WEBVTT - Dysfunction & Incompetence Led To LA Fires (10/02) 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:04.240 KFI AM 640. You're listening to the John Kobelt Podcast 0:00:04.300 --> 0:00:13.180 on the iHeartRadio app. KFI AM 640. More stimulating talk radio. 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:18.410 Welcome again. We convene. It's the John Kobelt Show. And 0:00:19.050 --> 0:00:22.290 we go on until 6 o'clock. And then after 6 o'clock, 0:00:22.310 --> 0:00:24.730 we've got the podcast for you, which you should download 0:00:24.750 --> 0:00:27.070 every day because not too many people can hear the 0:00:27.090 --> 0:00:29.190 whole program. And it's easy to listen to it at 0:00:29.250 --> 0:00:32.020 night or the next day. John Cobell show on demand. 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:34.160 That is the podcast on the I heart app. We 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:37.519 are live streaming again. It was close today. We've got 0:00:37.540 --> 0:00:40.059 construction going on, but we got a signal going live 0:00:40.140 --> 0:00:41.620 on X live on YouTube. 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:42.900 If you want to watch. 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:45.640 And I got tipped off that this report was coming 0:00:45.740 --> 0:00:49.739 out today and it was released. And the LA times 0:00:49.780 --> 0:00:53.040 posted the first story that I saw at 9. A.M. 0:00:53.860 --> 0:00:59.370 And this is an independent investigation of, that the Newsom 0:00:59.550 --> 0:01:06.190 administration requested about the Pasadena– I'm sorry, the Palisades and 0:01:06.420 --> 0:01:13.460 Altadena fires. And this is an outside investigative firm. It's 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:18.660 called UL Research Institutes. They have a fire safety research institute. 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:21.240 They do these kind of investigations all over the country. 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:25.750 It is not in any way controlled by either the 0:01:25.780 --> 0:01:30.980 Newsom or the Bass administrations. And there's a lot to 0:01:31.050 --> 0:01:35.630 go through. Well, it's 725 pages long. So if you 0:01:35.650 --> 0:01:36.890 want to hear the whole thing, you've got to go 0:01:36.930 --> 0:01:37.610 find it yourself. 0:01:37.670 --> 0:01:41.090 It's online. You can read it. It's dense. 0:01:41.790 --> 0:01:43.590 But we're going to start with the Palisades, and we're 0:01:43.610 --> 0:01:47.260 going to talk with Roger Bailey, who's one of the 0:01:47.300 --> 0:01:50.720 lead attorneys there. for the plaintiffs in the case between 0:01:50.740 --> 0:01:55.170 the Palisades residents and the city of Los Angeles and 0:01:55.190 --> 0:01:58.830 the DWP and all the government agencies that they hold 0:01:58.890 --> 0:02:03.130 responsible for this mess. And clearly, the government agencies are 0:02:03.170 --> 0:02:06.610 responsible for the mess. We'll see some of the details 0:02:06.630 --> 0:02:10.180 with Roger. Roger, how are you? Welcome again. Hi, John. 0:02:10.220 --> 0:02:10.750 How are you doing? 0:02:11.090 --> 0:02:15.940 I'm very good. And obviously, you have an active case 0:02:16.060 --> 0:02:21.320 going civilly. Have you been negotiating, mediating? That was the 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:23.260 last I heard. Has that gone anywhere? 0:02:24.900 --> 0:02:29.870 Well, I can tell you that it is in process, 0:02:30.010 --> 0:02:31.350 but nothing to report as yet. 0:02:31.550 --> 0:02:31.870 Okay. 0:02:33.430 --> 0:02:37.250 What did you take from whatever you know about this report? Obviously, 0:02:37.290 --> 0:02:39.739 it's a huge, detailed report, but based on what you've 0:02:39.750 --> 0:02:43.080 been able to glean, did anything stand out as new 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:46.579 or just kind of confirms everything we know? 0:02:48.330 --> 0:02:52.350 Well, you mentioned it in the opening that this is 0:02:53.169 --> 0:02:57.960 a report that was commissioned by Newsom. And then it's 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.780 supposed to be a, quote, independent report. What I want 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:07.119 to point out initially is of the 724 pages, barely 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:11.790 two are devoted to the state's failures. So that's your 0:03:11.830 --> 0:03:16.590 first clue that this isn't a real accurate assessment of 0:03:16.810 --> 0:03:21.260 what the state failed to do. And here's what stuck 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:26.600 out to me. They blast the LAFD page after page 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:30.000 after page. And look, you know, I've deposed several of 0:03:30.020 --> 0:03:33.120 the firefighters who told me, hey, we can do better. 