You're listening to KFI AM six forty wake Up Call with me Amy King on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Fires are raging, KFI News is working, Stay safe, Stay informed. KFI and KOST HD two Los Angeles, Orange County. It's time for your morning wake up call.
Here's Amy King.
It is five o'clock.
This is your wake up call for Thursday, January ninth. I'm Amy King. Good morning to you. You know, it's it's hard because you you come into work and you want to be excited and have fun and all of that, and you've got wildfires burning and homes being destroyed, and it's such a surreal reality.
Is that a thing? Surreal reality? But it's just odd and.
Like we've talked about so many times, we've had fires all over southern California and you think, oh, it doesn't really affect me. These ones are affecting almost everybody. Got more than one hundred thousand people have been evacuated from their homes.
Issue.
If you were listening before five am, you may have heard Neil Savadra say he's going to be back on with us in just a couple of minutes. I mean, but the stories that we're hearing coming out of the fire areas and people outside the fire areas. Like I mentioned, I'm not in a fire area. I am very thankful for that. But last night I put together a go bag because the fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills in Runyon Canyon and evacuation orders went out, and I went,
that's not that far from my house. And with the way that this fire has been acting and how erradic it is, and how those embers can go for miles, I thought I'd better at least get ready to go. So I got my little emergency bag. I got the cat carriers out. Thankfully didn't have to use them, and they seem to have got a handle on that fire pretty quickly, which is lovely and wonderful. But I mentioned the embers when I got home from work yesterday, and
maybe you experienced this too. On my front porch, I was like, what is that? There's something black on my front porch. It was like a piece of you know, like it looked like a little piece of a burnt campfire, like a chunk of wood that had been charred. And there were several of them, like right there up against my front door. And I am nowhere near where those fires are burning. So those embers are traveling great distances and it's very, very scary. Here's what's ahead on wake
up call. Just a quick recap of some of the fires that were following. In Pacific Palisades, the fire has torn through more than seventeen thousand acres, zero percent surrounded. Daylights given us images of total devastation with the wind whipped flames and embers jumping from home to home to businesses and schools throughout the Palisades area and parts of Malibu. In Malibu, dozens of homes along pch were completely destroyed.
At least a thousand buildings have been lost. The Eton fire and Alta Loma in Pasadena grown to more than ten six hundred acres with about one thousand homes and other buildings destroyed. The hillside overnight was dotted with spot fires and fires that continue to burn through neighborhoods. The Hurst fires burned more than eight hundred and fifty acres with evacuation still in effect. Luckily in that area, while homes and communities are threatened, we do not have reports
of any that have been lost. And then last night, as I mentioned, the fire broke out and running canyon, prompting immediate evacuation orders in Hollywood. The fire was attacked from the air by several water dropping helicopters. Firefighters were able to keep it from devastating neighborhoods like what happened in Altadena and the Palisades. Let's get started with some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom that are all related to these fires. The
fire in the Hollywood Hills burned about fifty acres. It started at five point thirty yesterday in an area near solar and astral drives. Fire crews, so the fire was moving quickly uphill and rapidly threatening Holmes. This man says he was worried his condo would burn.
This is my whole life right here.
You know. I spent my whole life savings to get by condo here, and so I.
Lost my family during COVID, and so I don't.
Really have anybody to call or anything. So it feels a little bit scary.
Yeah, mandatory evacuation orders were issued, but most have been lifted, with the exception of the area north of Franklin Avenue from Camino Palmaro Street to Sierra Bonita Avenue. Firefighter has been watching for flare ups. The fire burning around Pacific Palisades in Malibu, as I mentioned, grown to more than seventeen thousand acres and zero percent can surrounded.
The fire, which has been burning since Tuesday morning, has destroyed an estimated one thousand structures, making it the most destructive fire in the history of the city of Los Angeles. These structures damaged or destroyed include homes, businesses, schools, and historical landmarks in Pacific Palisades and Malibu.
Ky if I's Mark Mayfield says tens of thousands of people are still under mandatory evacuation orders. Santa Monica has put a curfew in place because of the fire. It's in effect from sunset to sunrise. In areas where a mandatory evacuation order is in effect. There may be a tax break available for properties damaged by this week's wildfires.
The La County Assessor says if there was more than ten thousand dollars in damage by the fire or the winds, owners should look into the Misfortune and Calamity Property tax Relief program. It offers temporary tax relief only assessing the property at its damaged value until it's fixed or rebuilt. The Assessor's office is closed this week, but there are local assistance centers set up around the county, and the application can also be found on the assessor's website. Michael Monks KFI News.
Let's get a first look at your morning commute.
We've got Devon in for WIS today because I passed the cred onto will so will. I apologize for sharing my cold with you last week, but let's check in with Devin.
We've got a crash cleared.
