WEBVTT - Special Report from Los Angeles 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:05.480 Hey there, folks, welcome to a special episode of Amy 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:10.360 and TJ from Los Angeles, from in particular Santa Monica 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:12.840 here in California, where the fires continued to burn. And 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:16.480 we are going to attempt to put into words what 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:20.040 words simply cannot describe in this episode. And with that, everybody, welcome. 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:20.720 Sitting next to. 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:24.040 Robes, Robs, you and I got here to LA yesterday. 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:28.080 Before we even landed, we could tell and if you 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:29.640 had no idea what was going on in the world 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:32.640 and what was going on in La just the plane 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:35.120 ride as we were about to land, right, I knew 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:35.640 something was up. 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:38.880 We heard from the pilot who and by the way, 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:42.040 the plane was almost empty, which is unheard of on 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:47.199 a Sunday from New York JFK to LAX. It is 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:52.199 usually packed. And we were one of a handful of 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:54.240 people on that plane. So that was eerie just to 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.320 begin with. And then as we were making our initial 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:00.880 descent into Los Angeles, the pilot got on to the 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:03.959 microphone and said, hey, folks, we may be going through 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:07.880 a layer of smoke as we make this landing, and 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:11.840 the cockpit or the actual plane might smell like smoke, 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:15.520 but don't be alarmed. That's, you know, been pretty typical 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:17.920 over the past couple of days. So just warning you all. 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:20.160 That didn't end up happening. I'd never smelt the smoke 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:23.280 actually as we were landing into La But as soon 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:25.800 as we got on the ground we had more pretty 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:27.640 immediate reminders of what was going on. 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:30.679 Yeah, I mean, a soon as you at the ground, 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:35.320 you sense something is going on. From it took I 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:38.000 don't know, fifteen minutes. Even if that in the car 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:40.720 the driver or go through certain neighborhood, he's almost starts 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:43.119 giving a tour, a fire tour, if you really Yeah, 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:45.480 it was smoke here yesterday, and then that it's just 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:48.200 all everybody's talking about the same thing. Went to lunch 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:50.240 and you were the one that pointed it out. And 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:52.880 it's a place we've been to before. But there were 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:56.680 pets everywhere because the place was full of people who 0:01:56.720 --> 0:01:58.440 had to flee their homes and had to flee with 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:01.160 their pets and places here making exceptions. 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:05.800 Yeah, exactly. And we were hearing hearing stories even at 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.720 tables next door to us, people talking and congregating in 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:11.080 the lobby, hearing from our own waiter, everyone checking in 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:14.240 on each other what have you been through? Let me 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:16.919 show you pictures of my house, and then people asking 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:18.880 questions about have you been on this street? Have you 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:21.400 been able to get back up? Because as we made 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:25.280 our way earlier this morning through some of these areas 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:28.600 that are restricted now to residence, every single street is 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:30.920 blocked off. I mean, there are army vehicles, there is 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:35.320 a huge police presence, firefighting trucks, you know, going through 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:38.600 the streets with alarms going off. I mean, it really 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:41.680 feels like you are in Yes, you can tell you're 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:44.640 in an evacuated donor right adjacent to one, but also 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:47.320 you realize all the work that's going on behind the scenes. 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:49.800 So it's aerie to a certain degree when you get 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.720 here because you see so much, well what's been on television, 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:54.800 see the pictures in the flame. You hear how horrible 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:59.359 it is. But from the airport to where we're staying, 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:03.080 it wasn't chaotic. There was not destruction. We just happen 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:05.320 to be in a certain area and even the air 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:09.240 was clear. It looks like beautiful, sunny southern California this morning. 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:11.720 We get up still dark. As soon as we get 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.560 off the elevator at the bottom floor, you can smell 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.440 smoke at the moment the elevator door opened and we 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:19.959 go outside. Of course, we can smell at our crew 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:22.440 we meet. They all have masks on. But the point 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:25.839 that they did they we got a chance to go 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:28.760 through and see today what so many of us have 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:30.840 been seeing, and we had up to this point just 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:34.320 been seeing on television. And you just I can't. I mean, 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:37.040 we've been doing this a long time in our careers, 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:40.160 have been a lot of disaster zones. You can say 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:42.840 it all, you can come up with whatever descriptive word 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:45.960 you want to, it doesn't do it justice. And I struggle. 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:48.680 The word I end up using was about myself today. 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:53.840 It was confused. I'm confused at how nature behaves this way. 