WEBVTT - LA on Fire and in Solidarity 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:04.360 Sara Dar Salcedo grew up in a rancho in rural northern. 0:00:04.000 --> 0:00:05.680 Mexico in a beautiful ranch. 0:00:06.400 --> 0:00:08.720 When he was a teenager, his family moved to the 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:12.319 La area, a far cry from ranch life, but Sal 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:15.080 took to his new home and found his life's work. 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:17.880 I worked on some of the best salons in La 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:20.960 as an assistant, and then I got my own chair 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:24.319 and I decided to open up my own space at 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:27.680 age twenty eight. And my salon is about to be 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:31.600 seven years old and Carnovo Art Salon, and I love it. 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:34.199 It's a safe space where everyone's welcome. 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:37.479 When where people can come in and make the dreams 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:38.199 come reality. 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:42.440 Sal also moved to a neighborhood that he really. 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:45.879 Loved, Altadina. It's the most in my opinion, the most communal, 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:46.760 beautiful place. 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:50.040 Two weeks ago, Sal took a vacation in Baja, his 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:53.040 former hometown, and as he drove back to his home 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:57.040 in Altadena to his family, his partner called him, she's. 0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:03.600 Be really careful. The wind's getting crazier getting clothes. Maybe 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:06.319 like about an hour away from Altadena, and. 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:08.480 I call another friend of mine who lives really close 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:10.880 to the mountain I said, Jess, how are you? She says, dude, 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:13.640 look at this and the fire's like right outside her house, 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:15.560 and she's like, we're grabbing everything. 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:16.479 Where are you? 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:21.560 And just start really just feeling, you know, like, oh 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:22.160 my goodness. 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:23.280 I start speeding up. 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:27.640 I started driving faster and faster, skipping trees and branches, 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.320 and all I see is lines of cars getting out 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:32.000 of Altadena. 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:36.399 Sal was heading towards the fire as people were fleeing 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:39.119 from it. He got home to his six year old 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:42.120 son and his partner. It was around seven pm and 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:44.720 the power had been out for hours, so they all 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:49.400 put headlamps on and started packing, grabbing clothes, documents, water, 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:51.320 and crates for their pets. 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:53.200 We have about three cats and a dog. 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:56.120 They spent about thirty minutes loading up the car. 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:59.000 Oh, I did grab honey, honey in a pack of butter. 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:01.560 That's what we grabbed because we love honey and butter. 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:02.680 We figured it will be all right. 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:14.240 They hugged, prayed, and left. Sal was headed for his 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:19.400 hair salon in downtown LA without a plan. During the drive, 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:22.480 friends started calling asking if he and his family had 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:24.960 a place to go, and a couple of hours later 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:27.880 they ended up going to a close friend's house in Crenshaw, 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:34.160 an area safe from the fires. Sal didn't sleep much 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:35.440 the first night away from home. 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:39.799 I kept waking up. I will fry it. 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:43.920 At one point I had a dream myself us like 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:45.040 my family on fire. 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:51.200 And then. 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:55.920 The next morning I just felt like I had to go. 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:03.000 So he drove to Aldadina alone. Police cars, firefighters everywhere, 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:07.760 houses still on fire. His neighborhood turned to ashes. 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:13.160 I didn't know emotionally what to do. You know, it 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:15.200 was just odd. It was odd. 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:18.600 Some houses were just completely gone nothing. There was a 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:21.120 lot of chimney standing. 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:25.000 And then South saw what was left of his house. 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.520 So my chimney was standing, maybe like parts of the 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:33.440 wall were standing, like the arches. Mainly all the ceramics stay, 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:35.720 you know. So there was this wall, the entrance of 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:39.840 a wall. I have a Buddha, a Buddha statue. He's 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:44.119 there meditating, and then there's a sun in the moon 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:47.080 that I got in and baja like little clay, and 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:49.120 all the pots from my plants are there. 