In Covina and so we're going to go to Corona instead, where there's a road closure on the ninety one.
Yes, hopefully it's not an on airborne transmitted virus or a horrible joke to start.
Off the day.
I think, I think we're okay, we're in different rooms.
Yes, thankfully that crash in Cavena has cleared out of the way, so don't worry about that. But we do have a number of closure in splace due to the fires. I should say people are being displaced due to those closures in place. The Palisades fire obviously, PHS closed north and southbound up and down from the McClure Tunnel all the way to Malibu Canyon and the ten westbound is closed there as you approach the mccor tunnel. As well, there is a closure that is non fire related out
in Corona. It should be wrapping up any minute, if it hasn't already. The ninety one westbound right now from seventy one to Green River. Also, you got the fifty connectors to the ninety one westbound that were closed. They're supposed to end at five, so hopefully it's not too bad. Right now, we're not seeing any build ups. They were diverting drivers off at the seventy one and there has not been a backup just yet, but we'll keep an
eye on it. Also, Lydia Fire, the Solidad Canyon Road is closed from Augua Dulce Canyon up to Crown Valley and Eaten Fire the main road that's closed. A lot of surface roads and connectors are closed, but the Angel's Crest Highway stretch heading up into the hills is closed, So just keep an eye out for that and we will do that as well. We Southern California's most accurate traffic reports. I'm Devin Hennessee.
It's five oh seven on your wake up call.
We're going to keep you up to date, and we're going to be checking in with the National Weather Service during wake up call, see what's up with the weather. We're also going to be talking, I believe, with somebody from La Fire get the latest on the big fires burning with ABC's Melissa A. Don And you know, the animals are a key part of this. You know, people know what to do to get out, the animals do not have a go and a lot of animals have
been caught up in this. And we're going to be talking with our friends at Pasadena Hume and Kevin McManus's coming on with us. They're one of the emergency shelters being set up and we've got some heartbreaking stories to share with you, but the animals need our help, and so we'll be talking with Kevin before the top of
the hour, so we hope you'll stick around. We have Neil Savader who's been on the air this morning with us sharing information about the fires, and I just wanted to kind of touch base because we were talking about how this fire is affected everybody and they keep popping up like.
The one last night.
Well and while the devastation continues in Palisades, and active fires are burning and the winds are still blowing, and the eaten fire in Altalloma that is just continuing to tear through neighborhoods. Then all of a sudden last night, a fire pops up and run In canyon.
Yeah, and if you remember, there was talk of that yesterday and I think you meant out there.
What did I say, altamah yep? I meant alta Dina.
The crazy thing is that as we're looking at all these structures being burned, there is a lot of I don't want to say misinformation because that sounds, I don't know, ominous. But there's a lot of talk between citizen apps and the like of people connecting with each other, whether it's
through the ring app or these types of things. And I've been watching a lot of that, and I would hear stuff, Oh, I heard Runyon Canyon is on fire, and that was the other day, and it there was nothing, and so I thought, well, is this remnants of that? And then it started popping up and I started hearing more and more about it.
So it it.
It's so everywhere, and if you zoom out, it is almost a full circle when you look around at some of the spot the smaller fires and the like, and it seems it's kind of encroaching on the entirety of Los Angeles. But that one seemed to be in control at this.
Point, right, So it is still an active fire, yeah, but the evacuation orders have mostly been lifted. There are a few that are still in place. But it was it was pretty scary last night when it broke out and you could see that hillside and they said that they were evacuating down to Hollywood Boulevard. It was Hollywood Boulevard on the south, so the one on one on the west to the to Maul Holland Drive on the north, and I believe Laurel Canyon on the on the on
the west. And you're like, that is that is Hollywood? I mean like, oh yeah, Grammins is right there, Hollywood and Highland is right there. The Hollywood Bowl is right in that area.
I mean, like the.
Magic Castle, the magic all of these buildings and these historical places. It couldn't It is really kind of bizarre. And we don't know what the day brings. Uh, we will see what the weather and the wind and any cooperation there, but there's still so.
Much more to come. We are not out of danger.
And that crazy thing that I was hearing at the press conference yesterday, of course there'll be another one during the Bill Handle Show today at eight am.
You'll hear another one.
But the thing that hit me was there saying, hey, there is no safe place. There's no there's no place in La that could not you know, be dealing with this very satan thing at their doorstep. As you were talking about Amy with the embers that had had burned out, thankfully, but we're on your your doorstep. Same on my truck, you know, which is a darker gray, and I could see them and of course when I drove off, you could see them lift the lighter ones lift up and off your car.
It's pretty crazy.
