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Speaker 1: Can't find AM six forty. You're listening to the John

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Speaker 1: Cobelt podcast on the iHeartRadio app. We are on every

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Speaker 1: day from one until four o'clock, and then after four

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Speaker 1: o'clock John Cobelt Show on demand. That's the podcast version

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Speaker 1: on the iHeart app and it's the same as the

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Speaker 1: radio show, so if you miss stuff in the next

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Speaker 1: three hours, you can pick up on it after four o'clock.

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Speaker 1: Pacific Palisades in the Highlands area on fire, huge brush

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Speaker 1: fire burning has been burning now for what about.

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Speaker 2: Since about ten thirty this morning.

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Speaker 1: Just two and a half hours, and the video on

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Speaker 1: television is spectacular, huge clouds of black smoke and walls

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Speaker 1: of flame shooting very high into the sky. It's really

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Speaker 1: bad and most of Pacific Palisades is evacuating. They don't

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Speaker 1: even have to be told to get out. You just

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Speaker 1: look up and you know it's time to go. And

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Speaker 1: people are jamming the roadways to the point where some

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Speaker 1: people are abandoning their cars and running off. We're going

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Speaker 1: to talk to a woman now who's trying to get

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Speaker 1: out of the Palisades. Kelly. Are you there, Kelly, Yes,

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Speaker 1: can you hear me? Yeah? Thanks for coming.

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Speaker 3: On Oh yeah, no problem. Right now, I'm on Sunset

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Speaker 3: and Palisades Drive and it's completely you can't even move.

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Speaker 3: And as I'm sitting here on the corner of Palisades Drive,

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Speaker 3: there's a palm tree on fire, so like we're kind

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Speaker 3: of all sitting here in the car and watching. I

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Speaker 3: mean it's like fifty feet away.

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Speaker 1: I think, oh, that's really frightening.

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Speaker 3: It's really frightening. It's really really frightening.

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Speaker 1: And you can't get away from.

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Speaker 3: It, no, because we're locked in. It's kind of like,

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Speaker 3: you know, we see those terrible movies where everybody's running

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Speaker 3: from something and all the cars are stuck. That's kind

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Speaker 3: of how it is. Yeah, oh my gosh, Yeah, this

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Speaker 3: tree is.

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Speaker 1: Really it's on the corner or on the in the median.

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Speaker 3: On Palisades Drive and Sunset directly on the corner there's

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Speaker 3: a and I don't know if you can hear all

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Speaker 3: the honking.

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Speaker 1: I can. Yeah, I saw on TV there was a

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Speaker 1: palm tree in the median that was.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's right now. I just I just don't know,

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Speaker 3: Like people are getting out of their cars. Now, what

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Speaker 3: if you say yes, yes, forget out of the car,

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Speaker 3: all right, go Okay, okay, Oh.

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Speaker 2: My god, that's terrifying.

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Speaker 1: Wow, all right, that's uh Kelly. She's actually a friend

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Speaker 1: of a friend to my wife and had had sent

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Speaker 1: some peace some video this morning of what was going on,

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Speaker 1: and so we contacted her and you just heard what

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Speaker 1: she's dealing with. You know. A couple other people are

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Speaker 1: also in the traffic and had to run off from

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Speaker 1: their car. That seems to be widespread because I live

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Speaker 1: in the next town over from the Palisades and my

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Speaker 1: wife and I go there frequently. We were there just

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Speaker 1: this morning. Actually took a walk in one of the

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Speaker 1: canyons that's where we usually go for a walk, and

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Speaker 1: the wind was blowing pretty hard and you could just

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Speaker 1: feel it. It's like we looked at each other like

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Speaker 1: it feels like something bad is going to happen. It's

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Speaker 1: like the opening moments of a movie.

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Speaker 4: Well, we knew when these life threatening wind forecast was

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Speaker 4: forecast for today, we knew we were going to have

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Speaker 4: some serious fires today.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, the slightest spark would blow us up quickly. I

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Speaker 1: mean it was they say two hundred acres. It's probably

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Speaker 1: more than that, but that's only in two and a

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Speaker 1: half hours.

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Speaker 4: Well, also, we haven't we haven't had an update from

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Speaker 4: any of the fire officials, and it's a good thing

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Speaker 4: because they're pretty busy right now, right we want them

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Speaker 4: to save homes and lives before updating us. So I'm

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Speaker 4: sure that there will probably be some kind of a

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Speaker 4: news conference later this afternoon, and it will be well

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Speaker 4: over two hundred acres burned.

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Speaker 1: The flames are really close to neighborhoods there, and it's

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Speaker 1: huge flames, totally out of control over a widespread area.

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Speaker 2: There are reports that some homes have burned.

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Speaker 1: H they would have had to. I heard that that

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Speaker 1: homes were, I mean, backyards were already burning, and I'm

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Speaker 1: looking to see what road they're on here on TV.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just trying to read the scroll I

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Speaker 1: at channel five and seven and eleven on and the

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Speaker 1: scroll has something about there trying to get a guy

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Speaker 1: out who's in a wheelchair. This happened so fast that

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Speaker 1: there wasn't time, Like, there wasn't time to put out evacuation.