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:58.160 I'm confused to how a fire could do what it did, 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:03.760 and I'm confused about how wide spread and then random 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:08.920 the destruction can be. I've never seen anything like this. Tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:12.960 seen floods more than most. Yeah, and never I can't 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:13.520 understand it. 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:15.400 Yeah, I mean, you and I have both been to 0:04:15.440 --> 0:04:19.160 the scene of countless natural disasters of epic proportions, by 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:22.560 the way, and I have never seen anything like We 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:27.880 both saw this morning where you just saw ash. There 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:30.840 was nothing truly left standing in most of these homes 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:34.640 except for fireplace chimneys. And at one point you pointed 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:38.359 it out to me, eerie scenes like this leveled homes 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:42.000 for an entire stretch of a street, an entire neighborhood 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:48.480 wiped out. There was a basketball net standing with a 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:51.159 that was just remarkable. 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:55.400 Well not earned, but the net, the fabric netting was 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:58.200 almost untouched, not even smoky. 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:01.200 It was bizarre to see that completely untouched. And then 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:04.800 you pointed out inside one of these fireplaces that used 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:08.159 to be inside a beautiful home had all of their 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:11.520 logs perfectly placed as if ready for a fire. You know, 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:14.120 you see, you know, a scene set with like a 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:18.000 fireplace with the logs, they're not touched, not even burned, 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:20.720 and it was perfectly in place where a fire should be. 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:25.119 The wood was perfect and untouched, and everything around it 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:25.559 was gone. 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.760 Those things were weird. I call them weird. And a 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:31.680 lot of folks familiar with the PCH right Pacific Coast 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.880 Highway goes up and down. It's one of my favorite 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:37.640 things to do I've ever done in this country is 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:40.080 to drive that. And so as a stretch of Pacific 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:42.960 Coast Highway where you're looking and literally on one side 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.840 it's paradise looking out of the ocean. The other side 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:51.240 is armageddon. Literally you're looking there's a dividing line between 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:54.760 the end of the world and heaven, right and it's 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.480 the Pacific Coast Highway. It literally looks like that. And 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:01.039 I there are our producers, producer Danielle was in the 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:03.360 car with us, said yeah, you can see as we 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:06.360 were driving at times on the Pacific Coast Highway, So yeah, 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:10.159 you can see the ocean. You couldn't last week because 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:13.400 those homes were there. They've burned now to the point 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:15.919 that you can actually have a view at some places 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:19.000 from the highway to the ocean that weren't there before 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:20.400 because homes are gone. 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:23.800 It's just unfathomable, it really is. And you mentioned this. 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:26.919 The sun was rising this morning, it was gorgeous. I 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:31.479 could hear birds chirping, the ocean was making that beautiful 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:35.039 wave crashing on the rocks, noise, and yet everywhere you 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:37.680 looked was a nightmare. And so it was just such 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:43.360 a strange juxtaposition of the ruins of people's lives and 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:46.400 then seeing Mother Nature just going about doing what it 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:48.800 does here, especially on the West coast, and just being 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:52.800 spectacular and gorgeous, and it was just such a strange 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:56.000 confluence of two different views. 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:58.960 And look as we were as of this recording at least, 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.000 and the story is changing. It seems minute by many 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:03.839 at times, but it'll continue to change. 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:04.400 As of this. 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:08.600 Recording, there were twenty four confirmed deaths, at least sixteen 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:12.840 unaccounted for. At least twelve thousand structures that have been 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:17.280 burned are those latest numbers. But we were we had 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:21.520 plans yesterday day before of somewhere we were planning to 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.680 stay here and it was in the Brentwood area. And 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.400 sure enough, yesterday was we were getting on the plane 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:29.560 and things kept developing that were keeping an eye on it. 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:31.880 Our team let us know, hey, that area where you 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.120 were supposed to stay has been evacuated. So we had 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:38.840 to change our plans and figure somewhere else out to 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:40.800 stay while we were out here. That's just how things 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:42.720 are going. And we are sitting here in the middle 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:45.800 of a There is anxiety right here. There's no recovery time. 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.640 There's like hold on, folks. We got another several days 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:51.960 where they're talking about winds and wind gusts going up 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:54.840 to that seventy eighty mile an hour range. No, it's 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.880 not that eighty to one hundred range that started all this, 0:07:58.400 --> 0:07:59.800 but people are on edge again. 