Yeah, and we are miles and miles away from the fire, oh yeah, miles. So that's why when the fire in the Hollywood Hills, you were like, think of the population center that if that thing starts ripping into neighborhoods, and not only do you have single family homes like in Pacific Palisades, which is devastating, but in there you've got basically high rises full of people, and so when they ordered those evacuations, it was gridlock. You could see they're
just watching just the red lights. But they were able to keep it away from people and did an amazing job. And again they had the water dropping helicopters on it, and that really made the difference because think if they if they hadn't had those, like they weren't able to have them for the Eaten fire and weren't able to have them for the Palisades fire. Think of how much different things could be this morning for the people who live in and around Running Canyon.
Well, I will tell you. I know you our cat lover.
Well, I follow Georgia Heart's Heartstark from my favorite murder and she is in the Hollywood area and she has lots of cats.
And she said I got out.
Early and went to a hotel because I got babies and evacuation. You know I will not go well if you don't do it early.
Yeah, okay, So Neil, you mentioned we're still not out of danger, but we we need to get an update on what the weather conditions are like, what we need to watch out for and if things are improving. So we're going to check in now with Mike Wafford from the National Weather Service. Good morning, Mike, Good morning, Thanks for coming on wake up call again with us this morning. Things hopefully a little different from when we talked yesterday.
Can you give us the latest on what we can expect weather wise?
Yeah, Well, as you said, we're not out of the woods yet. We've we've got a little bit of a little bit of a rest bit today, but not really that much we've got. You know, we've still got some gusty went out there, gusting to you know, forty fifty miles per hour and some isolated spots. We are expecting a little bit of a pick up this morning, you know, picking up in a little bit more uh areas like
the palastage fire. We'll see some increase this morning, but you know, not as not anything like what we saw yesterday, but you know enough to you know, keep people vigilant, and you know we're expecting another increase later tonight tomorrow with the offsher winds. We're kind of in this dry offshore wind pattern still for the next week or so, so you know, there's gonna be periods where it's gonna drop off a little bit, and then periods where it's
going to pick up again. So we're gonna just have to deal with that for the next several days, okay.
And so we have the red flag warnings in a place until at least tomorrow night. Could those be extended or does it look like those will run out?
No?
I think that's it's very possible that some of those are, if not all them, we're going to have to be extended beyond that time. As I said, we've got a couple two or three more episodes of some offshore winds that are coming through the early next week. And it's still very dry, humidities are very low, and things are really prime and obviously not doing You're not getting any rain anytime soon. So that's you know, that's something we have to be to be dealing with.
Okay, all right, so watch out for those guests, you wins, but hopefully not so gusty that we can't keep those water dropping helicopters and planes up in the air to fight fires.
Yeah, I mean, it's you know, there will be some areas of some guests, you know, sixty miles per hour in areas, so you know obviously that they'll have to be mindful of that. But not as widespread as what we sell yesterday, and certainly out in the San Gabriel Valley where we saw the really strong winds, you know, eighty one hundred miles of an hour and summary, you know, we won't be seeing that magnitude, but still, you know, very strong. You know, fifty to sixty was nothing to
sneeze at. So people need to be careful and mindful of what's going on out there.
Okay, well, appreciate the update. Thank you.
Mike Wafford with the National Weather Service. Appreciated a lot.
Okay, you're welcome, all right, take.
Care when we come back. Let's see, who are we going to be talking to. Are we talking with somebody from LA Fire? We're going to be talking with somebody about that. We've got so much more to share with you. A lot happened overnight. The fires are still burning and we want to make sure that you are safe, so stay right here with us at KFI. Also want to remind you that the NFL Playoffs begin this Saturday. The Chargers Go Bolts are taking on the Texans in Houston.
It's wild Card time. Pregame coverage starts Saturday morning at eleven thirty. Kickoff is at one twenty five and guess what. You can listen to the game right here on KFI AM six forty are on our sister station, AM five seventy. LA Sports Bolt Up cal Fire says fifty to seventy five percent one of Pacific Palisades has been destroyed by
the wildfire that continues to burn out of control. The fire has burned more than seventeen thousand acres and destroyed at least one thousand homes, schools, businesses, and other buildings. Firefighters have been able to stop a fire in the Hollywood Hills from burning into the heart of Hollywood. The fire started last out last night around five point thirty and quickly spread through Runyon Canyon, burning toward the heart
of Hollywood. Water dropping helicopters made the difference keeping the flames from getting into neighborhoods. Most evacuation orders have been lifted, some are still in place. All LAUSD schools are closed today because of the ongoing fires.
A boil water order is.
In place in the Palisades, but just for the nine to two seven to two zip code. It's either boil water or use bottled water, but don't just drink it out of the tap and then for the Pasadena Water District tied to the fire that's burning, and Altadena officials say do not drink the tap water, use bottled water only. A fire and Studio city has destroyed four hillside homes. The fire started in one home at about nine last night.