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Speaker 1: More it was it's overwhelming the town before people had

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Speaker 1: a chance to react, and so everybody left at the

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Speaker 1: same time. I mean that which you just heard, you

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Speaker 1: heard all the hanking right, people are panicking.

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Speaker 2: Well, earlier there was a stall.

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Speaker 4: John, there was a stall, so all these people got

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Speaker 4: out of there. I think five people were pushing this

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Speaker 4: car to get it out of the way because because

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Speaker 4: it's so chaotic and people are really running for their lives,

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Speaker 4: and then you have a car that is just stalled

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Speaker 4: in the middle of the street.

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Speaker 1: So Pacific Palisades is this really cute village which is

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Speaker 1: just to the west of Brentwood and just to the

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Speaker 1: east of Malibu, and Sunset Boulevard winds through the main

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Speaker 1: downtown part of Palisades where they have all the commerce,

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Speaker 1: and then there's one road that goes to the north

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Speaker 1: to Pacific Highlands. So we know a few people who

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Speaker 1: live there and go it goes to the north. Uh,

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Speaker 1: It's it's very hilly. There's a lot of beautiful homes

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Speaker 1: up there, but it's the only way in and out,

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Speaker 1: Like if you live in that Pacific Highlands area. I

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Speaker 1: think the neighborhood is called the Summit. If something happens,

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Speaker 1: I'm looking at a map just to confirm my impression. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: there's virtually no other way to go but to the

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Speaker 1: south and pick up Sunset and then you get the sunset.

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Speaker 1: You can't go to the east because they've closed everything

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Speaker 1: to the east. You can I'm sorry, to the west.

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Speaker 1: You can't go to the west. You can only go east.

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Speaker 1: And then people down below the hills, in the main

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Speaker 1: area of Palisades, they can't go north, and they can't

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Speaker 1: go to the west. They can only go east and south.

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Speaker 1: And so everybody's leaving it once and what you get

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Speaker 1: is now, peep, you know, with the embers flying and

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Speaker 1: setting the palm trees on fire, that that's horrific. So

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Speaker 1: you have to do what Kelly just did and just

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Speaker 1: take off. If there's if there's anybody else listening right now,

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Speaker 1: and you want to call in and describe what's going on,

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Speaker 1: the numbers eight hundred five to two oh one five

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Speaker 1: three four, eight hundred five to two oh one five

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Speaker 1: three four and.

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Speaker 4: Virtually John, the whole city of Pacific Palisades has been

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Speaker 4: told to evacuate. There is an evacuation center which is

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Speaker 4: at the Westwood Recreation Center on sepulvit A Boulevard.

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Speaker 1: There's gridlock on Pacific Coast Highway. They've closed PCH last

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Speaker 1: I heard it Tapanga and all these details are going

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Speaker 1: to change from minute to minute. I already saw I

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Speaker 1: left Brentwit at about eleven thirty, which is the next

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Speaker 1: town over, and getting on the four or five. Well,

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Speaker 1: first of all, going New Sunset Boulevard, endless string of

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Speaker 1: fire trucks. Fire trucks were coming in from all over

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Speaker 1: the city in county, so about six of them in

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Speaker 1: a row, just blew by me, all the sirens blaring,

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Speaker 1: all the fire horns honking. And then get on the

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Speaker 1: four or five. It was already jamming up, especially uh

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Speaker 1: going southbound on the four h five because they you

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Speaker 1: know there as we found out during you know, some

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Speaker 1: of the other disasters, the mud slides and landslides that

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Speaker 1: they have to Panga Canyon Road. If that gets shut down,

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Speaker 1: it's it's difficult to get in and out of the region,

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Speaker 1: and you have to end up looping around a series

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Speaker 1: of other roads and you end up on the four

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Speaker 1: or five. Well, you know this because you live right

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Speaker 1: over the hills from Malibu and from Pacific Palace.

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Speaker 4: Iright in Topango was closed for a really long time

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Speaker 4: and it was ridiculous on the freeways.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's going to be ridiculous all over the

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Speaker 1: west Side today and the parade probably, I guess, yeah,

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Speaker 1: about ten thirty, I'm trying to think, but I started

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Speaker 1: hearing the sirens, and about ten thirty I started hearing

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Speaker 1: lots of sirens, and by eleven thirty, yeah, there was

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Speaker 1: there were long lines of trucks coming in. I mean,

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Speaker 1: they got hundreds and hundreds of firefighters already there, and

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Speaker 1: they did have some some trucks in personnel already prepositioned

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Speaker 1: for the Palisades. It's the worst conditions because the wind

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Speaker 1: was expected to blow in the passes and canyons about

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Speaker 1: sixty to eighty miles an hour and in some places

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Speaker 1: guts up to one hundred miles an hour. So now

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Speaker 1: you're getting into serious hurricane territory. The winds are strong,

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Speaker 1: and the vegetation is very dry. We haven't had any

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Speaker 1: rain probably in about ten months. The only thing you're

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Speaker 1: missing is the heat of summer, or the heat of

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Speaker 1: September and October, but that doesn't really matter much when

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Speaker 1: you have this kind of dryness, low humidity, Santa and

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Speaker 1: the winds blowing. Well.

