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