It quickly spread to other homes in nearby brush. A knockdown was declared by about ten fifteen pm that home of total loss. It was a four story home on the hillside that collapsed. Five deaths have been blamed on the wildfire that started in Eaton Canyon above Altadena. Family members of one man tel Ktla. Sixty six year old Victor Shaw died with a garden hose in his hands.
Swee excuse did see him laying on the side of the road with the holes. It looks like he was trying to save the home that his parents had had for almost fifty five years.
Shaw's sister says she tried to get him to leave, but she herself had to get out when the house started to burn. The fire has burned nearly eleven thousand acres since Tuesday and continues to burn out of control. Ella County Supervisor Catherine Barger said yesterday that between two hundred and five hundred homes and other buildings have been destroyed. Another thirteen thousand are at risk. Tens of thousands of people remain under evacuation orders. Those numbers expected to go up.
We're seeing numbers of almost a thousand from some sources, and again these numbers are fluid because they have to get in to assess how bad the damage is. There will be a press conference this morning at eight o'clock with fire officials and law enforcement officials to give us an update on all the buyers burning across southern California. Of course, we'll bring that to you here on KFI. Colorado has sent resources to California to help with the wildfires.
The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control has sent a multi mission aircraft outfitted with special infrared and color sensors that tell firefighters on the ground how a fire is behaving. Unit Chief Jeff Rasminsen says there's also a growing list of fire departments that could be called the help if California needs more help.
It could be a simple medical with in the crews that are working all the way up to you, of course, the firefighting effort of protecting homes.
The Colorado crews started making their way to California yesterday. They say they're ready to stay as long as they're needed. Colorado not the only ones sending crews in. We've got firefighters from Oregon and Washington, and Nevada and Arizona all helping. Seventy five hundred firefighters in all helping to fight these fires. Emergency medical supplies and respiratory protection equipment, including N ninety five masks, have been handed out to first responders and
others in southern California because of all the smoke. Experts say wildfire smoke contains harmful pollutants, including fine particulate matter, that pose serious risks to respiratory and cardiovascular health. So I'm recovering from a cold, so if you hear moments of silence, it might be me turning off the microphone and coughing. And I'm just thinking that with the cold and the cough from the cold, and then the stuff
in the air, probably not a good mixture. Neil was saying that he went out yesterday and he and I are both in the Silver Lake area. He went out to run some errands, and again, neither one of us are very close to the fires that are burning. And his eyes were burning and the smoke was thick, So just be careful. I was going to throw away all of my COVID masks. I think that I'm going to dig him out for the next few days at least. President elect Trump has blamed Governor Newsom for the wildfires
in southern California. In a post on his truth social account, Trump accuses Newsom of choosing an endangered fish, the Smelt, over protecting badly needed water resources. Trump claims Newsom refused to sign a bill that would have allowed water from northern California to flow into the areas devastated by wildfires this week. Trump said when he takes office, he will demand Newsom allow water to flow in California. Developer and former candidate for mayor of La Rick Carusoe has criticized
city government for how it's handling wildfires. Details kfi's John Cobalt. A lot of tough questions need to be asked, like why fire hydrants ran out of water early in the firefight in the Palisades area.
The firefighters had been complaining to our people about water pressure and then no water, and it's an incredible thing to think about. This is the second largest city in the United States and we don't have hydrants at work. We had a warning of this.
Curs it, says it's a failure of leadership. He says the winds are terrible and officials could have never prevented all the damage, but he says it could have been mitigated. He says there's also been no brush management program. The hills, he says, controlled by the city, county, and state, have seen no controlled burns for decades.
About three hundred and.
Forty thousand so Cal Edison customers across southern California are still without power because of the winds.
One hundred and sixty nine thousand of those customers are public safety power shut off.
And the others are due to win damage.
Kathleen Dunleavy with Edison says the public safety power shutoffs are intended to keep new fires from starting. It's not clear how long the lines will be de energized. Okay, a couple other thoughts with the fire. I was watching news coverage last night, as I mentioned, watching the Hollywood Hills fire, the one that was burning in Runyon Canyon and really got close to hitting some neighborhoods, but thank
goodness for the water dropping helicopters. But I was watching ABC and so they had their wall to wall coverage, and it was at about seven thirty ish that I was watching, and oh gosh, I can't remember which anchor it was, so anyway, I was watching, and they made the announcement. They said, and for those of you tuning into Jeopardy, Jeopardy will air at two AM. And I thought, priorities, people, priorities.
But I do remember in other past disasters that when soap operas were still a huge thing, there would be some sort of breaking news and people would just be calling into the TV stations because their soap operas got preempted or something like that. But priorities, people, And speaking of priorities, because of all the fire danger, I was sitting in my house and I thought, you know, I really should get my Christmas tree down because it's now turned into a Christmas stick and is kind of a
fire danger. I was trying to see how long I could leave it up. This year, I got my Christmas tree down. I'm sure that that's a very important update for everybody, but it was a big thing for me, so a little levity with all the seriousness and tragedy really just an unreal and surreal situation. Thank you so much for being here and listening right here on Kfire. We're going to keep you up to date on everything
that's happening. Red flag warnings of critical fire danger will be lingering across much of the Southland through at least tomorrow night. We talked to Mike Wafford with the National Weather Service a few minutes ago, and he said the red flag warnings could be extended.