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Speaker 4: You know, the winds are supposed to pick up around

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Speaker 4: three this afternoon, and they're supposed to really intensify overnight.

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Speaker 4: So this wind event really hasn't even gotten started.

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Speaker 1: Yet and it's going to go on all day tomorrow.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, the night time winds can be the worst.

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Speaker 1: We're going to take a break and we come back

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Speaker 1: and we'll keep you updated on this. If any of

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Speaker 1: you are in Pacific Palisades, are in your car and

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Speaker 1: you want to tell us what's going on right in

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Speaker 1: front of you or what your experience has been, we'll

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Speaker 1: put you on the air and we'll also cover some

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Speaker 1: other things as needed. John COBALT's Show.

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Speaker 5: You're listening to John Coblt on demand from KFI AM

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Speaker 5: six forty.

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Speaker 1: We're on from one until four. And by far the

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Speaker 1: top story out here is this huge fire in the

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Speaker 1: Pacific Palisades and it is gigantic. It is causing massive evacuations,

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Speaker 1: people trying to flee the Palisades all at once. Huge

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Speaker 1: traffic jam going down Palisades drive out of the hills

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Speaker 1: from north to south to Sunset Boulevard. Pch is closed

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Speaker 1: to Panga Canyon Boulevard is closed. Evacuation orders are in

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Speaker 1: place from Merrimack Road in the northeast west to Tapanga

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Speaker 1: Canyon south to pch and if you're outside the evacuation,

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Speaker 1: they're telling you to stay inside. They do have an

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Speaker 1: evacuation center open in Westwood at the Westwood Recreation Center,

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Speaker 1: which is thirteen fifty South supulvit Of Boulevard. And as

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Speaker 1: we told you before, the flames are incredibly high, fierce,

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Speaker 1: the winds are blowing at an extreme level, lots of

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Speaker 1: very thick smoke that can be seen from miles and miles,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of people. We had a woman on

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Speaker 1: Kelly We were talking to her. She was in her

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Speaker 1: car trying to get down Palisades Drive and a palm

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Speaker 1: tree was on fire just fifty feet away on the

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Speaker 1: corner of Sunset and Palisades, and she had to jump

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Speaker 1: out of her car and run off right in the

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Speaker 1: middle of the call.

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Speaker 4: And you heard the I don't know if it was

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Speaker 4: her dog barking or somebody else's dog. I mean, you've

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Speaker 4: got people with an animals too, that you have to

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Speaker 4: go and try and get out. I mean, really, the

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Speaker 4: whole area of Pacific Palisades has pretty much been told

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Speaker 4: to evacuate, and I'm sure a lot of those people

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Speaker 4: are trying to figure out what to do with their pets.

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Speaker 1: All right, we got other people who are there. Dominic, welcome.

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Speaker 1: You're on kfive. What's going on, Ben John?

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Speaker 6: Thanks for having me on. I think I was probably

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Speaker 6: a couple of cars ahead of your last Callar, because

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Speaker 6: my car was the one that the burning palm tree

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Speaker 6: was falling on at the corner of Palisades and Sunset

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Speaker 6: a couple of minutes ago. I thankfully got through there,

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Speaker 6: terrifying for a number of reasons, but mentioning small pets.

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Speaker 6: I also have my small dog with me, and everyone

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Speaker 6: in the cars near me was being ordered to get

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Speaker 6: out of their cars because the flames work too close,

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Speaker 6: and I was really concerned. The smoke is so thick here.

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Speaker 6: I've actually shut off the AC in my car, even

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Speaker 6: with the recycled function, to keep as much of it

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Speaker 6: out as I can. But both myself and my small

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Speaker 6: dog are having some trouble breathing, the burning eyes all

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Speaker 6: the other stuff. But it's total bedlam here. You can

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Speaker 6: hear the sirens going by. As you reported a few

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Speaker 6: minutes ago. The fire has jump Palisades Drive and spread

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Speaker 6: towards the old Getty Villa and the neighborhood there. And

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Speaker 6: I just saw probably conservatively twenty five or thirty full

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Speaker 6: sized fire engines going westbound on PCH passed Sunset towards

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Speaker 6: the Getty villa to get that under control. But in

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Speaker 6: the last I would say twenty minutes or so, the

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Speaker 6: wind feels to have shifted a little bit and the

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Speaker 6: whole area is just covered in smoke and ash to

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Speaker 6: the point where the fire engines have large floodlights on

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Speaker 6: top of the engines so that they can see. That's

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Speaker 6: how dark it is here at one twenty three in

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Speaker 6: the afternoon, really really onerous conditions.

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Speaker 1: Where are you right now?