0:03:33.490 --> 0:03:36.870 And that's the right approach. Okay, look, fair enough. Make 0:03:36.910 --> 0:03:39.940 whatever comments you want to make about the LAFD. But 0:03:39.980 --> 0:03:42.480 the analysis of what the state didn't do– this is 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:46.580 on state land, remember. Topanga State Park is owned, managed, 0:03:46.620 --> 0:03:49.720 and controlled by the state, which the report confirms. But 0:03:49.740 --> 0:03:55.760 what the report completely misses is that after the LAFD 0:03:55.800 --> 0:04:00.300 declared the January 1 Lockman fire that only burned eight 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:04.380 acres of brush, no homes were endangered, after the LAFD 0:04:04.420 --> 0:04:08.080 declared that fully contained– According to the state park's own 0:04:08.220 --> 0:04:12.420 policies and procedures, the state was then to take over 0:04:12.820 --> 0:04:15.870 the burn scar site, and they didn't do any of that. 0:04:15.970 --> 0:04:19.230 We've talked about this many times before. But the report 0:04:19.270 --> 0:04:23.350 doesn't go into any of that. It just glosses over 0:04:23.390 --> 0:04:25.610 and says, oh, they were developing a plan and they 0:04:25.630 --> 0:04:30.390 just didn't have the time. to complete it. And it's 0:04:30.430 --> 0:04:33.570 all the LFD's fault, basically, is the conclusion. So that's 0:04:33.589 --> 0:04:37.230 a real problem. They gloss over the state's... Look, I've 0:04:37.250 --> 0:04:40.170 said this many times before, and I'll say it again. 0:04:40.870 --> 0:04:43.550 Had the state done what it was required to do 0:04:43.610 --> 0:04:46.310 by its own policy and by virtue of the fact 0:04:46.330 --> 0:04:48.450 that it owned Tobanga State Park, there would have been 0:04:48.730 --> 0:04:52.270 no Palisades fire. You've got six days for them to 0:04:52.310 --> 0:04:55.390 go out, check the site, make sure there's no smoldering 0:04:55.450 --> 0:04:58.360 embers on their land, They didn't do any of it. 0:04:58.690 --> 0:05:03.950 Palisades fire ignites, kills 12, burnt down 7,000 homes, and 0:05:04.270 --> 0:05:07.430 destroyed the entire community. So State Park and the state 0:05:07.450 --> 0:05:10.710 of California are to blame for the Palisades fire starting 0:05:10.740 --> 0:05:11.380 in the first place. 0:05:11.420 --> 0:05:13.980 So what do you think went on here with the investigation? 0:05:14.020 --> 0:05:20.840 They're trumpeting this as this outside investigators. And Newsom, obviously, 0:05:20.860 --> 0:05:24.080 is very sneaky and slippery and can't be trusted. I 0:05:24.100 --> 0:05:27.410 guess the word went out to this community. investigative unit, 0:05:27.470 --> 0:05:32.610 that we're not going to be cooperating with an investigation 0:05:32.690 --> 0:05:36.729 into state practices? I mean, it is bizarre that they 0:05:37.290 --> 0:05:40.109 reduced the state's involvement to such a short passage. 0:05:42.210 --> 0:05:47.170 Our assessment, exactly, because, you know, just in the few 0:05:47.210 --> 0:05:50.280 months that we've been permitted to take discovery, we've uncovered 0:05:50.540 --> 0:05:54.430 a mountain of of evidence demonstrating the state's failures and 0:05:54.550 --> 0:05:58.450 role in the Palisades fire. And to see almost virtually 0:05:58.610 --> 0:06:03.690 no time devoted to what the state got wrong, you know, 0:06:03.710 --> 0:06:07.260 basically they said, oh, their plan wasn't fully implemented. And 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.220 that's it. No mention of we didn't have a watch 0:06:10.260 --> 0:06:13.520 crew up there. We didn't have, you know, our park 0:06:13.580 --> 0:06:17.000 rangers up there looking at and then doing something about 0:06:17.140 --> 0:06:19.530 what they saw. Remember, I told you last time I 0:06:19.570 --> 0:06:26.230 was on, An email, a text message was belatedly disclosed 0:06:26.270 --> 0:06:29.860 by the state, which showed the morning of January 7th, 0:06:29.970 --> 0:06:33.650 just four hours before the Palisades fire ignites, a state 0:06:33.710 --> 0:06:39.110 park employee looks at a video feed from the Lachman 0:06:39.130 --> 0:06:42.260 burn scar, sees all kinds of smoke and debris spinning 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.190 up in the air, and rather than going out And 0:06:45.230 --> 0:06:49.040 investigating or calling 911 or calling LAFD back, he makes 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.440 a joke on a text thread with his coworkers, oh, look, 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.719 the burn scar is doing its best decimal impression. Had 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:58.370 they acted in those four hours before the fire, again, 0:06:58.460 --> 0:07:04.070 no Palisades fire occurs at all. That's number one. So 0:07:04.410 --> 0:07:07.450 why they didn't do a deeper dive on the state, 0:07:07.490 --> 0:07:11.240 you can draw whatever conclusions you want. It's supposed to 0:07:11.260 --> 0:07:14.180 be across all the different government agencies. 0:07:14.550 --> 0:07:18.210 Yeah, I'm terribly suspicious and cynical about this since Newsom 0:07:18.250 --> 0:07:21.290 is running for president and he's trying to escape this 0:07:21.350 --> 0:07:25.030 particular scandal. And I don't know what kind of deal 0:07:25.050 --> 0:07:27.390 was made, but I just there was no way to 0:07:27.450 --> 0:07:31.220 read 725 pages today. And I just assumed that the 0:07:31.260 --> 0:07:32.640 state's role would be in there. 0:07:33.780 --> 0:07:34.140 The L.A. 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:35.920 Times largely focused on L.A. 0:07:36.060 --> 0:07:40.940 F.D. Yes, it's mostly– now, remember, I'll give you the reason, 0:07:40.980 --> 0:07:43.940 and again, this is me as a lawyer representing several 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:48.610 thousand Palisades fire victims. Because of the firefighter immunity rule, 0:07:48.630 --> 0:07:50.730 which is a rule in the government code that says 0:07:50.770 --> 0:07:54.790 you cannot sue the LAFD or firefighters for negligent firefighting, 0:07:55.610 --> 0:07:59.630 we're watching these different government agencies try to pass all 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:02.330 the blame– So the firefighters, because they say, well, if 0:08:02.390 --> 0:08:04.720 everything is blamed on the firefighters, then we don't have 0:08:04.740 --> 0:08:08.280 to pay anything. And that's the LADWP is doing that. 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:11.420 California is doing that. So that's the reason that we 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:15.430 think so much blame. And look, I'm having listened to 0:08:15.490 --> 0:08:20.450 some of these firefighters who genuinely care about their roles 0:08:20.650 --> 0:08:24.150 in the community. Of course, they want to do better. 0:08:24.230 --> 0:08:27.360 But all the blame doesn't belong with the LAFD, frankly. 0:08:27.380 --> 0:08:31.340 This lands with the states. And then I'll make a 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:36.670 couple of observations about the LADWP. The infamous Santa Ynez Reservoir, 0:08:36.690 --> 0:08:38.690 of course, we all know it was drained for months. 0:08:39.809 --> 0:08:44.610 This report concludes that, well, yes, the Santa Ynez Reservoir 0:08:44.650 --> 0:08:47.880 was drained, but even if there had been water in it, 0:08:48.350 --> 0:08:51.790 there's nothing that could have been done to keep water 0:08:51.850 --> 0:08:57.240 in the hydrants. And, you know, the message to residents 0:08:57.460 --> 0:09:01.760 that are serviced by LADWP apparently is, do not ever 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:04.199 expect water to come out of a fire hydrant in 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:08.260 the event of a wildfire. That's an unrealistic expectation. 