We've got more winds on the way.
Winds have died down quite a bit, but humidity levels are low and that's keeping fire danger high. The most recent fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills last night. Started up in Runyon Canyon around five point thirty and quickly moved toward Hollywood neighborhoods. Evacuation orders were issued for thousands of residents. They were told to get out now. Water dropping helicopters were able to stop that fire from advancing toward Franklin Boulevard. Most of the evacuation orders have
now been lifted. There are still a few in place, and there is an evacuation center for those evacuated residents open at the Pan Pacific Recreation Center. The Eaton fire has grown to at least ten thousand, six hundred acres in Altadena. With that at least nine hundred and seventy two homes and other buildings destroyed. Five people have died in that fire that continues to burn and is zero percent surrounded.
You're expecting to get updated.
Numbers on both the acreage burn and the number of homes and businesses and other structures that have earned that's coming up at eight o'clock and we'll bring that to you right here live on KFI. At five point fifty animals have been impacted by these fires. A lot of animals have been taken to shelters, including to our friends at Pasadena Humane and they need your help. But we're going to give you the latest, tell you how you can help and why you're going to want to help
when you hear some of these stories. But right now, let's say good morning to ABC's Melissa a. Don Good morning, Melissa.
Good morning.
Nice to join you all and be with you. And as we're experiencing these horrible horrible fires.
The worst most damaging fire ever in LA history is the one in Pacific Palisades.
What can you tell us about that one?
So so far, what we've seen in Pacific Palisades essentially has burned more than fifteen thousand acres in Pacific Palisades and Malibu. It has destroyed more than a thousand homes, including you know, we've seen mansions and homes of celebrities like John Goodman, Paris Hilton, Billy, Chris So all losing their homes for this fire. We've also seen schools that have burned to the grounds in Pacific Palacedes and then all of these communities over through Malibu all still threatened
as this fire still zero percent contained. You know, there's a row of multi million dollar homes along Pacific Coast Highway and the ocean in Malibu and those are gone. It is just astonishing to see this burn to the ground. And it's very concerning because of course, are we're still not out of the woods yet with our threat with the San Ana wins.
Yeah, and you mentioned the homes along PCH that burned in Malibu, and if you think about it, we've talked about you know, you mentioned celebrities. We talk about iconic views of the southern California coastline and all those homes along Malibu that you've seen in probably hundreds of movies, those are just, yeah, reduced to nothing.
Absolutely. It is something that's been really threatening. You know, we've been watching the Getty to make sure that the Getty is okay, and so far we have reports that it has been spared, but fire is very very close, and some parts of the villa has been threatened and it is super super concerning. I mean you're looking at local businesses, restaurants, establishments, I mean, so many memories for so many people that have been destroyed.
Yeah, and the evacuation orders them for Pacific Palisades have now reached down into Santa Monica.
Yes, that is something that was just astonishing. Right to think that in urban areas that we could see these evacuations. That is something that I think sparked a nerve in me last night when the sunset fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills, the fact that people in Santa Monica could have to evacuate. Will check this out. In the Hollywood Hills, it's in a you know, the ten acre fireway. It broke out in the canyon there and instead of
spreading south down the hill towards West Hollywood. That then all of a sudden, evacuation orders are out in a super urban area of Hollywood, including the Dolby Theater where the oscars are held. It was so hard to write or mind around this, and then seeing a mass gridlock of traffic of people trying to get out, it was just really eerie situation.
Yeah, but luckily it looks like they really were able to get on that one because of the air assets. They had those water dropping helicopters and they were able to stay ahead of the fire and keep it from getting into the neighborhoods which we were watching it here.
I'm guessing that you were watching at Melissa. I mean, it was within i don't know, a couple hundred feet of just rows and rows of houses, and so close to neighborhoods just north of Franklin Boulevard, which is another major thoroughfare.
Absolutely, and that was the big issue. Right when I've been explaining how these fires broke out, that we realized how critical air support is. But in the first days when this, you know, you know, particularly rare Santa Ana and high wind event broke out these thoughts. You know, the fire crews could not use their aircraft because it was too dangerous. You know, over fifty miles per hours. You know, at a certain point hurricane forced guss wins.
You cannot fly an air it's too dangerous. So firefighters only had to rely on the ground assault, and we saw that it was devastating. That's why so many homes burned, especially in the Pacific Palisades. I mean, that's such a hilly terrain of complicated roads, it is not favorable for firefighters. So in the Hollywood Hills, it was absolutely key that
we saw that air support. And it's key that now all of a sudden, Pacific Palisades and over of course in Altadena, they're getting that air support.