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Speaker 6: I was able to get through that intersection, and so

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Speaker 6: I'm pulled over near the corner of Sunset and PCH

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Speaker 6: near the vands there and a little bit closer to

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Speaker 6: the water. I see people going by me right now

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Speaker 6: walking with small animals. Everybody is trying to help everyone

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Speaker 6: out as much as they can. People are wearing the

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Speaker 6: old COVID masks, but now it's to keep the smoke out.

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Speaker 6: And you know, even if everything else were to work

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Speaker 6: out okay, which it sounds terrifying right now, the smoking

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Speaker 6: relation is going to be a problem. I think for

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Speaker 6: a lot of the folks here smoke has been hugging

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Speaker 6: the ground.

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Speaker 1: You said people were getting ordered out of their cars.

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Speaker 1: Who's doing the ordering?

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Speaker 6: LAPD and the fire department? So what happened with this

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Speaker 6: palm tree? It started to smolder and we could tell

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Speaker 6: that it was going to catch fire. I heard you

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Speaker 6: ask the other caller was it in the center median?

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Speaker 6: It actually was not. This one was on the Sunset

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Speaker 6: Boulevard side towards the Lake Shrine Temple, which is across

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Speaker 6: the street there at the Tea intersection where Palisades Drive

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Speaker 6: hit Sunset Boulevard, and so, as the callers reported, it

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Speaker 6: is gridlocked. The fire engines literally could not move or

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Speaker 6: get in place in order to put out this spot fire,

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Speaker 6: and so there was no choice but to start to

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Speaker 6: order people out of their cars for fear that they

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Speaker 6: were in serious danger. I'll be honest, having open flame,

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Speaker 6: things on fire, falling on top of my car and

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Speaker 6: having nowhere to be able to go to because I'm stuck,

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Speaker 6: It's terrifying.

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Speaker 1: That's unbelievably frightening. So what made you decide to evacuate?

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Speaker 1: What did you see or what did you hear that

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Speaker 1: you decide to get in the car and bring your

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Speaker 1: dog and get away.

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Speaker 6: Yeah. So here's a little bit more explanation to the story.

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Speaker 6: So I was in my office in Santa Monica when

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Speaker 6: the fire started. And my home, where I've lived with

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Speaker 6: my wife and kids for the last fifteen years, is

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Speaker 6: in the Palatate Highlands, which is the neighborhood that's in question.

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Speaker 6: So I had started immediately getting text messages from friends

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Speaker 6: in the area that something was afoot And of course

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Speaker 6: it started as small vegetation fire, but a bee. As

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Speaker 6: I looked out my window from Santa Monica and saw

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Speaker 6: how thick and big the black smoke was, I felt

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Speaker 6: compelled to try and get some of our papers and

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Speaker 6: documents out of the house. I was not able to

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Speaker 6: do that. I tried to get into the neighborhood. I

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Speaker 6: could not, and in contact with our neighbors who have

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Speaker 6: been ordered to evacuate as we have, they have been

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Speaker 6: unable to get down Palisades Drive due to the traffic.

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Speaker 6: So they have now been ordered in the Highlands to

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Speaker 6: shelter in place because they can't get out. And there's

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Speaker 6: a lot of concern with the flames jumping over Palisades Drive,

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Speaker 6: and you know, a whole line of cars there like

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Speaker 6: sitting ducks. You fear the worst happening if the flames

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Speaker 6: get out of control. You know, what was going through

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Speaker 6: my mind was a repeat of the Maui situation where

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Speaker 6: people were trying to evacuate and couldn't get out in time. So,

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Speaker 6: you know, I'm still on a full adrenaline rush from that,

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Speaker 6: you know, not a positive one, but a fight or

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Speaker 6: flight adrenaline rush. I'm praying for the safety of everyone involved.

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Speaker 6: I have personally seen a few houses go up in flames,

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Speaker 6: large ones, expensive ones. It's this is going to be

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Speaker 6: really devastating, I think before it's all said and done,

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Speaker 6: particularly with the weather.

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Speaker 1: Just just this morning, you saw that the flames.

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Speaker 6: Within Yeah, within the last hour.

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Speaker 1: Jeez, your wife and kids, where are they?

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Speaker 6: Oh? Thankfully my daughter is a sophomore. If she sees

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Speaker 6: me a freshman at Palsades High and she's thankfully still

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Speaker 6: off on spring break, e sees me winter break. So

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Speaker 6: she's at work with my wife in downtown LA and

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Speaker 6: thankfully I have the dog. And our other daughter is

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Speaker 6: back at U c l A as a sophomore. She

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Speaker 6: just started class yesterday. Otherwise folks would have been home

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Speaker 6: and you know, if anyone out there is a parent

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Speaker 6: separated from their kids who are in danger, you know

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Speaker 6: how scary that can go.

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Speaker 1: In this situation where it's impossible to leave it, it's

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Speaker 1: impossible to go up and rescue. Yeah, you're you're actually

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Speaker 1: in a good place right now, your whole family. Dominic,

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Speaker 1: thank you very much for calling and telling us this.

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Speaker 1: That's quite quite descriptive and quite frightening.