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:13.720 Who's been pushing this, LADWP? Or is this in the report? 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:18.939 It's in the report, but that's exactly the... If you 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:22.020 remember Janice Quinones back in the very beginning when she 0:09:22.070 --> 0:09:26.429 was here before leaving for Puerto Rico... She was saying, 0:09:26.460 --> 0:09:30.640 I don't know, this was like a straw with too 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:32.400 many holes in it, and all the water in the 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:35.460 world wouldn't have allowed firefighters to fight the fire. But 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:39.220 that we know is not accurate, and it's because the 0:09:39.260 --> 0:09:42.860 San Andres Reservoir didn't have water in it. The pressure 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:45.720 in the system dropped below what was needed to allow 0:09:45.740 --> 0:09:49.740 the pumps to work. Firefighters ran out of water within hours. 0:09:50.340 --> 0:09:51.500 So this is a farce. 0:09:51.890 --> 0:09:54.240 All right. Let's hold on for just a moment. You 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.860 can come back for another segment here. You bet. 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:57.240 Okay. 0:09:57.750 --> 0:10:01.700 Roger Bailey, lead plaintiff attorney. in the Palisades Fire. Big 0:10:01.980 --> 0:10:06.689 state investigative report. Actually, the state commissioned this outside agency, 0:10:06.790 --> 0:10:12.250 but somehow the agency never really found much to write 0:10:12.309 --> 0:10:16.390 about the state's screw-ups. which led to the fire. We'll 0:10:16.429 --> 0:10:16.910 talk more. 0:10:17.710 --> 0:10:24.050 You're listening to John Kobelt on demand from KFI AM 640. 0:10:26.030 --> 0:10:30.140 KFI AM 640, more stimulating talk radio. John Kobelt's show, 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:34.400 and we continue with Roger Bailey. He's one of the 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:38.580 lead attorneys for the Palisades residents who are suing the city, 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:43.210 the state, the LADWP. for their responsibility in the January 0:10:43.250 --> 0:10:48.990 Palisades fire. And today, the Fire Safety Research Institute, that 0:10:49.050 --> 0:10:52.730 is a division of UL Research Institutes, they'd been hired 0:10:52.770 --> 0:10:57.339 by the Newsom administration to do an independent investigation into 0:10:57.380 --> 0:11:01.740 the Palisades and Altadena fires. And they went into a 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:04.459 lot of... We'll start with the Palisades fire. Yeah, I'll 0:11:04.500 --> 0:11:07.500 get to the Altadena fire later in the hour. And 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:09.040 a lot of blame was heaped on. 0:11:09.740 --> 0:11:09.860 L.A. 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:15.369 Fire Department, but somehow they glided past the responsibilities of 0:11:15.410 --> 0:11:19.650 the state since this was on state land and state 0:11:19.690 --> 0:11:22.809 employees were aware of the smoldering and there was a 0:11:22.990 --> 0:11:26.340 protocol to handle that. And had they followed it, then 0:11:26.900 --> 0:11:31.840 this massive fire never would have happened. So we'll talk 0:11:31.860 --> 0:11:34.080 about all this, but a little more with Roger Bailey here, 0:11:34.100 --> 0:11:35.640 because when we left off, you said you had a 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:37.270 couple of points and we went through one of them 0:11:37.610 --> 0:11:41.640 about the DWP. You know, they've been trying to sell 0:11:41.710 --> 0:11:47.850 everybody that it wouldn't have mattered if the reservoir was full. 0:11:48.090 --> 0:11:51.189 It's amazing how hard they try to sell this nonsense 0:11:52.050 --> 0:11:57.140 because that was 117 million gallons of water. And one 0:11:57.179 --> 0:12:00.020 way or the other, firefighters could have used that either 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:04.270 with helicopter drops or to keep the pressure up. It's just– 0:12:04.500 --> 0:12:07.340 but they want to die on that hill. It wouldn't 0:12:07.380 --> 0:12:12.809 have made a difference. because it's so damning. It's Roger. 