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:55.480 South thought of all the things he wished he had 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:56.440 brought with him. 0:03:56.680 --> 0:03:59.080 It's almost like when you you know, life flashes before 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:01.760 you looking at things like I have some pictures of 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:04.760 my parents. Pictures that we have are pieces. I mean, 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:07.920 I love boots. I have these beautiful leather boots. If 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:09.400 I would have done, I would to grab my boots 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:11.160 because those probably were my precious things. 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:11.880 But I didn't, you. 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:14.840 Know, because you're looking at your your animals, and you're 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:17.440 looking at your family, and I kept checking on my 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:19.920 son that he's okay, and so it's almost like every 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:23.480 time you're thinking about grabbing something, you just don't, at 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:25.919 least for us, because it's just a sense of like, no, 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:26.880 let's make sure that. 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:27.920 We get out of here. 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.240 We did not think for a one second that our 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:36.240 house would have been burned. We're very very faithful people, 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:40.600 very spiritual people. You start thinking of beautiful things that 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:42.640 happened there, you should thinking how do I share those 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:43.599 with my family? 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.080 How do I tell my son? How do I tell 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:46.719 my parents? 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:49.320 That's really when I broke down, when I called my 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:51.159 my dad. 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:59.719 Yeah, Sal remembered the first time his dad came to 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:02.840 see his new house. How his dad joked with Sal 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:06.279 telling him that he'd never be bored as a homeowner 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:09.720 now because it would always be something to fix. The 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:12.359 landlord who no more landlords. 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:16.279 Son, I learned to love our house because I was 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:19.120 always on the move, you know, I've always I never 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:23.360 owned anything, And so for me, the idea of loss 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:26.800 is very interesting because I did allow myself to attach 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:31.400 to this beautiful place where it's the American dream. 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:34.720 Really, you know, I came from another country. 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:36.120 I made it. 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:39.279 I thought I have a place, I have a business, 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:43.600 I have a beautiful family, and then just to see 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:50.880 it be gone in a matter of hours. I still 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:54.520 don't comprehend what it's like. Like, like I said, the emotions, 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:57.039 like you hear me, I'm like laughing, I'm biggling and 0:05:57.080 --> 0:05:57.640 I'm crying. 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:04.240 Like it's really hard for them mind to wrap around it. 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:05.120 So we are. 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:10.120 A thin that sadds me the most is my son's 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:17.800 school being gone, because those people, those children are just 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:20.520 amazing and so all the parents. You know, it's I 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:21.560 call a heaven on Earth. 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:29.480 From evacuation day on every day, sal has been happily 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:33.640 overwhelmed with support. Support that shows up in different ways 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:38.120 social media fundraising efforts, surprise visits at his hair salon 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:41.400 from friends and clients, and in the kind of cross 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:44.920 cultural solidarity that's very on brand for La. He has 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:48.200 his Chinese in laws dropping off Chinese Tamalis and his 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:52.880 Mexican family dropping off Mexican Damalis. Sal says he's grateful 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:55.640 for the love he has experienced and is trying to 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:58.159 focus all his energy on rebuilding. 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:02.479 Like my son, the beautiful things I heard, he was sad. 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.640 He said, oh man, my school burn. I'm not going 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:08.080 to be able to go play anymore. And then a 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:11.120 couple of seconds lighter, he said, well, maybe I'll buy 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:15.040 my friends to go play in the ashes. You know, 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:20.080 I think children get it as always possibilities. I hope 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:22.720 we can continue to see possibilities. 