Latest / Laguna Talks / Fire Safety with Niko King

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Fire Safety with Niko King · Laguna Talks

0:02
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's the man, James Taylor. Fire and Rain.
0:06
Speaker 1: Here on KXFM, Laguna's community radio. You're at the two
0:10
Speaker 1: o'clock hour with Billy Free. This is my Friday's show
0:13
Speaker 1: called street Walker, but we're doing a very special edition
0:17
Speaker 1: today to talk about fire safety. What's obviously paramount on
0:21
Speaker 1: everybody's mind, and if you are listening. In twelve minutes,
0:25
Speaker 1: Chief Fire Chief Nico King will be calling in with
0:27
Speaker 1: an update on what's happening in California all over the state,
0:32
Speaker 1: particularly southern California, the response teams, where we are, how
0:38
Speaker 1: much has been put out, what's still at risk, and
0:42
Speaker 1: what are we doing here in Laguna if we don't.
0:45
Speaker 1: This is the wake up call that perhaps we needed
0:49
Speaker 1: to let everybody know that we are not invulnerable. I
0:52
Speaker 1: know most of the fires have been up north in
0:53
Speaker 1: the past decade, but we all know it was just
0:56
Speaker 1: a matter of time. It was just luck because when
0:58
Speaker 1: those perfect conditions converge of high winds, heavy brush, dry air,
1:05
Speaker 1: and dryness, we are very susceptible in our beautiful little
1:11
Speaker 1: hamlet here, and the most important thing is to keep
1:14
Speaker 1: everybody safe and have an evacuation plan that is orderly
1:20
Speaker 1: that is systematic, that doesn't leave us all panicked and
1:24
Speaker 1: doing the same thing at the same time, where we
1:26
Speaker 1: would completely clog the roads and not be able to
1:29
Speaker 1: get out. We have so many lessons we can learn
1:32
Speaker 1: from the fires that have occurred recently here in California.
1:37
Speaker 1: Also in Maui. We had the awful tragedy of the
1:41
Speaker 1: Paradise Fires, which Chief King was at when he was
1:45
Speaker 1: working in the Sacramento Fire Department. We had the Montecito
1:49
Speaker 1: Fire Santa Rosa. This one, however, looks to be the
1:52
Speaker 1: biggest in the country's history in terms of overall damage.
1:57
Speaker 1: Just unfathomable to think what it will be like to
1:59
Speaker 1: repair and rebuild Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Hollywood Hills, all of
2:06
Speaker 1: these affected areas, And it's just disheartening to think what
2:09
Speaker 1: life will be like seeing this charred, post apocalyptic city
2:14
Speaker 1: once known as Los Angeles. So yeah, we're going to
2:19
Speaker 1: talk to the fire chief momentarily. We are also going
2:22
Speaker 1: to talk about Laguna preparedness and how they will fight
2:25
Speaker 1: the next fire. Where are the water sources that they
2:28
Speaker 1: pull from, Do we have enough reserves in our tanks?
2:33
Speaker 1: What happens when the winds are so high that they
2:35
Speaker 1: can't fly aircraft over it, but instead just have to
2:38
Speaker 1: send ground teams. What have we done for brush mitigation?
2:43
Speaker 1: Obviously we're coming off two rainy seasons where the brush
2:46
Speaker 1: has accumulated and now it's super dry after all these weeks,
2:50
Speaker 1: all these months of no rain. How to prepare your home,
2:53
Speaker 1: your go bag, your evacuation plan. And we're going to
2:57
Speaker 1: learn all that more from Chief King, and we also
3:00
Speaker 1: want you We will be publishing all of this on
3:02
Speaker 1: our website at KXFM radio dot org.
3:05
Speaker 2: We are here to serve you.