0:12:12.890 --> 0:12:13.630 Right. Yeah. 0:12:14.030 --> 0:12:19.530 And they've been saying that from the beginning. And this report, 0:12:19.550 --> 0:12:24.960 the 724 page report that was released today analyzes the 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:28.920 water issue. And it also analyzes the failure of the 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:33.020 LADWP to de-energize their power. So just finishing up with 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:38.270 the water issue, The conclusion was, well, you have this 0:12:38.380 --> 0:12:41.780 much demand, and the system just couldn't keep up with 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:46.780 the demand, and that was the death knell for water supply. 0:12:47.940 --> 0:12:52.160 But remember that in the last 30 years, there have 0:12:52.179 --> 0:12:56.429 been 90 wildfires that have been in that area. This 0:12:56.490 --> 0:13:02.550 isn't like a once-in-a-millennium event. This is a frequent occurrence. 0:13:02.590 --> 0:13:07.100 And when they designed that system, the LADWP knew that 0:13:07.140 --> 0:13:10.300 if they drained the reservoir, it was going to eliminate 0:13:10.380 --> 0:13:13.739 a critical source of not only water but pressure to 0:13:13.780 --> 0:13:18.660 the system. And yet they kept the reservoir empty, leaving 0:13:18.730 --> 0:13:21.670 it not only without the water for helicopters and for 0:13:21.690 --> 0:13:27.090 the system but also– you eliminate the much-needed pressure, and 0:13:27.150 --> 0:13:31.410 the pumps failed shortly thereafter. And as we know, firefighters 0:13:31.450 --> 0:13:34.340 had no water to use to fight the fire. So 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:40.280 that is, again, a failure of design. And in terms 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:43.940 of the maintenance, LEDWP knew that's how the system was 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:46.670 designed back in the 60s, and that if they took 0:13:46.750 --> 0:13:50.630 the reservoir offline, they better replace it with a substitute reservoir. 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:53.420 And they did none of those things. All the reservoirs 0:13:53.460 --> 0:13:57.920 in the area were empty. The report doesn't point that out. 0:13:57.940 --> 0:14:04.380 It says, well, you know, just too much demand, and therefore— Of. 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.080 Course there's too much demand if all the reservoirs are empty. 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:13.300 Nice investigation. Could get a six-year-old to figure that out. 0:14:15.100 --> 0:14:17.210 You know, if your drinky cup is empty, then you 0:14:17.250 --> 0:14:18.089 don't have a drinky. 0:14:19.110 --> 0:14:19.610 That's right. 0:14:21.940 --> 0:14:25.610 I was just reading the quick summary that the L.A. 0:14:26.070 --> 0:14:30.930 Times had. It just hit me. What a massive failure 0:14:31.390 --> 0:14:34.240 in so many different directions by so many people in 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:38.120 so many different departments and layers of government. I mean, 0:14:38.300 --> 0:14:45.630 just a total collapse. Unprepared, unable to execute. It's really depressing. 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:49.540 Well, and I've said this many times before, and I'll 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:53.800 say it again, and the report actually confirms this, that 0:14:54.540 --> 0:14:58.440 there were so many failures of the government on multiple 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:03.900 levels at a time when the people, the public, expected 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:07.660 their government to be able to respond to something like this. 0:15:08.260 --> 0:15:15.550 And the government, multiple government agencies, failed the public miserably. And, 0:15:15.570 --> 0:15:19.070 you know, this is a wake-up call. I mean, you know, 0:15:19.210 --> 0:15:23.430 it's unfortunate that it took something of this magnitude to 0:15:24.010 --> 0:15:29.220 shock the government. But it needs to— we need better. We 0:15:29.260 --> 0:15:32.640 deserve better. We're the highest taxed state in the nation. 