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:38.160 Los Angeles has never seen this level of destruction, this 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:41.400 level of loss, and with social media, many of us 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:44.040 are seeing things that are breaking our hearts from afar, 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:47.440 like that video outside of the McDonald's when the winds 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:50.760 were so extreme that the flames seemed to be spreading 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:55.080 sideways by a blowtorch, or the aerial images of thick, 0:07:55.400 --> 0:08:04.480 red and orange clouds moving like a strong undersea current. 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:24.240 Local TV outlets have allowed us to witness moments of solidarity, 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:29.280 like when this Telemundo reporter Alex Basquez walked through the 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:32.760 rubble in Altadena wearing a face covering. He panned the 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.560 camera to residents who were using a garden host to 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:36.960 put out the leftover. 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:40.960 SMOKEAVSCA, no there in the karade. 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:43.640 The firefighters have told people not to stay home. 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:45.320 He says, you live. 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:48.480 Here right I live right there. Okay, they saved your house, 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:51.360 Your neighbors saved your house. My neighbor, I work for him. 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:53.600 I work for my neighbor, and I helped his family, 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:54.439 and he helped mine. 0:08:55.000 --> 0:09:00.839 Subasino or moments of strength, like this young Latina nurse 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:03.680 standing in a light haze outside of a nursing home. 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:07.160 She spoke to Chris cavezas a reporter from Los Angeles 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:11.199 Telemundo about helping elderly folks evacuate. 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:16.439 Cos because I got up Alidad and suskas Perianos or 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:17.480 the La Silla. 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:23.280 Wou See. 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:25.720 She says, they had to help patients who couldn't move. 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:28.679 It was four of us, she says, me, someone who 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:31.320 works in the kitchen, and two police officers struggling to 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:32.320 get people out. 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:34.600 And most persona's Joe. 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:49.240 She said she hadn't fully processed everything that happened. I 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:54.840 mean how do you process something of this magnitude. Dozens 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:58.680 of people dead and over two hundred thousand people displaced, 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:06.480 entire communities burned to ashes. This is reportedly going to 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:09.680 be one of the costliest natural disasters in US history, 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:12.560 and it's happening in the city with the largest Latino 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:39.160 population in the United States. From Futuro Media and PRX, 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:43.280 it's Latino USA. I'm Fernande Chavarri in for our host 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:48.720 Marino Jos today the devastation of the Los Angeles fires 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:58.160 and the solidarity that has sprung from the places to 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:01.000 help us get some context and a better understanding of 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:03.120 what things have been like in Los Angeles for the 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:06.080 past couple of weeks. We are joined by my dear 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:10.520 friend and former Latino USA producer, Antonia Si Djuilo. She 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:14.800 is the host of Imperfect Paradise out of LAist, Los 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:18.000 Angeles Public Radio station. Thank you so much for your 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:19.959 time and for all the work that you and your 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:23.360 colleagues are doing day in day out on this story, 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:25.360 and so thank you for taking the time and for 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:26.320 joining us today. 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:28.719 Of course, thank you so much, and I mean the 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:32.600 outpouring of support nationally for Los Angeles and our city 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:35.600 has been really moving, so I'm also really grateful for 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:38.160 everyone sending love and support our way. 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:41.240 Of course, can you start by giving us an idea 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:45.160 of just the scope of destruction up until this point, 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:47.440 you know where we're not in the first few days, 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.720 anymore more than a week has gone by. What are 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:51.760 we talking about here? 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:55.840 I think we're still a ways away from fully understanding 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:58.959 the scope of what has happened. The death toll is 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:02.880 at least twenty four people. Two hundred thousand people had 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:06.600 to evacuate, and tens of thousands of structures, so that 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:11.520 includes businesses, schools, homes, They were all destroyed. It's really 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:16.000 an incalculable loss that the city has gone through. It's 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:19.760 still not over, so we're very much still in this devastation, 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:23.920 still don't know what's to come, and hopefully the fires. 