious health complications, are particularly
at risk. LA County Department of Public Health is providing N ninety five masks at all evacuation shelters and to community based organizations. When you are at home home, please close your windows and doors, run the air conditioning or air purifiers if you have them, and check your filters regularly. In your car, close the windows and vents, turn your air conditioning on to recirculate. Do not in any way use leaf blowers or other actions that will push ash
into the air. Follow all drinking water advisories, and due to ocean contamination, avoid the following beaches Malibu Point at Surfrider Beach, Solstice Creek at Dan Blocker County Beach, and Innercabrio Beach in San Pedro To stay informed about the latest emergency orders, you can go to emergency dot LA
County dot gov. And I want to once again thank all of those who are on the front lines keeping us safe through this very difficult time, all of our volunteers who have kicked into action to ensure that our community members are supported.
And I also want to thank our.
Governor for an additional executive order in addition to the one that he issued yesterday to expedite debris removal and to reduce the risk of mudslides. As we know, rain is predicted starting next week and these complicated conditions may only worsen.
I'm o Kelly k IF, I AM six forty. We are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
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