0:15:33.060 --> 0:15:36.250 We should have the best of everything. And we've got 0:15:36.490 --> 0:15:42.520 third-world nation quality taxes. infrastructure and leadership um and and 0:15:42.620 --> 0:15:44.360 it's just you know we. 0:15:44.300 --> 0:15:47.160 Really do need a change we really do and you 0:15:47.180 --> 0:15:49.600 know i'm sure there's people from the third world who 0:15:49.620 --> 0:15:52.300 would feel insulted by that comparison it's like hey we 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:53.640 can handle our stuff better. 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:54.140 Than this. 0:15:55.970 --> 0:15:57.460 And they can't and they do and. 0:15:57.380 --> 0:16:00.110 They yeah they can't all right roger thank you for 0:16:00.170 --> 0:16:03.050 coming on and if more comes out we'll uh we'll. 0:16:02.650 --> 0:16:04.750 Hook up again here okay You bet. 0:16:04.790 --> 0:16:05.380 Happy to talk. 0:16:05.540 --> 0:16:05.900 All right. 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:09.540 Roger Bailey, one of the lead attorneys in the lawsuit 0:16:09.580 --> 0:16:12.720 by the residents of Pacific Palisades against the city, the 0:16:12.780 --> 0:16:17.960 state and the LADWP. We've got we've got a lot 0:16:17.980 --> 0:16:20.620 to cover today with this. Not only this, but the 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:22.820 Altadena fire. And we'll try to get to it as 0:16:22.860 --> 0:16:25.570 much as we can. Both down later in the show. 0:16:26.890 --> 0:16:32.830 You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM 640. 0:16:37.550 --> 0:16:41.100 KFI AM 640. More stimulating talk radio. The John and 0:16:41.140 --> 0:16:42.320 Ken show. John Kobelt. 0:16:42.700 --> 0:16:45.980 Hey, what did you just say? The John Kobelt show. Oh, 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:48.820 my gosh. You have not done that in years. I know. 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.080 It's been a few months. I thought it was a 0:16:53.180 --> 0:16:58.310 few years. All right. You caught me. I'm guilty. Carry on. 0:16:58.330 --> 0:16:59.010 All right. 0:17:00.110 --> 0:17:03.150 We are here from 3 to 6 after 6 o'clock. 0:17:03.170 --> 0:17:06.250 John Kobelt show on demand on the iHeart app. Just 0:17:06.290 --> 0:17:08.270 finished up a half hour with Roger Bailey. He's the 0:17:08.290 --> 0:17:11.070 lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the Palisades with the 0:17:11.130 --> 0:17:18.189 fire because a 724-page investigation was released today by the 0:17:18.260 --> 0:17:23.200 Fire Safety Research Institute. It's a division of UL Research Institute. 0:17:24.060 --> 0:17:28.620 And they investigated the Altadena and Palisades fires and found 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:35.350 a whole lot of blame on– many different agencies, many 0:17:35.430 --> 0:17:37.770 different layers of government, many different people. 0:17:38.490 --> 0:17:41.100 It is a colossal failure. 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:45.220 And, you know, at first it's like, oh, so we're 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:50.040 just going to blame the system, right? That's what people 0:17:50.100 --> 0:17:55.510 in government do in order to evade responsibility and specific criticism. Well, 0:17:55.530 --> 0:18:00.530 the system failed. Except you people in government are the system. 0:18:01.830 --> 0:18:05.490 and names should be named. Some of them have been 0:18:05.550 --> 0:18:09.640 named over time, but when you, I just, you know, 0:18:09.700 --> 0:18:13.540 read some summaries from news articles because this came out 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:19.040 mid morning and it's 724 pages and it's the overall 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:24.199 feeling is, is depressing. It's like everybody failed. Everybody who 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:28.380 is supposed to prepare for a wildfire in Los Angeles, 0:18:29.260 --> 0:18:35.619 and then strategize and execute and protect us and our homes, 0:18:38.290 --> 0:18:43.910 there's just massive failure from beginning to end. It's astonishing. 