3:07
Speaker 1: Laguna, to keep you up to date, keep you calm
3:11
Speaker 1: and orderly, and be that resource and beacon where you
3:14
Speaker 1: can go for up to the minute information. This is
3:18
Speaker 1: the mission of community Radio. This is why we need
3:21
Speaker 1: your support day after day and why we always look
3:24
Speaker 1: so desperate for money because we are a nonprofit and
3:27
Speaker 1: we rely on you, our listeners, to fund this. We
3:29
Speaker 1: also want you, our listeners, to feel a sense of ownership.
3:32
Speaker 1: This is your radio station. It's a community radio station.
3:35
Speaker 1: That's literally our classification by the FCD FCC the LPFM
3:42
Speaker 1: low powered FM community station.
3:44
Speaker 2: We are here for education, for news, for up.
3:46
Speaker 1: To the minute resources that we cannot get from any
3:50
Speaker 1: other radio station because of our isolated location. This is
3:54
Speaker 1: the only radio station that you can pull up to
3:56
Speaker 1: the minute one oh four point seven. And when the
3:59
Speaker 1: grit it goes down, when the electricity or see polls
4:02
Speaker 1: the electricity and your internet is no longer functioning and
4:05
Speaker 1: your phone dies, you need a hand crank or battery
4:09
Speaker 1: operated radio with an FM dial so that you can
4:12
Speaker 1: tune into our station which will still be running hopefully
4:15
Speaker 1: with our backup generators and our team, our fire response team,
4:20
Speaker 1: emergency response team of broadcasters and hosts who will be
4:24
Speaker 1: coordinating with our emergency officials to bring you up to
4:27
Speaker 1: the minute information. That's what we do here, and we
4:31
Speaker 1: are proud of it and thankful that we still have
4:34
Speaker 1: this wonderful station to call our own kx FM radio.
4:39
Speaker 1: So I'm going to put on fire in the middle.
4:41
Speaker 1: This is Nightmares on wax KXFM.
4:48
Speaker 2: Whoops, that's not what I was thinking of.
4:53
Speaker 1: Okay, well we'll stick with us.
4:56
Speaker 2: Dobie Brothers.
5:00
Speaker 3: Don't man a family that you won't be coming back.
5:03
Speaker 2: That we're about to hear right.
5:07
Speaker 3: Now about killing now's central tend a southern central break.
5:24
Speaker 2: You won't push in my mouth. They're running now little
5:28
Speaker 2: known Where would you been? Night I know.
6:08
Speaker 3: The filing all was sna tell them, said the freaks
6:12
Speaker 3: keep on put to my mom, No, they're running left, but.
6:16
Speaker 2: I love where would you be? L Well, stay out.
6:34
Speaker 3: And we'll go run around and see your real like,
6:38
Speaker 3: Oh man, I'm about stay.
6:44
Speaker 1: I want to be right.
6:55
Speaker 3: I want.
7:05
Speaker 4: A guess the pain.
7:19
Speaker 2: Then a big fan a keep on, keep on, keep on.
7:38
Speaker 2: There we go.
7:39
Speaker 1: Let's see if we can bring on Fire in the Middle.
7:42
Speaker 1: This is Nightmares on Wax, one of my favorite DJs
7:46
Speaker 1: from me Visa from his car Boot Jazz record.
7:50
Speaker 2: This is called fire in the Middle.
8:00
Speaker 4: And in.
8:09
Speaker 3: It it's It's, It's, It's, It's fist again.
9:26
Speaker 1: And Okay, we're gonna cut this song off short because
10:03
Speaker 1: we have fire Chief Nico King standing by and let
10:07
Speaker 1: me see if I can bring him on.
10:10
Speaker 2: Hi, Nico, are you there?
10:12
Speaker 4: Yeah?
10:12
Speaker 2: Sure, em great to hear your voice, my friend. Thanks
10:15
Speaker 2: for taking time to call in.
10:17
Speaker 4: Oh absolutely, thanks for giving me the opportunity.
10:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just want to get an update. I know
10:23
Speaker 1: you came on Tuesday night with another DJ, Steve, and
10:29
Speaker 1: you gave us a wonderful update. I don't know if
10:31
Speaker 1: you know this, but we edited that and played it
10:33
Speaker 1: on a continuous loop every hour yesterday because it was
10:36
Speaker 1: such vital information.
10:37
Speaker 2: So thank you for that.
10:39
Speaker 4: Oh, thanks for getting the important word out to the community.
10:42
Speaker 4: I appreciate it.
10:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, you must be exhausted.
10:44
Speaker 1: I asked you before I put you online if you
10:46
Speaker 1: were getting any sleep, because you must be on hyper alert.
10:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's just as you can imagine, between coordinating resources
10:56
Speaker 4: and conference calls and watching the weather and listening to
11:00
Speaker 4: our radio is incredibly closely monitoring our mutual aid resources
11:05
Speaker 4: and their availability. It's been non stop for the last
11:10
Speaker 4: few days.
11:10
Speaker 2: And I read that you sent some of your team
11:12
Speaker 2: up to La Yeah.
11:15
Speaker 4: When the Palisades fire started, we had one initial engine
11:22
Speaker 4: that we were able to let loose, and that gave
11:24
Speaker 4: us the opportunity to keep not only our four engines
11:27
Speaker 4: in town, but we had one still overstaffed for any
11:31
Speaker 4: conditions or fires that might pop up in our own community.
11:34
Speaker 4: And then the following day on Wednesday, when our winds
11:37
Speaker 4: started to die off in the evening, as you can imagine,
11:41
Speaker 4: Los Angeles was screaming for resources at that time, I
11:45
Speaker 4: let the additional engine go. So we have two engines out.
11:49
Speaker 4: They're both assigned to the Palisades Fire. That first engine
11:53
Speaker 4: worked Gosh, they must have worked for forty eight maybe
11:56
Speaker 4: even a little bit longer than that hour straight. And
12:01
Speaker 4: the crews finally got some rest yesterday and got relieved.
12:05
Speaker 4: But they're back back out there this morning at seven
12:08
Speaker 4: o'clock and they're going to do another twenty four hour
12:10
Speaker 4: shift until tomorrow morning.
12:12
Speaker 2: You got to be proud of you guys.
12:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, so incredibly proud, you know, And it's just it's
12:19
Speaker 4: good that we're able to participate and help our neighboring
12:22
Speaker 4: county and all these folks that are incredible in such
12:26
Speaker 4: need right now.
12:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we touched on this, I think when you
12:29
Speaker 1: sat in on my show not too long ago. But
12:31
Speaker 1: when these guys experienced something of this magnitude of devastation,
12:35
Speaker 1: I mean they must there must be some aftermath PTSD
12:38
Speaker 1: of sorts, just sort of you must have to deal
12:42
Speaker 1: with mental crises because of this what they witness and
12:45
Speaker 1: experience and the fatigue, right.
12:49
Speaker 4: Both, you're spot on. It's one thing to be in
12:53
Speaker 4: that fight or flight mode was fired in front of you,
12:56
Speaker 4: and you know, after after the first whatever twenty four
13:00
Speaker 4: forty eight hours of that shift and that initial attack,
13:04
Speaker 4: you start to process and what really starts to resonate.
13:08
Speaker 4: I mean, we're all human and we all have feelings
13:10
Speaker 4: and emotions and start to imagine, you know, the what if?
13:13
Speaker 4: What up this for me? And then you start coming
13:15
Speaker 4: across the people and that's what really makes the impact.
13:20
Speaker 4: You know, we care so much and in this profession
13:22
Speaker 4: we do everything that we can to help others and
13:26
Speaker 4: to start having to walk people through their homes and
13:29
Speaker 4: they start letting folks back in and we're interacting with
13:33
Speaker 4: them and one of the worst moments of their life,
13:36
Speaker 4: it definitely takes its toll. And so a couple of
13:39
Speaker 4: years ago, it was at the campfire up in Paradise
13:43
Speaker 4: where they actually formally had mental health clinicians come in
13:48
Speaker 4: and start helping emergency responders. And we're going to start
13:52
Speaker 4: to see that now, this is that time in the
13:54
Speaker 4: incident where the exhaustion, the fatigue and the processing of
13:59
Speaker 4: the emotion and starts to kick in. So we're not
14:02
Speaker 4: only going to be sure to take care of our
14:04
Speaker 4: folks now, but also when they get back.
14:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you know, all too often we look
14:10
Speaker 1: at we look at your at fire safety at the
14:14
Speaker 1: responders as superhuman, incredibly fit, strong, tough people, but you know,
14:21
Speaker 1: nobody can. As you said, they're all human, and the
14:23
Speaker 1: raw emotions around people losing everything, loved ones, all of
14:27
Speaker 1: their possessions, sometimes their pets, is just it's got to
14:32
Speaker 1: be unfathomable and something that they don't get. They no
14:37
Speaker 1: amount of training can prepare them for it.
14:40
Speaker 4: That's right. It's it's something that you realize that you're
14:43
Speaker 4: going to enter into and could possibly see when you
14:46
Speaker 4: enter into this career, but until you actually go through it,
14:50
Speaker 4: there's there's it's only words. It's only words until you
14:53
Speaker 4: experience it.
14:53
Speaker 2: Yep.
14:54
Speaker 1: Well, Chief can give us an update of what's going
14:56
Speaker 1: on up there right now, how much of it's contained,
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Speaker 1: what kind of resources do we have at work there?
15:02
Speaker 1: Just give the public an idea of what's going on.
15:05
Speaker 4: Well, uh, you know, for the Palisades fire, it looked
15:10
Speaker 4: like they're started putting some containment down. I think it
15:13
Speaker 4: was like six or eight percent the last I saw,
15:15
Speaker 4: But as you could tell, it looked like it started
15:19
Speaker 4: burning out in the open space and moving, you know,
15:22
Speaker 4: closer and closer towards Malibu. But I think with the
15:24
Speaker 4: winds dying down, they're able to start getting some better
15:28
Speaker 4: containment on it. And that's just that fire, right, I
15:32
Speaker 4: think what's worthy of mentioning is something that you go
15:37
Speaker 4: back in time, and I don't know that it's ever happened,
15:40
Speaker 4: but have just not the Palisades fire, but the fire
15:44
Speaker 4: after that started popped up over in Pasadena and Alta Dina,
15:49
Speaker 4: and then the incidents following all of those occurring simultaneously
15:55
Speaker 4: in a single county with a historic wind event. Our
16:01
Speaker 4: systems just not built to handle that kind of volume
16:06
Speaker 4: for requesting resources that rapidly, So as you can imagine,
16:13
Speaker 4: most of the resources were rushing towards Pacific Palisades early on,
16:17
Speaker 4: but then all of a sudden, Pasadena started requesting a
16:20
Speaker 4: lot of resources. So it's just you know, pass off
16:24
Speaker 4: to LA for getting on top of this their emergency
16:29
Speaker 4: operator managers, coordinators, their fire chiefs and able to request resources,
16:34
Speaker 4: keep resources available prioritize those incidents. It's again something I'm
16:41
Speaker 4: not sure that you know, we've ever done in the
16:43
Speaker 4: state of California, if not anywhere in the nation. For
16:47
Speaker 4: them to jump on and launch air resources on the
16:51
Speaker 4: fire that popped up over in Studio city and have
16:55
Speaker 4: that thing extinguished with those air resources, and then the
16:59
Speaker 4: other one in Hollywood. You know, it's just again, you know,
17:04
Speaker 4: hands hands down something that yeah, hass off to those
17:07
Speaker 4: guys and just professionals, professionals to see. Yeah, it's it's
17:12
Speaker 4: we're happy to be a part of that process. But
17:16
Speaker 4: on the on the higher level, the management of those
17:18
Speaker 4: incidents second to none.