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:05.160 It is a very unique and for me, a singular experience, 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:09.000 because normally, when you come to the scene the aftermath 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:12.120 right of a of a natural disaster, it's about cleanup, 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:16.520 it's about recovery, it's about you know, rebuilding. But there 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:20.280 is still a threat because if one like small ember 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.920 from a hotspot that maybe they firefighters have yet to 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:26.960 be able to put out flies through the air in 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:30.840 these crazy, unpredictable Santa Ana winds, it can set off 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:33.640 an entire new fire. And that's what has happened, because 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:35.480 if we're not talking about one fire, there are several 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:39.720 fires in the area, and it's looks as though you 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:42.839 don't see the flames anymore, but the thread of those 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:47.240 embers remains, and it is a scary, scary feeling. We 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:50.320 when we landed, your phone immediately started going off into 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:52.680 that emergency mode in on the on the East coast. 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:55.600 We're used to seeing it or hearing it for amber 0:08:55.640 --> 0:09:01.600 alerts or for some extreme extreme right but they were 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:04.080 going off, and it's so jarring and it's so frightening, 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:06.680 and you just can imagine what it's like to be 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:10.080 living here after you've already lost everything, or you're afraid 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:12.360 or fearful that you've lost everything because maybe you don't 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:15.280 know yet, and you've got these alerts going off, and 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:17.280 we were told to evacuate an area that we were 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:19.480 just driving through. So if you get into these certain 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:23.480 evacuation zones, you're told get out. And that's just jarring 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.600 and scary. As an adult, I can't imagine the children 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:29.480 who are living through this as well, how hard that 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:32.640 is for them. So many kids have lost their schools, 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:34.760 they have no building to go back to, they've lost 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:37.240 their homes, they have no bedroom to go back to. 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:41.040 This is and it's just beginning, and the threat still exists. 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:44.920 I just still struggle the scope of it when it 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.360 comes to and some of the scenes, like you hear 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:51.360 it sometimes and you walking dead fans out there. I 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:54.000 never thought I would see a scene like that where 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:57.120 I'm literally walking past and going past cars that have 0:09:57.160 --> 0:09:59.200 been abandoned in the middle of the street, and some 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:01.480 of them are literally burned out, and some of them 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:03.640 you can see where and you all heard this part 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:05.679 of the story where they had to come and bring 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:08.080 bulldozers to move vehicles out of there. You can see 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:11.640 some of those vehicles are damaged from being banged and 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:14.440 people trying to get them out of the way. Those 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:16.880 are odd scenes, and some neighborhoods were all, okay, this 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:20.400 this neighborhood looks like it it's unscathed. But then you 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:24.360 keep driving down that neighborhood and there's one house gone 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:27.160 or charred, and it literally does look like the fire 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:29.720 was discriminating, like I'm gonna pick this one. I'm gonna 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:31.280 skip those two, and now I'm gonna go over here 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.520 to this one. But that's this idea of these embers 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:36.080 that are flying around. I can't remembers the high school 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:37.719 we went past, and you were like, hey, I'm glad to. 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:39.400 See that Ally High High? 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.960 Was that okay, well, Bally High. It's damaged. The whole 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:45.800 place is enclosed. You can't see anywhere a fire got in, 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:48.960 but the roof of one section of that school is 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:52.600 burned because those embers they flew over landed on one spot, 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:55.440 burned part of it the other. The whole place is intact. Yeah, 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:58.000 but that is still the remaining threat that even if 0:10:58.000 --> 0:10:59.960 you're a couple of miles away, you are not sleeping. 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:03.199 No, you're not at all, and in fact, you're hungry 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:07.240 for information. We when we got back from taking this tour, 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:10.720 our producer Danielle who was with us, who was so 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:14.560 amazing showing us she's was born here, lived her whole 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:17.240 life here. So she was explaining to us what was lost, 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:20.120 Like there was a motel that was storied and historic 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:22.400 that everyone loved right along the Pacific Coast Highway. It 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:24.360 doesn't you can't even see where it was. I mean, 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:27.760 it's just literally ash. You can see this sign and 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:29.880 the rest of it is just gone. But when we 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:31.960 got back to our hotel that we were staying at, 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:34.160 she had a woman come up to her and say 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:37.120 are you with the press, and then said, could you 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:40.160 please please please see if my house is still intact. 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:42.360 Because as members of the media, we have been allowed 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:45.120 and we are allowed to get through some of the 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:49.400 points at which residents are not to go and tell 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:52.400 these stories to tell you at home, or to at 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:54.640 least to show people what's going on and what's sarah 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.400 and what's not She handed or tried to hand Danielle 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:00.040 the keys to her house and say, please just go 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:01.720 inside and could you grab a few things for me. 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:04.079 We had already come back, so that wasn't possible. But 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:07.320 that's that's the desperation, handing the keys to your house 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:09.240 over to a complete stranger. 