0:18:43.970 --> 0:18:46.830 Just to go through the list of different agencies and 0:18:46.850 --> 0:18:49.890 the different reasons, it would probably take about a half 0:18:49.910 --> 0:18:52.629 an hour just to list it and not even explain it. 0:18:53.430 --> 0:18:57.109 And so there's a larger question here beyond just saying 0:18:57.170 --> 0:19:04.300 this department and that department and this particular director. What 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:11.820 is wrong with everyone in government, including the firefighter hierarchy 0:19:12.619 --> 0:19:17.060 and maybe some of the firefighters themselves and the mayor 0:19:17.500 --> 0:19:20.919 and the city council and all the bureaucrats? What is 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:26.200 wrong with everybody? How could there be so much failure? 0:19:27.140 --> 0:19:31.680 You can't be perfect, especially when something like this happens. 0:19:32.390 --> 0:19:36.790 But this was a complete knockout within the first few minutes. 0:19:36.830 --> 0:19:40.490 Within the first few minutes, you could have predicted what 0:19:40.530 --> 0:19:43.330 was going to happen if you had known just how 0:19:43.450 --> 0:19:48.310 badly prepared and how incapable of execution everyone was. 0:19:49.310 --> 0:19:49.840 This was bad. 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:57.380 Doomed from the moment the winds kicked up the old fire. 0:19:58.700 --> 0:20:01.060 There was no chance anybody had. 0:20:04.900 --> 0:20:05.070 And I. 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:09.440 It's such a cliche. 0:20:09.580 --> 0:20:12.159 And we say this almost every day, but all the 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:17.159 money we spend. And what, what I fear and what 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:21.719 I think is going on is they really don't care. 0:20:23.290 --> 0:20:25.649 Spencer Pratt's line about, they let us burn. 0:20:25.690 --> 0:20:27.609 It's like, yeah, that's true. 0:20:28.770 --> 0:20:32.490 They chose to let everything burn because they didn't care 0:20:32.550 --> 0:20:34.810 if it did burn. And I know that's hard for 0:20:34.850 --> 0:20:37.690 a lot of people to understand because I see these 0:20:37.770 --> 0:20:40.050 arguments all the time online. You know, I see it 0:20:40.090 --> 0:20:43.600 on social media and the Nextdoor app. And there are people, 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:48.060 and I don't know why they have such an investment 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:55.050 emotionally in their favorite mayor or governor or legislator or agency, 0:20:55.630 --> 0:20:59.310 but they will not accept that the people that you 0:20:59.369 --> 0:21:02.889 may have voted for or who have been hired, that 0:21:02.950 --> 0:21:06.129 our tax money pays for, are really not only bad 0:21:06.170 --> 0:21:11.000 at their jobs, but don't care if they're bad. And 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:13.820 they literally don't care if you die in a fire. 0:21:15.140 --> 0:21:18.240 And if you do die in a fire, your family 0:21:18.340 --> 0:21:19.640 is not going to get any justice. 0:21:21.190 --> 0:21:21.810 Not easily. 0:21:22.910 --> 0:21:27.170 They'll do everything to cover up and interfere in the investigation. 0:21:27.710 --> 0:21:32.169 You see that going on now. There's all kinds of investigations, 0:21:32.290 --> 0:21:37.359 and there's lawsuits, and absolutely nobody is just coming clean 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:42.020 and telling the truth. Nobody wants to say, I screwed up. 0:21:42.540 --> 0:21:45.600 Nobody ever will. And they don't care that they screwed up. 0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:50.960 They just want to avoid consequences. Nobody's been fired. This 0:21:51.020 --> 0:21:54.590 is like everything that's gone on in the country for 0:21:54.609 --> 0:22:00.370 the last, I don't know, 25 years. Who got fired 0:22:00.450 --> 0:22:04.990 for botching the threat from al-Qaeda 25 years ago? 0:22:05.090 --> 0:22:05.590 Nobody. 0:22:07.090 --> 0:22:10.990 Who got fired for the whole mortgage meltdown, economic crash? 0:22:11.150 --> 0:22:11.640 Nobody. 