That's what I was just going to ask you, because it was not part of the initial firefight. But now that the winds have died down somewhat, although they are still gusting and expected to continue to blow, hopefully we'll be able to get both helicopters and the fixed wing aircraft fighting the fires today.
Yes, that is the main goal, and hope absolutely, But of course, like you know where the red flag warnings have been extended through tomorrow night, so we are all on edge.
Still, okay, and hoping that we don't get any more new fires breaking out. Is we talk about zero percent containment and what what is the difference between containment Because even when we see big fires, we start to hear, oh, it's fifty percent surrounded, but that doesn't mean the fire's out exactly.
That is such key wording there, and so having I've reported now, you know, for the last seven years in southern California and San Diego and here in LA and Orange County, and when you talk about fires being surrounded, that means that firefighters essentially have a good grasp as to the perimeter right of a fire. However, it is not the containment levels take weeks. We've seen this, and so when we see you know, zero percent containment, that
means that there's not even a perimeter surrounding it. Because that means these fires can still spread, you know, to the west to the east, especially with these wayward gusts that we're going to be seen with these red flag warnings, it is still a huge threat. And that's what makes everything so unnerving right now. Moving forward, because yes, well we're not expected in the forecast to have these record
one hundred and ninety mile per hour wind guts. Any sort of winds can still really fuel these flyers, okay.
And then as far as today, as we mentioned that the fires in both Alta Dina and in the Palisades, there are still homes burning, and it's got to be just unnerving for the people who are one evacuated from the area and can't see if their house is still standing or not. But also in some areas, you know how they there's a house that burns, and then there's a house next door that isn't touched.
But then those winds are whipped up.
So initially maybe you saw it and said, oh, my house made it, like you catch a glimpse of it on TV, and then the wind shifts and those houses could be lost too.
We just don't know yet.
Absolutely. I think that's what's been so frightening. And a lot of people now are also that reason, seeing those images of a home catch flame and then it's okay, and then you know hours later the other one is now on fire or your neighbors is is why so many other folks if you're seeing those videos, how frightening they are. We're seeing, like the ring camera and the surveillance videos. If you're even under an evacuation, not just an order, but a warning or a volunteer warning. People
are heeding them because it is absolutely frightening. And they're not going to have set numbers for how much. I mean, right now, it's just estimates in Pasadena area and Altadena. I mean, we're talking about hundreds of homes and businesses that have been destroyed, but unfortunately it still could be more. And I mean Cruz going out to assass is really
the last thing right now. They're just making sure that people are alive because that's where five people were killed in that area because of that fire, and that was
something that I found so frightening. Also with the eat and fire, it was such a scary situation because it broke out overnight Tuesday into Wednesday while the most dangerous winds were seen, and I really think it took a lot of people off guard, and especially having to evacuate in the middle of the night with you know, howling winds,
things that we've never really seen before here. It was just incredibly frightening and it has just really I don't know if any Angelino that is not directly impacted by all of this. I mean, we all look outside, we all see the gusty winds, we smell the smoke, we see the ominous haze in the sky, and we know somebody who's been directly impacted.
Yeah, and you mentioned that it was unsettling, and I just like, I just started thinking about it. I'm like, so, not only are you being told to get out, but it's not a calm okay you guys, it's time to leave. It's like, hey, the winds are blowing one hundred miles an hour, there's fire coming towards your house, and you need to get out now.
I mean, so you put.
People in an adrenalin rushed panic mode. Rightfully, so.
Absolutely, and look at what happened in Pacific Palisades, because that was the same scenario. They just were able to evacuate in the daytime. But then folks started to abandon their cars, leading their cars on the road, and then that's super problematic, especially in that hilly community for the roads for access. And then we saw LA Fire having to get bulldozers to bulldoze cars out of the street. So the fire engines could pass. I mean, this is just, yeah,
something out of a movie. It's hard to comprehend. But what is the alternative If people cannot you know, physically move and get out safely, and you don't know how fast the fire and the flames are coming, what are you to do? So it's really unnerving. And with the weather forecast, we don't feel comfortable. We're even hearing about forecasting for Santa Ana wins next week, and it's just not okay when you have these two major flame fires
burning that more flames could arise. And then of course the strain on resources is really really a top concern, and even as much aid that's coming from other states and whatnot, it's just a huge strain on firefighters, on you know, materials, on goods, on the water system.
I mean, so much of it, absolutely, And so I think the lesson that we've learned is even if we're not in a fire impacted area, we are impacted, and we need to be ready because we're not out of the woods and we've got more fire weather coming and we still have active fires burning. ABC's Melissa don thank you so much. Thank you be well, you take care here's the latest on the fires. The one in Pacific Palisades has become the most destructive fire in LA's history.