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Speaker 6: I appreciate you taking the call, and I hope everyone

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Speaker 6: out there is able to get out of harm's way.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, all right, Dominic, thank you very much. We

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Speaker 1: are going to continue. If you are in the Palisades

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Speaker 1: right now and you're in a situation like Dominic has been,

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Speaker 1: and you see things, you know things you're trying to

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Speaker 1: get out and you can't, you're in some kind of danger,

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Speaker 1: give us a call and we'll put you on the air.

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Speaker 1: So people going to a really first hand view of

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Speaker 1: just how frightening the whole thing is.

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Speaker 5: You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI. A

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Speaker 5: six forty.

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Speaker 1: Evacuation order now in place for just about the entire

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Speaker 1: town of Pacific Palisades, and looking at a map, it

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Speaker 1: stretches from the ocean all the way down Sunset Boulevard

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Speaker 1: to twenty sixth Street, which is actually in Brentwood, actually

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Speaker 1: covers a small piece of Santa Monica to the south,

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Speaker 1: Brentwood to the east, all of Pacific Palisades all the

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Speaker 1: way west to Panga Canyon Boulevard, and then to the

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Speaker 1: north encompassing to Panga State Park. So everybody in that region,

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Speaker 1: in the Pacific Palisades and some neighborhoods leaking into Santa

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Speaker 1: Monica and in Brentwood around the Riviera Country Club are

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Speaker 1: in the red zone mandatory evacuation. I'm looking at a

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Speaker 1: map online from KTLA and they posted it on x

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Speaker 1: and one of the responses is somebody who posted a

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Speaker 1: video and wrote, unbelievable. I'm literally fighting with a homeless

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Speaker 1: person who is lighting fires. And they've got video of

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Speaker 1: this person on the beach setting a fire. It's a

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Speaker 1: woman and she told the poster that she's doing a

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Speaker 1: good thing.

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Speaker 2: She's doing a good thing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it's a lunatic. And you know there are

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Speaker 1: a lot of those people who wander around in the hillsides. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I know, in the Palisades, that's where they live. And

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Speaker 1: certainly on the beaches in Santa Monica and walk in

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Speaker 1: the streets. I see them every day. And what about the.

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Speaker 4: People flicking their cigarettes, you know, out the window or

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Speaker 4: when they're walking along and they just they just throw

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Speaker 4: their lit cigarettes out.

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Speaker 1: There's one hundred ways that these things can start. And

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Speaker 1: you know, most days out of the year it doesn't matter.

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Speaker 1: And then you have the Santa Ana days with the

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Speaker 1: sixty mile an hour winds, and you could have a

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Speaker 1: whole town burned down. It's just unbelievable. Of course, you know,

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Speaker 1: if we had a mayor who and county supervisors who

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Speaker 1: made sure that every lunatic, homeless person was off the streets,

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Speaker 1: no excuses, then you wouldn't have crazy people setting fires

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Speaker 1: in the middle of a Santa Ana red flag warning day.

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Speaker 1: But we don't have that mayor, and we don't have

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Speaker 1: that those county supervisors, and now god knows what kind

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Speaker 1: of damage we're going to have the Palisades down. There

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Speaker 1: are homes on fire, there have homes been destroyed from

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Speaker 1: the accounts that I'm reading. If you are in that

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Speaker 1: red zone and you don't know where to go, they're

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Speaker 1: having an evacuation center established at the Westwood Recreation Center,

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Speaker 1: thirteen fifty South Suppulvita Boulevard, And like I said, the

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Speaker 1: mandatory zone has expanded to cover just about the entire

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Speaker 1: town of Pacific Palisades and even some neighborhoods in Brentwood

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Speaker 1: and south of Sunset into Santa Monica all the way

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Speaker 1: to Topanga Canyon Road, and all the camera shots I'm

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Speaker 1: looking at it's it's very bad, thick smoke, gigantic flames.

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Speaker 1: We just heard from Dominic a few minutes ago, one

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Speaker 1: of our listeners. He was in his car. In fact,

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Speaker 1: we've had two people who were trapped in their cars,

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Speaker 1: one of them Kelly. She jumped out of the car

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Speaker 1: and ran and lapd From what Dominic said was going

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Speaker 1: from car to car, I guess banging on the window

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Speaker 1: and saying get out now, because this palm tree was

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Speaker 1: burning and it could be falling on one of the cars.

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Speaker 1: That's what Dominic was afraid of. Smoke is very thick,

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Speaker 1: it's hard to breathe. People are trying to bring their animals.

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Speaker 1: You can't go back. If you do live in the

400
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Speaker 1: area and you think you're going to sneak back in,

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Speaker 1: it's impossible. The gridlock is in both directions. Nobody's going

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Speaker 1: to let you in, and if you are trapped inside

403
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Speaker 1: your house, they're just telling you to stay there. And

404
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Speaker 1: you got to just keep watching and if you see

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Speaker 1: the flames coming, you're gonna have to run. I mean,

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Speaker 1: this is basic, primal survival mode. Now, there is no magic,

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Speaker 1: There is no good answer here.