17:20
Speaker 2: I'm glad to hear you say that.
17:21
Speaker 1: You know, we see, of course all all these aerial
17:24
Speaker 1: views of of the evacuation process and trying to get
17:28
Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty thousand people to move out of
17:31
Speaker 1: the way, out of harm's way. I think people don't
17:34
Speaker 1: realize that at the same time, you're trying to mobilize
17:37
Speaker 1: fire trucks and resources into these areas, and that in
17:40
Speaker 1: and of itself must be an unbelievable challenge. It's just
17:44
Speaker 1: being is getting onto the scene, right.
17:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, that's that's a big rush getting the people out.
17:52
Speaker 4: And then you always have those one off events. Well
17:55
Speaker 4: we think they're one off events, but I think we've
17:57
Speaker 4: seen it a couple of times now where people have
17:59
Speaker 4: evacuated their vehicle and left them on the road. These
18:02
Speaker 4: are these are all you know, I've just stingers crossed
18:06
Speaker 4: and we have another wind event possibly coming up. Hopefully
18:09
Speaker 4: it's not going to impact the Orange County coastal area.
18:11
Speaker 4: But this this all just brings back to light all
18:15
Speaker 4: of our planning and preparation, our evacuation routes, and our
18:19
Speaker 4: communication and public education that that we can do. And
18:24
Speaker 4: there's definitely areas that we could re emphasize, take a
18:29
Speaker 4: closer to look at, Look at our water system, what
18:32
Speaker 4: is our capacity? How quick can we get the folks
18:36
Speaker 4: out of town if we ask you know, half the
18:39
Speaker 4: town to go at once? All those things we're going
18:42
Speaker 4: to be taking a closer look at in the coming week.
18:44
Speaker 1: And I want to I want to get to that
18:46
Speaker 1: in one second, but I do want to comment on
18:51
Speaker 1: what I think is the destructive nature of social media.
18:55
Speaker 1: And I'm hoping that you don't as a professional, pay
18:58
Speaker 1: attention to any of that stuff. But all of the
19:00
Speaker 1: blame game and the politicizing and these these storylines that
19:05
Speaker 1: you hear that there's no water in the fire hydrants
19:07
Speaker 1: to you know, that this mismanagement that they're blaming on
19:10
Speaker 1: our mayor and our governor and even our president and
19:13
Speaker 1: all that stuff and I just wanted to give you
19:15
Speaker 1: a moment to possibly debunk what I see all over
19:19
Speaker 1: the media, which is this ridiculous blame game and nobody's
19:22
Speaker 1: looking at the real culprit, climate change.
19:27
Speaker 4: Climate change arguably is something that nobody can can take
19:33
Speaker 4: out of this incident. This has been a historic wind
19:36
Speaker 4: event that has never been seen with ninety mile an
19:39
Speaker 4: hour winds going through that area. So you know, above
19:44
Speaker 4: politics and any operational deliverous services, the weather is undoubtedly,
19:54
Speaker 4: you know, the objective piece of this that was different.
19:57
Speaker 2: Yeah.
19:57
Speaker 1: And when people say, oh, you know, we didn't we
20:01
Speaker 1: want able to fly planes initially over these affected areas
20:05
Speaker 1: and spray with water, Well, that's because one hundred mile
20:07
Speaker 1: an hour winds don't allow you to fly in aircraft.
20:12
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's that's you just can't fly safely in those operations.
20:16
Speaker 4: And that's true on any fire, even the smoke conditions,
20:21
Speaker 4: with the wind conditions and or night if they're not
20:25
Speaker 4: if they're not have the capability to use the night vision,
20:31
Speaker 4: there's there's many limitations. It was incredibly unfortunate with those
20:37
Speaker 4: two superscoopers that we have from Canada, and one of
20:40
Speaker 4: them was damaged by a drone. That was incredibly unfortunate
20:44
Speaker 4: because there's such good resources to keep working.
20:47
Speaker 2: But super scoopers.