It has burned through more than seventeen thousand acres and destroyed at least one thousand homes and other buildings, including businesses and schools. The fire in Altadena has destroyed almost a thousand homes and other buildings. We're going to be getting an update on this this morning. Fire and law enforce beneficials are doing a press conference at eight o'clock, and as that starts, we will bring it to you
right here on KFI Live. A fire in Studio City last night burned some homes and spread to a hillside. Water dropping helicopters were able to keep that from spreading. A four story home on a hillside was completely consumed and collapsed. At fire is now listed as inactive. Right now, let's say good morning to Kevin McManus with Pasadena Humane. Good morning, Kevin, thanks for getting up early to talk to us today.
Good morning, thanks for having me.
We wanted to talk to you because Pasadena Humane is one of the locations taking in animals from the evacuation area. Can you tell us how many you've taken.
In Yeah, excuse me. As of last night, we've taken in nearly three hundred and fifty displaced pots.
Wow.
Yeah, okay, Yeah, it's truly devastating.
Okay, So tell us about out the animals that are coming into the shelter.
Are people bringing them in? Are they being found?
Well, overwhelmingly it's people who've been bringing their pets in for emergency boarding. We have kind of yesterday afternoon started to get a lot of stray animals in, including many who have sustained injuries, some burns, smoke inhalation. So thankfully we have an ICU where we're able to treat a lot of the animals as they come in.
Okay, So I want to talk about this strays a little bit because we know that as people get out, they get their animals and they go. But if you're saying now that in the burn areas, just people are finding the animals wandering around.
That's right.
Yeah.
I mean we've gotten some calls from from horse responders, from fire and police, and you've been able to assist where you know, obviously like the people if they weren't home during the evacuation or couldn't get back to their pets. And also compounded by the fact with the huge the winds that were probably you know, knocking people's senses over
and you know, blowing doors open. So yeah, now we're just trying to get as much information as possible, Like some of the pets are microchip thankfully, so we're trying to get in touch with owners. But yeah, it's pretty crazy.
Well, and as we were talking about, when when we get an evacuation order, we can hear it and we can plan for it. Animals don't know what the evacuation orders are. They don't know what to do. And with those winds howling, I know my pets were a little.
Spooped by the winds just absolutely they.
Were blowing so strong and they weren't even blowing that strong at my house, so I can't imagine the hurricane force winds that possibly animals would just take off or they would go into hiding.
Yeah, definitely, And I think that's you know, if you have a cat who's a little bit afraid of everything, and you know you're panicked running around trying to grab your possessions and you can't find your cat, you know, what do you do? And you know, I think also just you know, not having like a proper leash or collar for your dog or a carrier for your cat or your bunny. You know, it did, despite all the potential warnings, caught everybody by surprise.
Well yeah, and it makes you think about stuff because, like you just mentioned the carriers, I have two cats and I have one carrier, so I was, you know, I'm like, well, if if we got to go, we got to go, and you guys are going to have to, you know, share some pretty cramped quarters because I think I could shove them both in there, but probably not the best situation for them.
So something to think about for sure.
Yeah, I as kind of a precaution. I have not had to evacuate myself, but my two cat carriers are in my dining room and I'm you know, with betting with something that my cats are familiar with.
I have a little bag of.
Go food should I need to. So, yeah, they're such an important part of any evacuation plan is to plan for, you know, what to do with your pets.
Okay, and here's another thing.
I don't know if this helps, Kevin, but with you mentioned the scaredy cats, which I just happen to have one of those, So he is now sporting a very stylish harness. He didn't like it much, but he's been wearing a harness for the last couple of days just because I know that if he goes into hiding and I need to grab him, that would be and it make it a lot easier.
Yeah, And I think, you know, obviously, like animals do feel our stress. So in a panic, if you're trying to grab a cat who doesn't want to be grabbed, you know, you don't want to injure yourself. What you want to make sure that you get your cats to safety. So harness was a great idea. If you have a crate already, uh, you know, leave the door open so they could you know, throw some treats in there so
they have, you know, a positive association. So should you need to, you can you know, coax them into the crate.
Okay, are you guys still receiving animals at Pasadena Humane, Kevin, or are you pretty much filled to the rafters?
Well we're we of course are still receiving animals from anywhere in our service area, which is basically the entire area of the eating fire. And then some, but yeah, we're still getting getting animals in. We're we're very lucky. Yesterday and a couple of local, uh not too local, but local shelters reached out and took in some of the animals that we already had in our care, just to kind of ease our pressure and give us a little bit more room to help those who are coming in.
Okay, and how long will you be keeping the animals that you've taken in?