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Speaker 4: And the awful part is that the winds are going

409
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Speaker 4: to kick up later tonight and last through tomorrow. The

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Speaker 4: red flag warning is an effect until Thursday, but really

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Speaker 4: the winds are going to peak tonight and tomorrow morning,

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Speaker 4: so it's going to be the winds are going to

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Speaker 4: be so awful. I mean, the winds have already been awful,

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Speaker 4: so imagine they're.

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Speaker 2: Going to be worse.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean the forecast was in the passes and canyons,

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Speaker 1: and I mean that's the area we're talking about here

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Speaker 1: in the Palisades was sixty to eighty miles an hour,

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Speaker 1: possibly eighty to one hundred miles an hour with gusts

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Speaker 1: and the I'm just looking at some of the posts

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Speaker 1: online from people who are there, and the wind has

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Speaker 1: been changing direction. They're telling everybody goes south generally Santa Ana.

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Speaker 1: Winds blow from the north and northeast to this south

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Speaker 1: and southwest. And so what you want to do is

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Speaker 1: go south, uh and and or or to the east

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Speaker 1: and get out of there because the winds are the

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Speaker 1: sant ane winds only work from the north in the northeast.

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Speaker 1: That they just the way that the meteorology is. It's

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Speaker 1: not going to come from the other direction. Of course,

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Speaker 1: you can have the local conditions where the winds swirl

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Speaker 1: and it may seem like it's changed direction.

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Speaker 2: Channel eleven. Uh, this is according to your wife.

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Speaker 4: She just texted me that the fire is close to

434
00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:40,000
Speaker 4: condos at p h and sun sunset.

435
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:44,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm looking at looking at Channel eleven right now. Yes,

436
00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:46,840
Speaker 1: I could see that all these all these shots are

437
00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:48,880
Speaker 1: very familiar to me because we're in the next town

438
00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,520
Speaker 1: over about five miles away, and so we're in the

439
00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:54,639
Speaker 1: palisades all the time. So this is this is like

440
00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:58,040
Speaker 1: close to our backyard. Here. They've got TV reporters wearing

441
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:02,640
Speaker 1: looks like gas masks because it would be impossible to breathe.

442
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:05,920
Speaker 1: We're in a few minutes without giving yourself permanent lung damage.

443
00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:12,680
Speaker 1: And this is now and you know I'm not there's

444
00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:16,880
Speaker 1: not showing a lot of aerial drops from helicopters or planes.

445
00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:19,200
Speaker 1: I'm not seeing much of that. I wonder if the

446
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:23,480
Speaker 1: conditions are so severe that the planes can't fly because

447
00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:25,399
Speaker 1: the winds, or they can't see anything because of the

448
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:26,000
Speaker 1: thick smoke.

449
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:29,000
Speaker 4: Well, I know that there were some water dropping, yeah, earlier,

450
00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:32,520
Speaker 4: but I haven't seen any. But again, we can't see because,

451
00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:36,080
Speaker 4: as you said, the smoke is so so thick, but

452
00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:37,160
Speaker 4: it is so windy.

453
00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:38,920
Speaker 2: How dangerous that would be, right.

454
00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:41,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I heard one firefighter earlier say that, you know,

455
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:44,240
Speaker 1: most you see the planes and the helicopters, and and

456
00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:48,320
Speaker 1: they're good to have, but the real action is down

457
00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:50,159
Speaker 1: on the ground. I mean, there are hundreds and hundreds

458
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:53,080
Speaker 1: of firefighters in the middle of this right now, walls

459
00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:58,720
Speaker 1: of flame, thick smoke, impossible winds. There are many many

460
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:03,960
Speaker 1: firefighters inside this inferno now. And we've had a couple

461
00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:07,680
Speaker 1: of people on the air say that they saw homes burning.

462
00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:11,920
Speaker 1: But it's impossible really to get a good sense of

463
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:16,080
Speaker 1: what's going on. I mean, even the television reporters can't

464
00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:19,000
Speaker 1: get inside the fire. You can only report what you

465
00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:21,760
Speaker 1: see on the outside. And everybody you know in the

466
00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:24,400
Speaker 1: fire department is really busy now, so we haven't had

467
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:28,280
Speaker 1: a formal news conference to explain this in a while,

468
00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:32,240
Speaker 1: we will the number one eight hundred and five to

469
00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:35,240
Speaker 1: oh one KFI. If you are in the Palisades or

470
00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:40,480
Speaker 1: nearby and you're seeing things, you're trying to escape, you're

471
00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:44,399
Speaker 1: you're you're you're trapped inside this mandatory evacuation zone and

472
00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:47,840
Speaker 1: you can't get out, call us and we'll put you

473
00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:49,760
Speaker 1: on the air and you could tell us what's going on,

474
00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:54,040
Speaker 1: because you could you could be the eyes and ears

475
00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:57,880
Speaker 1: of of what's going on and explain to the rest

476
00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:02,720
Speaker 1: of us what's happening in the Palisade in traffic, whether

477
00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:05,080
Speaker 1: you're fleeing or you're trying to get back, you shouldn't

478
00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:06,679
Speaker 1: try to get back. You're not going to make it.