20:49
Speaker 4: Those are those aircraft that they don't have to stop flying.
20:53
Speaker 4: They circle around, make their drop onto the fire. Then
20:56
Speaker 4: they go out to the ocean. They come down low,
21:00
Speaker 4: they slow down, but they just skim the top of
21:02
Speaker 4: the water. They steal their tank back up and they're
21:08
Speaker 4: able to refill and get right back to the fire.
21:12
Speaker 2: That's amazing technology. Wow.
21:14
Speaker 1: So let's talk about, you know, preparation for the response here.
21:18
Speaker 2: First.
21:18
Speaker 1: I know, of course, there's what you guys do, the professionals,
21:21
Speaker 1: and then it's what we do the residents to get
21:24
Speaker 1: out of harm's way and maybe do everything in our
21:27
Speaker 1: power to prepare our homes for possible fire event.
21:32
Speaker 2: But what are I mean? People are asking me questions,
21:35
Speaker 2: and that's why I'm going to turn it too.
21:37
Speaker 1: You. I know, we do have some water reserve tanks
21:39
Speaker 1: somewhere scattered around here that are specifically Is that true?
21:43
Speaker 2: And do we have enough.
21:46
Speaker 4: That is true? I'll back up a little bit and
21:50
Speaker 4: just say that after the ninety three fire, there were
21:54
Speaker 4: a lot of improvements that were identified, and then in
21:58
Speaker 4: twenty nineteen, just most recently through Camp. Bob Whalen, the
22:05
Speaker 4: city manager, and a lot of the city departments went
22:08
Speaker 4: through and just evaluate it again what's been done since
22:12
Speaker 4: the ninety three fire and what still needs to be done.
22:14
Speaker 4: And there's been millions of dollars of projects and infrastructure
22:18
Speaker 4: to improve our safety in the Guna Beach. But specifically
22:22
Speaker 4: to your question, yeah, I believe there's over twenty water
22:25
Speaker 4: tanks that were put in and there was an evaluation
22:30
Speaker 4: and upgrade of some of the pumps to keep the
22:33
Speaker 4: water pressure running. And I heard roughly and it's you know,
22:38
Speaker 4: somewhat speculation. I'd have to go back and make sure
22:40
Speaker 4: that it's all true, but I was told that our
22:43
Speaker 4: capacity is twice as much as what it was back
22:46
Speaker 4: in ninety three.
22:48
Speaker 1: And when you say upgrading our water pressure pumps, I
22:52
Speaker 1: think it's important to point out that you know SCD
22:54
Speaker 1: will shut the most likely shut the grid down, and
22:57
Speaker 1: so these things have to run on basically water pressure, right.
23:03
Speaker 4: Water pressure, or to make sure that they have the
23:04
Speaker 4: backup generator those pumps running.
23:08
Speaker 3: Yeah.
23:09
Speaker 4: So, yeah, the pumps work normally in the daytime to
23:13
Speaker 4: fill up our tanks and then the tanks are gravity
23:15
Speaker 4: fed to add pressure to the system. But again I'll
23:19
Speaker 4: go back. We've designed system for not only domestic capacity
23:23
Speaker 4: and what the A band is going to be in
23:25
Speaker 4: an average day without fire, and then you factor in
23:28
Speaker 4: the you know, some fires in the community. But again
23:33
Speaker 4: I turned to something like what we've just seen where
23:38
Speaker 4: you probably have one hundred houses burning at the same
23:40
Speaker 4: time with you know, one hundred fire engines there, with
23:44
Speaker 4: all of the all of the hybrants open at the
23:47
Speaker 4: same time. Plus once the house is burned, they start
23:50
Speaker 4: leaking water themselves. So it's just another like equation. I
23:55
Speaker 4: don't think that, you know, people try to look at
23:59
Speaker 4: we're having to rewrite the problem statement on that, and
24:04
Speaker 4: it's one I think we're gonna spend some time on
24:07
Speaker 4: over of course the next several months.
24:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's you know, the most one of
24:11
Speaker 1: the important things to point out to the public is,
24:13
Speaker 1: no matter how much preparation you guys do, no matter
24:16
Speaker 1: how much water we have to use, how much brush
24:19
Speaker 1: and mitigation, fire brush mitigation, we've done all of the
24:22
Speaker 1: elements that are important in containment, it's no match for
24:27
Speaker 1: high wind event. Super dry air brush that has accumulated
24:31
Speaker 1: over two years of heavy rains that now is tender
24:34
Speaker 1: dry because of a recent drought. There's no stopping a
24:40
Speaker 1: I mean certainly, there's no there's no way we can
24:43
Speaker 1: can stop a fire from happening in these conditions.
24:46
Speaker 2: If something sparks it right.
24:49
Speaker 4: There's it's it's yeah, it's it's tough for a firefighter
24:54
Speaker 4: to redirect the forces of nature. I think we all
24:58
Speaker 4: have those images fresh in our mind right now where
25:01
Speaker 4: you can see the ember showers coming down from all
25:03
Speaker 4: directions and houses going up, but the flames are going
25:08
Speaker 4: sideways like a blow torch. Firefighters with their nozzles wide
25:13
Speaker 4: open anything over about thirty miles an hour. Those those
25:17
Speaker 4: fire streams are ineffective because they're broken up and they're bent,
25:21
Speaker 4: and they're not going to hit what the target is.
25:26
Speaker 4: So you're absolutely right, but I would say, you know,
25:29
Speaker 4: you don't throw your hands up. You have to continue
25:31
Speaker 4: to look at what can't be done, what we can do,
25:35
Speaker 4: and you know, beyond fire code and things that the
25:38
Speaker 4: fire departments can enforce is people doing their own home hardening.
25:43
Speaker 4: If you have the wood decks, if you have wood
25:46
Speaker 4: piled around your house, if you still have shakee shingle roofs,
25:49
Speaker 4: if there's vegetation and combustibles, then they call it in
25:53
Speaker 4: the zone zero within five feet of your house. Those
25:56
Speaker 4: are things that people can do right now to make
25:59
Speaker 4: it to save their house. And in this aftermath, we're
26:03
Speaker 4: going to start to see, you know, out of a
26:05
Speaker 4: whole block burned. Why are those three houses still there? Well,
26:08
Speaker 4: there's a reason. It's because of the material that they're
26:11
Speaker 4: made of, primarily, and that they were defendful.
26:16
Speaker 1: So and does it make sense, I'm sorry to have
26:20
Speaker 1: sprinkler systems. You hear about that. I mean, my house
26:23
Speaker 1: is pushed up against the brush, and I've got some
26:25
Speaker 1: fairly high powered irrigation system that I can point towards that.
26:30
Speaker 1: And then you hear stories about people hosing down their
26:33
Speaker 1: roof Does that help?
26:37
Speaker 4: I wouldn't encourage it, because that's people staying back during
26:42
Speaker 4: a time when it should be evacuating. If the fires
26:44
Speaker 4: that closed, wetting your roofs before the fire even gets there,
26:50
Speaker 4: that doesn't.
26:51
Speaker 2: Help much either, because it'll dry right out.
26:54
Speaker 4: It'll dry right out in the radiant heat that's going
26:56
Speaker 4: to get to your house and dry it out before
26:59
Speaker 4: even you know, the direct flame front. It doesn't do
27:03
Speaker 4: much as a matter of fact, it's taken away from
27:05
Speaker 4: the water system that everybody's doing that. But there I mean.
27:12
Speaker 4: And on the other hand, there is some benefit of
27:14
Speaker 4: people trying to put you know, this vegetation out if
27:17
Speaker 4: it's caught in the front yard and you look up
27:19
Speaker 4: and down the street and you don't see a fire engine,
27:21
Speaker 4: so you know, there is some benefit to that. But
27:23
Speaker 4: just presoaking your house, it's not going.