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:25.040 Can continue to be somewhat contained. 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:29.280 And are there stories of people that you and your 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:33.160 colleagues have met that sort of show us the different 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:37.199 levels of devastation that we're talking here, loss of structures, 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:41.840 loss of history, loss of jobs, loss of community that 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:43.040 you can share with us. 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:48.120 Yeah, so we're just hearing these overwhelming stories from folks 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:52.880 one of my colleagues, Aaron Schrenk, spoke to a USC 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:56.600 professor named Laura Muskita, who's an expert on geriatric care. 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:59.560 She was volunteering at the Pasadena Civic Center where a 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:02.239 lot of nursing home residents had been evacuated. 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:06.160 To you have nursing home residents who are developing pressure 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:09.480 ulcers or their pressure ulcers getting worse because they're left 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:11.680 sitting upright because they've run out of cots. They brought 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:14.679 in cots last night that were the height of massage tables. 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:18.480 You know, they're higher than my waist. You can't lift 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:20.320 somebody who's ninety five years old and put them up 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:21.640 on there and expect they're not going to ball off 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:22.640 onto the concrete floor. 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:28.200 People who you know, need assistants using the restroom, and 0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:31.880 they don't have access to bathrooms or in continence care, 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:34.960 and so they're having to change in public, in front 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:35.679 of everyone. 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:39.240 With no privacy. So just a really difficult scene. 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:42.960 Of course, another aspect of this fire that is really 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:46.079 heartbreaking is that Alta Dina is one of the places 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:50.280 that's been most affected. This is a historic black and 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:53.880 minority neighborhood during the Civil rights movement. It was one 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:56.560 of the few communities that offered housing loans to Black 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:59.520 Americans that were redlined out of other parts of Los Angeles. 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:01.720 We spoke to people whose. 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:05.120 Homes held four generations of a black family that had 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:08.800 been redlined, and now that home is gone. So to 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:11.960 think of the history there that has lost the community, 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:14.000 it's staggering. 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:21.720 My concern is worth the black Alcademians who have bought 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:25.160 a home and we can't come back to that home. 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:31.320 And I was exciting that my parents were red. 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:34.320 Lines to live where they lived. They couldn't live on 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:37.120 the east side of Lake, they had to stay on 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:39.600 the west side. That's why I'm real estate. 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:42.960 And they bought it in nineteen eighty five. 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:47.000 Or one hundred and thirty five thousand dollars, so that 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:50.880 was worth like what a million? One million? 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:54.800 May we can't love that, I can't come back. 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:04.520 And another story that's sort of sticking with me is 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:08.360 Fernando Lopez. He's one of the founders of leg Lagazza, 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:10.920 which is a very popular Wahakan restaurant here in La 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:14.600 He started a mutual aid fund for domestic workers. So 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:18.800 his mother was a domestic worker and he immediately realized that, 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:20.720 you know, we're seeing a lot of these images of 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:24.840 these really fancy mansions, specifically in the Palisades on the 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:28.960 West Side, being burned down. And while you think, okay, 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:32.160 that's a really wealthy person who's affected, a lot of 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:36.880 people who work in that neighborhood are gardeners, are house cleaners, 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:39.760 and they're people who have, you know, their route where 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:42.960 they travel every day. And there's people who've lost all 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:45.800 of their clients because it's on their gardening route, it's 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:48.280 on their on their house cleaning route, and they're going 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:52.160 to have to start from zero. And so Lopez created 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:54.800 a mutual aid fund for people who want to specifically 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:56.600 help domestic workers during this time. 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:00.800 That really is, you know, something to pass in think about, 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:05.360 because there are folks landscapers, house cleaners that are completely 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:06.120 out of income. 