479
00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:09,919
Speaker 1: One eight hundred five to oh one KFI. One eight

480
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:12,520
Speaker 1: hundred five to oh one KFI.

481
00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:17,399
Speaker 5: You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI AM

482
00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:18,000
Speaker 5: six forty.

483
00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:27,240
Speaker 1: Pacific Palisades brush fire is enormous and it's probably burning

484
00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:29,359
Speaker 1: a number of homes right now. As best as we

485
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:32,959
Speaker 1: can tell, they have hundreds and hundreds of firefighters on

486
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:36,280
Speaker 1: the scene. The entire town of Pacific Palisades and some

487
00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:41,280
Speaker 1: bordering neighborhoods are under a mandatory evacuation order. There are

488
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:45,760
Speaker 1: multiple reports of structures burning throughout the fire area. Hey, John, Yes,

489
00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:47,800
Speaker 1: we got Nancy Lou from a news nation on if

490
00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:48,920
Speaker 1: you want to talk to her. All right, let's get

491
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:50,720
Speaker 1: Nancy on right now. Nancy, how are you?

492
00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:55,280
Speaker 7: I'm good, bet, John. I can confirm I am watching

493
00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:59,960
Speaker 7: right now a home that is burning here in Pacific Palace.

494
00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:06,239
Speaker 7: It's ominous looking the skies, it's so dark, but I

495
00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:10,040
Speaker 7: am sadly watching a home burn. I believe I'm on

496
00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:15,440
Speaker 7: Los Lomas, right in the heart of Pacific Palisades. It's

497
00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:19,760
Speaker 7: very smoky, but I have personally seen at least three

498
00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:25,000
Speaker 7: or four structures on fire. There are embers flying around,

499
00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:29,200
Speaker 7: and we have seen at least two or three instances

500
00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:33,480
Speaker 7: of new fire starting from those embers, and we personally

501
00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:37,760
Speaker 7: stomped out a couple of them just to prevent spread.

502
00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:41,880
Speaker 7: But yes, I'm right now watching home burn sadly.

503
00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:44,280
Speaker 1: Yeah. Are there firefighters in the neighborhood.

504
00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:50,920
Speaker 7: No, but I've heard just incessant, you know, sirens around me.

505
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:54,480
Speaker 7: I know they're on the move. I know hundreds are

506
00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:58,440
Speaker 7: you know descending on Pacific Palisades right now. But this

507
00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:04,640
Speaker 7: is just a assive emergency situation, and clearly there are

508
00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:08,240
Speaker 7: many spots that they need to hit. And in the

509
00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:12,000
Speaker 7: past half hour or so, I've seen far less of

510
00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:14,320
Speaker 7: an air fight, and I don't know if that's because

511
00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:18,520
Speaker 7: it's too smoky, too windy, but you know, or when

512
00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:20,800
Speaker 7: I first arrived on the scene, which was you know,

513
00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:24,480
Speaker 7: about an hour after the fire broke out, we did

514
00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:28,160
Speaker 7: see more of an air attack, some retardant going down.

515
00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:34,040
Speaker 7: But now we're not seeing as many aircraft in the sky,

516
00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:37,920
Speaker 7: but just a very smoky situation. And as you know,

517
00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:41,520
Speaker 7: the winds are picking up. I mean, it is really

518
00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:45,480
Speaker 7: gusty out here, and at times it feels like it's

519
00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:48,040
Speaker 7: probably forty miles an hour or something like that.

520
00:30:48,240 --> 00:30:51,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what it was supposed to be. Yeah.

521
00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:55,240
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's a horrible combination of factors out here. We've

522
00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:59,480
Speaker 7: just got smoke and wind and as you know, very

523
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:04,520
Speaker 7: dry conditions here in southern California. So it's not just

524
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:08,280
Speaker 7: specific polsage. You know, they're under all areas under threat

525
00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:10,280
Speaker 7: here in southern California.

526
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:15,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can confirm what you're not seeing in the skies,

527
00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:19,920
Speaker 1: because I'm looking at four different television stations and they

528
00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:22,600
Speaker 1: don't have any aerial shots of the fire, nor are

529
00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:26,480
Speaker 1: there any shots of fire helicopters or planes in the air,

530
00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:31,520
Speaker 1: And it just seems like visually the conditions are so awful.

531
00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:34,560
Speaker 1: Visibility is so bad, and the wind so strong. I'm

532
00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:36,400
Speaker 1: not sure they can do too much from the air

533
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:38,880
Speaker 1: right now exactly.

534
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:42,600
Speaker 7: And also the winds keep shifting around, so sometimes you know,

535
00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:46,760
Speaker 7: we're in daylight and then twenty seconds later we're in

536
00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 7: complete darkness with black smoke. And it's really a volatile

537
00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:56,520
Speaker 7: situation out here. And as I stand here and watch

538
00:31:56,560 --> 00:31:58,720
Speaker 7: more of this home burn.