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:18.619 Who got fired for the worst wildfire for any city 0:22:18.660 --> 0:22:19.960 in the history of the United States? 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:20.820 Nobody. 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:25.210 Nobody. And then you look at this report and you 0:22:25.310 --> 0:22:29.050 see how a few simple things could have prevented the 0:22:29.090 --> 0:22:29.810 whole mess. 0:22:31.109 --> 0:22:33.290 And it's like, well, why? 0:22:34.390 --> 0:22:42.820 Why are people so stupid, lazy, uncaring, unthinking? 0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:43.760 All of them? 0:22:43.780 --> 0:22:46.800 I mean, you have an organization and you always have 0:22:46.840 --> 0:22:51.920 some duds. You know, you always have somebody's kid who's 0:22:51.940 --> 0:22:55.629 been hired. who is just not qualified for the job, 0:22:55.690 --> 0:22:56.590 and so you try to hide. 0:22:56.490 --> 0:22:56.970 Him in a court. 0:22:57.210 --> 0:23:00.140 But most– and most– the thing is most people think 0:23:00.180 --> 0:23:05.840 it's like, well– That's my guy. That's my woman. That's 0:23:06.040 --> 0:23:10.100 my representative, my mayor, my city council person, my governor, 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:13.030 my fire chief, my police chief. 0:23:13.430 --> 0:23:15.190 They're all good people. They all want the best. 0:23:15.869 --> 0:23:17.770 They have to look at their performance. I always say 0:23:17.810 --> 0:23:20.310 this to people. Don't go by what they say. Certainly 0:23:20.350 --> 0:23:23.590 don't go by what you hope they are. Look at 0:23:23.670 --> 0:23:27.760 what they've done. And suck it up and don't come 0:23:27.820 --> 0:23:30.550 up with a bunch of excuses. Well, nobody could have 0:23:30.570 --> 0:23:33.790 done anything. Well, no, we didn't get a reservoir. Well, 0:23:33.850 --> 0:23:37.030 it's because of the clock. No, it's because of the 0:23:37.090 --> 0:23:42.430 incompetence of the people that you hired with your votes 0:23:43.300 --> 0:23:45.180 and that they hired with your money. 0:23:46.880 --> 0:23:49.240 It's because they're bad at their jobs and they don't care. 0:23:50.330 --> 0:23:53.629 And they're bad by the dozens, by the hundreds. And 0:23:53.730 --> 0:23:56.669 I don't know what kind of virus everybody caught and 0:23:56.710 --> 0:23:59.230 why it's spread everywhere because it didn't used to be 0:23:59.290 --> 0:24:06.260 this way. People made mistakes. People screwed up. But everybody, 0:24:07.160 --> 0:24:09.959 everybody's screwing up at the same time from top to bottom. 0:24:10.300 --> 0:24:13.260 And a lot of this was just people not showing up, 0:24:13.720 --> 0:24:14.800 people not caring. 0:24:15.880 --> 0:24:19.609 How could that be? I don't know what happened to 0:24:19.650 --> 0:24:21.210 the whole society here. 0:24:24.250 --> 0:24:27.040 Something happened when we weren't looking because I think for 0:24:27.140 --> 0:24:31.199 all the stuff, all the stupid, stupid political fights that 0:24:31.260 --> 0:24:34.700 everybody engages in now on a lot of stupid issues, 0:24:35.300 --> 0:24:39.820 the one thing that we would count on is when 0:24:39.859 --> 0:24:44.050 you have days and days of warnings about a massive 0:24:44.109 --> 0:24:51.209 risk of a wildfire in a residential area. High winds, 0:24:51.790 --> 0:24:59.000 high heat, dry conditions, high fire conditions, high wind conditions, 0:24:59.480 --> 0:25:00.280 forecasted for. 0:25:00.220 --> 0:25:00.680 Days and days. 0:25:00.920 --> 0:25:04.560 You expect that they have a whole emergency plan that 0:25:04.600 --> 0:25:07.119 kicks in and everybody rushes to the battle stations. 0:25:08.950 --> 0:25:10.629 And if it's all for nothing, well, then that's a 0:25:10.670 --> 0:25:11.070 good thing. 0:25:12.170 --> 0:25:14.350 If everybody showed up early and earned a lot of 0:25:14.430 --> 0:25:17.250 overtime and went on high alert and it turned out 0:25:17.270 --> 0:25:21.030 to be nothing, it's like, okay, that's a win. But 0:25:21.070 --> 0:25:24.830 nobody showed up. Nobody went to the battle stations. In fact, 0:25:25.130 --> 0:25:28.600 there was no battle plan at all, as this report shows. 0:25:28.730 --> 0:25:29.600 There just wasn't. 0:25:30.100 --> 0:25:31.840