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:08.680 Yeah, and you know, we're still we're starting to get 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:11.120 stories of farm workers that are affected, that are still 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:15.360 picking crops during these fires. Who you know, it's already 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:18.440 because of pesticides and other issues, the air quality in 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:20.600 those areas is not the best. And on top of that, 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:24.240 now with these wildfires and the burning embers, so people 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:26.360 doing really difficult things to make sure that all of 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:29.280 us get fed under very dangerous conditions for themselves. 0:16:31.840 --> 0:16:33.480 There's a lot of gratitude. 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:34.840 And a lot of sadness, I think when you think 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:36.280 about what they're enduring right. 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:42.640 Now, coming up on Latino USA. 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:46.760 In the middle of all of this anxiety, I hear 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:50.480 the horn of my local Chicharroun guy that comes around 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:51.120 once a day. 0:16:52.200 --> 0:17:10.840 Will be right back, Welcome back. I'm Fernande Chevri in 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:14.320 for our host Marino Josa. Today we're talking about the 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:18.800 devastation and solidarity in Los Angeles after the historic fires 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:21.520 this month. We're going to get right back to our 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:26.720 conversation with Antonio Sirijido, host of Imperfect Paradise out of LAist, 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:30.920 Los Angeles Public radio station. Can you tell me a 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:34.200 little bit about I know your newsroom, the LAIS newsroom 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:37.320 is in Pasadena. What's it like in your newsroom and 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:39.480 with your colleagues because you're all reporting on this, but 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:41.840 you're also living in the areas. Some of you might 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:44.680 be living in the areas where where you're directly affected 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:46.120 by it and the newsroom itself. 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:49.600 Yeah, I mean I know of at least three of 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:53.560 my colleagues that have lost their homes last week and 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:57.760 they're continuing to work through this moment. A lot of 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:03.480 us were evacuated filing stories. And then our building is 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:05.720 in Pasadena, like you said, and so the second floor 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:06.960 right now, no one's using it. 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:07.960 It's so full of smoke. 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.560 And on the first floor we're only using two studios 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:14.920 right now. We're running these like industrial air purifiers twenty 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:17.320 four to seven to make sure that our hosts are 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:20.840 able to get in and continue to broadcast. And there's 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:24.800 very limited access to the building in general. So thankfully 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:27.080 the building is safe. We're all really grateful for that. 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:29.879 But the work, we don't know how long it's going 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:31.760 to be before we can go back into our office. 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:34.439 And there's no way that we could talk about this 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:38.119 without talking about climate change. And we know, because a 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:44.680 science is there that natural disasters are intensifying hurricanes, blizzards, wildfires. 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:47.160 So what do we know about the conditions that made 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:51.720 these particular fires spread to this magnitude? Like how how 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:52.760 did they get this bad? 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:56.320 That's a great question, And the answer to that is 0:18:56.359 --> 0:19:00.440 this phenomenon that is being called weather whiplash. So here 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:04.440 in Los Angeles, the past two years were record amounts 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:07.720 of rain, which was surprising for southern California, which is 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:10.199 a place that people normally think of as where it 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:13.400 doesn't rain a lot, but very heavy rain, which meant 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:17.040 that a lot of vegetation grew on mountain sides around 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.639 Los Angeles area. And then this year there's been very 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:24.119 low amounts of rain, and so what happened is all 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:26.359 of that vegetation that grew over the last two years 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:29.879 it dried out, so you have a ton of vegetation 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:34.000 that is highly flammable, and the impact of climate change 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:37.080 on that is that both the rain and the drought 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:40.800 is more extreme than normal. Fires here in southern California 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:43.600 have always been very normal, but that's what's intensifying things. 