539
00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:04,239
Speaker 1: Did how did you get up there? Because of all

540
00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:06,200
Speaker 1: the traffic and the gridlock? How were you able to

541
00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:08,000
Speaker 1: get into We came in.

542
00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:10,400
Speaker 7: Yeah, we came in from the south. We came up

543
00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:15,880
Speaker 7: Pacific pch and it was starting to build. We hit

544
00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:19,040
Speaker 7: the road probably you know, within an hour of the

545
00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:22,840
Speaker 7: fire starting. I saw the smoke from Afar and I

546
00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:27,040
Speaker 7: said we should move, so we immediately started heading towards

547
00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:31,840
Speaker 7: Pacific Palisades. The traffic is just horrendous. We've seen John

548
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:35,160
Speaker 7: just cars backed up, people trying to get out and

549
00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:38,200
Speaker 7: I've been talking to residents here in Pacific Palisades. You

550
00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:42,360
Speaker 7: mentioned that the mandatory evacuation is now in place, and

551
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:45,720
Speaker 7: people were torn. I mean, do we stay, do we go?

552
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,920
Speaker 7: What do we take? And you know, I'm in a neighborhood.

553
00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:53,080
Speaker 7: A couple of the neighbors told me they've never evacuated before,

554
00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:57,280
Speaker 7: so this is something you know, they've never done. And

555
00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:01,480
Speaker 7: so but the two that I spoke with, they're leaving.

556
00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:05,760
Speaker 7: One man though, came back around and said the traffic

557
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:09,200
Speaker 7: is so bad, she goes, I'm not going to go anywhere.

558
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:11,680
Speaker 7: So I'm just going to come back home and hope

559
00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:12,120
Speaker 7: for the best.

560
00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:15,280
Speaker 1: It's a frightening set of choices. Thanks very much for coming.

561
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:17,680
Speaker 7: On, Thank you for having me.

562
00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:24,400
Speaker 1: All Right, Pacific Palisades is on fire. I'm looking at

563
00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:30,480
Speaker 1: several television news feeds and they have different homes burning

564
00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:35,280
Speaker 1: on different stations. I see one home just starting to burn.

565
00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:39,760
Speaker 1: There's a wall of flames in the backyard, wall of

566
00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:45,000
Speaker 1: flames in the backyard of the neighbor's house. And you

567
00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:47,280
Speaker 1: just you just picked the channel and you've got a

568
00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:55,800
Speaker 1: different horrific video. I'm looking. I'm looking at what is

569
00:33:55,840 --> 00:34:00,880
Speaker 1: this channel eleven? And just a gigantic wall of flame

570
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:07,840
Speaker 1: behind this really beautiful home. All the backdrops or it's

571
00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:12,680
Speaker 1: orange or or black black smoke mixed with an orange

572
00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:17,319
Speaker 1: glow from from the fires. Shots of people jammed on

573
00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:21,000
Speaker 1: in roads. Uh, you know they they made the roads.

574
00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:25,200
Speaker 1: I guess one way like Palisades Avenue, one way coming

575
00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:29,000
Speaker 1: from the north to the south, and didn't help much.

576
00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:30,560
Speaker 2: And where are those people going to run to?

577
00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:34,000
Speaker 1: Well, that's the thing. If there there's flames all around you,

578
00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:37,120
Speaker 1: if there's flames in the palm trees over you, Uh,

579
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:39,600
Speaker 1: what's your choice here? You could stay in the house

580
00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:41,840
Speaker 1: and there's flames coming up the hillside. You could you

581
00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:42,880
Speaker 1: could jump in a car.

582
00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:45,520
Speaker 4: But when you have to leave your car in the

583
00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:46,919
Speaker 4: middle of the street, where are you going?

584
00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:49,879
Speaker 1: I don't know. You just run, You run downhill. It's

585
00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:52,279
Speaker 1: the only choice. Run downhill, run south. Try to try

586
00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:54,400
Speaker 1: to get to sunset, Try to get to p h

587
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:57,640
Speaker 1: Try to get to an open space where the air is,

588
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:01,440
Speaker 1: you know, not not the too overwhelming to breathe.

589
00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:04,560
Speaker 4: You didn't even even see because the smoke is so thick.

590
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:08,319
Speaker 1: No, no, I mean this is it's like in the

591
00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:10,319
Speaker 1: in the woods. You know when there's a fire and

592
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:12,880
Speaker 1: you see all the animals just running, running, running. That's

593
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:16,319
Speaker 1: now where that's what you're reduced right, it's people now

594
00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:21,880
Speaker 1: because there aren't any options. We will continue this with

595
00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:26,319
Speaker 1: the fire coverage in Pacific Palisades. Debor Mark is live

596
00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:29,120
Speaker 1: in the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Hey, you've been

597
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:31,840
Speaker 1: listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast. You can always

598
00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:34,520
Speaker 1: hear the show live on KFI AM six forty from

599
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:37,000
Speaker 1: one to four pm every Monday through Friday, and of

600
00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:40,040
Speaker 1: course anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app