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:11.920 Help nobody listening to you right now, I can imagine 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:13.920 doing that. That's how desperate you get. I don't know 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:17.120 you and don't know where you're going anything, but if 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:19.080 you're go into there, here here, just go to my 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:19.560 house for me. 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:19.880 Please. 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:24.000 Everybody's desperate for that kind of information. We're constantly getting requests. 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.200 We just talked to a local radio host here. He 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:29.960 said every single even a lot of reporters are getting 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:32.720 dms from people saying, hey, I know you can get 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:34.120 up there, if you can swing by here for me. 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:40.640 That's just it's I don't know how we've seen it before. 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:44.199 Robes and people are determined immediately, I am going to rebuild. 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:48.760 There is nothing here in places. There are neighborhoods gone. 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:52.280 When I say gone, I'm talking about piles of ash. 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:55.880 We were walking through today and I'm looking through rubble 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:59.280 trying to identify anything like what room was this? What 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:03.720 room was this? There's ash as a bathtub here or there. 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:06.760 But I'm telling these places are gone. 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:08.600 You can tell where the fireplace was. 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:09.320 That's it. 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:13.200 Actually there was a few homes where you could actually 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:16.560 see where the front door was, or where maybe a 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:20.400 garage door was. And perhaps what was so eerie was 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:23.200 you could see obviously that the sidewalk leading up to 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:27.560 where the entrance would have been. But that's the clearest 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:29.520 mark you could even see of where the footprint of 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:31.760 the house might be. I mean it was gone, like 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:33.760 if you've got a hurricane, if you've got a tornado, 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:37.560 certain things are still left. You can pick through the rubble. 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:40.480 Perhaps you could go maybe find that family heirloom. I 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:43.480 don't think you could find anything in the aftermath of this. 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:45.439 Well, we spent the morning. We walked through a lot 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:47.959 of planet. There are some stories of things being found 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:50.480 here and there, but I've never seen and we've been 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:54.480 the house fires and structure fires our whole careers. You 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:56.320 know what the thing when you have a structure fire, 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.400 fire department gets called, they come, even if they take 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:01.600 a few minutes, they can get there and start putting 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:04.400 water on. Correct These are places that just burned and 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:07.760 burned and burned until they stopped burning. And that's why 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:11.000 we see just ash and that construction is on these neighborhoods. 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:13.559 It's unlike anything I've ever seen. Like I said, we're 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:15.000 going to try to put this in the words, but 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:16.240 there are none, right. 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:19.360 And you know, it's also been interesting because when we've 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:23.760 arrived on scenes, they've been I mean somewhat fairly contained 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:26.840 when it comes to a fire, because there is danger involved. 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:29.960 Obviously there were I saw nails and glass and you know, 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:32.480 twisted metal like you know this is. They don't want 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:35.840 down power lines, they don't want residents coming back to 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:38.480 check on their belongings because there are a number of 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:40.800 hazards just lying around. And normally even us in the 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:43.560 media would not be allowed because they would have cordoned 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:46.920 off the area or made it inaccessible to folks because 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.320 of the inherent dangers. And yet this is such a 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:54.960 wide swath and such a huge like part of the 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:58.120 of the landscape that we were just walking around in 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:00.280 places that I was actually surprised we had acces, to 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:02.400 be honest, and some. 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:05.480 Of that we we got to see it in a 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:08.600 couple of ways. That scare the hell out of you 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:11.600 and give you hope. Because we went right before sunrise, 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:14.080 so it was still dark in many of these neighborhoods 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:17.560 when we went. And when I say dark, it was dark. 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:21.480 No power dark, there's no power. Just look like places 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:24.280 have been. Literally they grabbed things and took off and 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:27.520 now the power's out. Lights were off in these neighborhoods. 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:28.400 There's nothing there. 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:30.600 I saw a vehicle it was too quick to point 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:34.480 out to you, that was halfway out of a driveway 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:37.600 and halfway in it and you could it almost looked 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:39.800 like it was balancing on the curb and it had 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:42.000 the doors were open. It had been abandoned. I mean 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:44.640 you could see. I have chills thinking about it. You know, 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:48.240 we were there in the aftermath, but you could see 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:51.600 what was happening while they were facing the fire and 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:54.160 the fear and the embers. To the point where you 0:15:54.400 --> 0:16:00.000 say abandoned the vehicle, there was obviously so much traffic 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:03.280 and like everyone trying to get out that people just 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:06.200 abandoned their vehicles or realized that they couldn't get out 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:10.400 fast enough in a car that they took off on foot. 