As long as necessary? You know, we are hopeful that once you know, people can start going back to their homes, they can come collect their animals. But I mean, as we know, with thousands of homes destroyed, we probably we'll have to hold on to people's pets for, you know,
for much longer. So we're going to kind of think about how to do that and how that works today, whether it be you know, boarding them at the shelter or making use of some of our volunteer foster families to take in owned pets just well their true owners get back on their feet.
Okay.
And I would imagine that taking in three hundred and fifty animals in counting puts a financial strain on your organization which you rely on donations to keep the doors open and keep taking care of the animals until they can get into permanent homes.
So how's that going.
Well, We are, of course fundraising to help with that effort. You know, we have gotten some We've gotten a ton of in kind donations, which is super helpful. But if folks want to help us, the easiest way to do it is to donate through our website. You know, every every dollar donated, it helps the animals in our care and helps us to respond to these these types of emergencies.
Okay, and you mentioned emergencies and taking some of the animals in that had been brought in. What kind of what kind of injuries are we getting? Are we getting like burned? Pause and that kind of.
Thing exactly, Yeah, burns definitely, like smoke inhalation. We have a couple of cats in oxygen tanks right now, and yeah, we've treated a lot of burns and that's kind of unfortunately what we're preparing for for the next couple of days. As you know, the animals who maybe weren't immediately removed from the situation start trickling in.
Okay, and again, Passing Humane could use your help and where can they make a donation Kevin at.
Pasadena Humane dot org. And they're a little pop up about you know, our wild player kind of status update. We'll pop up and there's a link link there to donate.
Okay, and I can vouch for them because well, we do the Wiggle Waggle walk with you every year, which we're doing again this year. And that's where my scaredy cat alex Alexander the Great came from, was Pasadena Humans.
Yes, so happy alumni.
Absolutely, Kevin mcmannus, thank you so much for your time.
I hope you raised lots of money, and thank you so much for taking care of our fur babies.
I just it breaks my heart when you.
See your honor.
Yeah, but that's why we have good people like you and the people at Pasadena Humane to take care of them until we can take care.
Of them again.
Thank you so much.
Ammy.
All right, thank you so much, Kevin. Have a great day.
Okay, real quick, we've got to handle on the news. Coming up, we're going to be talking more about fires. We have a few active fires and they are they're big and nasty. I mean, nothing else to say except they're awful. The Palisades Fire of course, the first one that started more than seventeen thousand acres. That one is still burning out of control, still burning houses, and a thousand homes and businesses destroyed, including some iconic restaurants and
other businesses. There is a boil water notice or drink bottled water for the area nineh two seven to two for that zip code, specifically in Pacific Palisades because of contaminated water from all the fires. Also, the Eaten Fire in Altadena started Tuesday night at six point thirty. It's
grown to ten thy six hundred acres. At least five people have lost their lives in that fire, about a thousand homes and businesses destroyed, And for the Pasadena Water District, we are getting a bottled water only order, so don't don't drink the tap water there, don't boil it, and drink it bottled water only. In Silmar, the fire has
grown to eight hundred and fifty five acres. There are some evacuations in areas north of the two ten freeway, but no injuries, and we're not getting any reports that homes and businesses have been damaged in that fire. And then, of course last night, the fire that broke out in the Hollywood Hills. That was a scary one too, because it burned dangerously close to neighborhoods just north of Hollywood Boulevard.
Most of the evacuation orders have now been lifted, there are still some in place, but water dropping helicopters really made the difference on that one, and we're able to stop the fire's advance and we're very thankful for that. Okay, handle on the news coming up next. Oh and one other reminder, because we still have to play football. NFL playoffs start this Saturday. Might be a nice respite from all the fires. The Chargers are taking on the Texans
in Houston. It's Wild Card pregame coverage time. It begins Saturday morning at eleven thirty. Kickoff to the game is at one twenty five. You can catch the game on either KFI AM six forty or AM five to seventy. LA Sports Bolt Up. This is KFI and KOST HD two Los Angeles, Orange County South End. Weather from KFI. Gusty winds expected in the valley's foothills and mountain areas, with a red flag warning and effect through tomorrow evening.
Sonny Smokey Hies in the low to mid seventies at the beaches, Metro LA and Inlando c lod to mid seventies for the valleys in Inland Empire, fifties to low sixties in the Annelope Valley. Clearing tonight with lows in the forties and fifties, a little cooler tomorrow. I's topping out around seventy at the coast and Metro Area's low seventies for the valleys and Ie and then sixties in the High Desert, and it'll cool into the fifties and sixties for the weekend. We lead local live from the
KFI twenty four hour newsroom. I'm Amy King. This has been your wake up call. If you missed any of wake Up Call, you can listen anytime on the iHeartRadio app.
You've been listening to wake Up Call with me Amy King. You can always hear wake Up Call five to six am Monday through Friday on kf I Am six forty and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.