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:45.760 And then the other thing that was very unique to 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:48.960 what happened here in Los Angeles is that these were 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:54.080 extremely extremely fast winds like the Santa Anas, which are 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:56.080 the winds that come from the desert to the ocean 0:19:56.119 --> 0:20:00.800 that are very hot and dry. Those winds are very 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:04.520 intense winds, like higher than a regular Santa Ana year. 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:07.359 So all of those things together really led to a 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:11.280 very unique and terrifying combination of conditions that allowed for 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:12.520 these wildfires to spread. 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:23.200 I want to end with just talking about LA because 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:26.960 La is such a special place. The cross cultural solidarity 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:29.160 that can happen in LA is really unlike many other 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:32.760 American cities. I want to know what you have seen 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:37.160 that sort of crystallizes the spirit of solidarity among Angelino's. 0:20:37.880 --> 0:20:39.199 It's been so beautiful in LA. 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:42.240 To me, is like the dream inside the American dream. 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:45.480 It's like, I mean, my show is called Imperfect Paradise, 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:47.880 and it's really about how this city is a place 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:50.280 made up of like dreamers and schemers and people who 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:53.400 are like here because they want to enjoy the beauty 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:55.240 that a place like Los Angeles has to offer, but 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:57.400 also because they want to create beautiful things. I mean, 0:20:57.440 --> 0:21:02.280 I think people forget Black Lives Matter started in Los Angeles, Hollywood, 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:05.719 the factory of dreams started in Los Angeles. Like, I 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:08.680 think all of us who live here are feeling tremendous 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:17.840 amounts of pride to live here. Another moment sort of 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:21.280 you know this this, we're in this terrifying situation. We 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:24.000 I'm at my house, you know, figuring out how to 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:27.000 do the best coverage, whether my husband and I have 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:29.719 to evacuate where what we're going to do with the cats. 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:31.560 In the middle of like all of this sort of 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:34.600 anxiety on the edge of my seat, and I hear 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:39.560 the bossina, like the horn of the my local chicherrun 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:41.080 guy that comes around once a day. 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:44.360 And this guy is he's so inventive. 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:46.199 He has a golf cart where he has all of 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:47.240 his accouterments. 0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:51.879 So this this this guy is honking the little like 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:54.880 horn to alert the neighbors to come out and buy 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:57.879 his snacks when the air pollution is like, do not 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:00.159 go outside, do not know? 0:22:00.600 --> 0:22:03.240 And this guy's like, listen, you want a snack? And 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:05.639 I got to make money exactly. 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:08.439 And I think that that's like it's a very resilient city. 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:12.560 It's a city full of hustlers. I just want to 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:16.160 say that I love la I love everyone here. It's 0:22:16.160 --> 0:22:19.000 such a beautiful place. I'm so proud to live here. 0:22:19.119 --> 0:22:21.960 And I'm really proud of my colleagues. They've really been 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:25.399 working under extreme duress to keep people informed, to give 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:28.600 people information, to keep them safe. And I hope that 0:22:28.640 --> 0:22:30.159 we don't have to do it for much longer and 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:32.000 that the city doesn't have to go through much more. 0:22:33.040 --> 0:22:38.120 I hope so too. Antonio Sidehi, the host of Imperfect 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:42.679 Paradise for Last Los Angeles Public Radio Station, thank you 0:22:42.760 --> 0:22:45.680 again so much for your time, stay safe, and thank 0:22:45.680 --> 0:22:47.600 you for all the work that you and your colleagues 0:22:47.680 --> 0:22:50.720 are doing day in and day out in Los Angeles. 0:22:51.200 --> 0:23:11.919 Thank you foranana. 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:15.720 As the wildfires in LA have continued, there's been a 0:23:15.760 --> 0:23:18.800 lot of information shared on social media about how about 0:23:18.840 --> 0:23:23.080 a third of the firefighters out there are incarcerated individuals. 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:26.520 Many of these firefighters are young men of color who 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:30.439 are risking their lives to save homes and communities, and 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:34.520 sometimes they become so committed that they continue the work 0:23:34.720 --> 0:23:39.040 even after detention. Latino USA spoke with someone a couple 0:23:39.040 --> 0:23:42.440 of years ago who is part of an elite hotshot crew, 0:23:43.200 --> 0:23:46.320 someone in his early forties who was first introduced to 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:51.760 firefighting in his mid teens at an unexpected place, juvenile detention. 0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:56.280 Here's his story of perseverance, which we first brought you 0:23:56.560 --> 0:23:57.560 in twenty twenty two. 0:23:58.359 --> 0:24:01.399