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:12.040 And that was really eerie to me. 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:15.000 So that was the tie. So as we're out there 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:17.360 in the dark, and then we're on right off the 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.920 Pacific Coast Highway, sunrise is coming. We're standing in rubble 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:23.960 and the sun starts coming up and it is the 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:28.000 most it is the most perfect, beautiful California sunrise you 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:28.680 will ever see. 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:29.320 It really was. 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:31.640 And well, we'll post pictures of this, we have this, 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:37.040 but to have in the foreground, just rubble and just 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:42.640 someone's dreams in that pile, that sunrise, that was the 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:45.560 dream they were chasing. People are here because they come here, 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:50.240 they're attracted for exactly what we saw. And then the 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:54.240 threat of living here for that dream came and got 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:58.640 them and wiped out so many people's homes and lives 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:02.440 and savings, and I just it was it's a hell 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:03.880 of a picture, and it's a hell of a site 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:08.040 to see just how beautiful this place is and how 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:10.560 destructive and dangerous in the threat that they live under. 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:13.679 And it came home in a historic way this time around. 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:16.280 And we've been folks, we've been talking to plenty of 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:18.680 people here who've been on the run, who fled, who've 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:22.879 lost homes over the past week now, and we've talked 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:25.879 to plenty more of them here and now we want 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:27.800 you to hear some of these voices. 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:31.080 Yes, we're going to be playing for you now, some 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.040 of the remarkable stories that are being told by the 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:36.399 people who lived them, the people who lost their homes, 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:40.639 the people who lost their businesses, the people who lost 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:43.359 all hope at one point, but at least walked away 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:45.840 with their lives. We want you to hear their stories 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:47.080 from them. So take a lesson. 0:17:56.040 --> 0:18:00.680 We are joined now by Scott. Scott who's house we 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:05.360 went by earlier today when we toured some of these neighborhoods, 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:10.080 and Scott, I say, we went by your house. All 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:12.879 we saw was a surfboard. To be honest with you, 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.640 a surfboard still standing. That's a win in the back. 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:19.439 That's a win for you. Tell me why even a 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:20.520 surfboard right now is. 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:20.919 A win. 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:26.480 Still standing? 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:30.000 You know the s. 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:40.040 There's something. But you know, the point of all of 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:46.719 this is, as I'm explaining to literally what seems to 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:49.880 be my entire outlook that is now in my text, 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:55.639 which you know, the shining example of love and humanity. 0:18:56.200 --> 0:19:02.880 But the equation is very simple. All are safe. All 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:06.400 that matters. That was it. That's that is one hundred 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:10.479 percent where I began. You know, two days ago I 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:13.520 had literally one pair of pants to my name. Today 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:19.119 I have three great day right socks tomorrow, So you know, 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:24.520 uh yeah, my you know they call it the fink 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:28.520 water Jean, My grandmother and my boys got it big time, 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:31.520 and you know they have to go water their gills. 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:33.919 So the fact that they will still be able to 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:36.040 do so one day, big surfers. 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:36.239 Right. 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:39.680 That's that's it holds, It holds a hope and promise. 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:43.399 Yeah, I mean, I mean, I can't the perspective that 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:47.800 this is unfortunately giving so many people who lost everything, 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:51.720 but to have that one thing, one thing survive is 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:56.720 so powerful. But yes, you walked away with your life, 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:00.800 your entire family is alive. And yet I imagine as the 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:02.959 days start to go by, you start to realize all 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:05.639 the things you'll never get back. Right, you're not thinking 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:08.400 about it in the moment, you shouldn't be, necessarily, but. 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:16.320 Perfect point in the literal ten minutes, literal ten minutes 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:20.359 that I had because the minute I arrived, which was 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:25.520 a blessing undo itself. You know, ashes raining down, you know, 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:27.840 and you breathe in and your lungs are there to 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:31.280 tell you like, oh no bueno, like get out about 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:36.159 But I had to go in and so I got uh, 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:37.960 I think I shared with you. I got, I got 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:45.080 my favorite picture of my boys and and you know, 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:47.119 so that's it. So you know, you met with that 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:50.359 bullying mind to go ah, you didn't get you and 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:56.400 you didn't do And yet I look up and Griffin 0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:02.480 and his beloved girlfriend Julia, and Christopher and Pam and 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:08.520 two cats that are hiding in the in the closet 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:12.240 of the of the Blessing that is the apartment that 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:16.720