27:26
Speaker 2: To do much.
27:27
Speaker 1: Okay, now, I know that when you were talking with
27:29
Speaker 1: Steve Reid the other night, you talked about something that
27:33
Speaker 1: I've mentioned to a few people, and it seems like
27:36
Speaker 1: unfortunately nobody knows about this, and it's maybe the most
27:39
Speaker 1: critical piece, and that is there is a map where
27:43
Speaker 1: you can identify what the zone your home is in
27:47
Speaker 1: in Laguna Beach, and you will allegedly or inform the
27:52
Speaker 1: public of an evacuation plan that will be staggered in
27:56
Speaker 1: the best case scenario, because as you reminded us, as
27:59
Speaker 1: only three ways in and out of town, and the
28:02
Speaker 1: biggest problem for public safety is getting stuck and not
28:06
Speaker 1: being able to evacuate, and that then generates a panic
28:11
Speaker 1: where people get out of their cars and flee or
28:13
Speaker 1: drive over lawns or what have you, and creates general havoc.
28:17
Speaker 1: Can you walk us through the process by which in
28:21
Speaker 1: an orderly evacuation the way you're hoping it will go,
28:26
Speaker 1: what our residents should do.
28:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you're right just by stating that you weren't
28:34
Speaker 4: familiar with it, it's telling and that's something that we're
28:39
Speaker 4: going to have to do a lot of more public
28:41
Speaker 4: education on to inform the public. But the scenario would
28:45
Speaker 4: be there's a fire, it's approaching Laguna Beach in the
28:49
Speaker 4: open space behind the inland side, going towards the cove.
28:56
Speaker 4: We would be obviously fighting the fire in an the system,
29:02
Speaker 4: but we would recognize that area of town, probably the community,
29:07
Speaker 4: the top of the world, or wherever the fire is
29:09
Speaker 4: closest to. We would identify what zone that is and
29:13
Speaker 4: they would have the first evacuation notices. We would ask
29:19
Speaker 4: them to immediately evacuate, and then we would hopefully in
29:23
Speaker 4: an orderly fashion, continue to send out the messaging of
29:29
Speaker 4: the other successive zone that are going to be possibly
29:33
Speaker 4: affected and.
29:36
Speaker 1: Go ahead, Sorry, how do we know that we are
29:39
Speaker 1: on the receiving end of these messages? It is just
29:42
Speaker 1: being a subscriber to NIXL.
29:46
Speaker 4: There's a lot of different alerts that we could use.
29:48
Speaker 4: We have our outdoor warning system, we have the Nickel alert,
29:52
Speaker 4: we could use alert O s, and then the other
29:56
Speaker 4: warning system, which is the state system that we could
29:59
Speaker 4: also tap into that happens to be the one that
30:02
Speaker 4: a lot of people are getting those false activations now
30:06
Speaker 4: about evacuating today and last night in Los Angeles County.
30:12
Speaker 4: So there's several different ways that we can send signals
30:17
Speaker 4: to people's cell phones, but of course the best way
30:20
Speaker 4: is for folks to log into our website or to
30:23
Speaker 4: the city's website and make sure that they're signed up
30:25
Speaker 4: for all of those notices.
30:27
Speaker 1: Okay, what would you just mentioned this false notice of evacuation?
30:31
Speaker 1: Was that a hack or what happened?
30:35
Speaker 2: It is?
30:37
Speaker 4: In fact, I received it on my phone. We were
30:40
Speaker 4: at a community a school board meeting last night and
30:43
Speaker 4: a couple of people in the room actually received the
30:46
Speaker 4: notice on their cell phone. It's that tone that you
30:49
Speaker 4: usually get on your cell phone when there's an Amber alert.
30:51
Speaker 4: It's that same system. Yeah, so if you can't turn
30:56
Speaker 4: it off on your phone, if you're subscribed, your phone's
30:59
Speaker 4: going to go off. There was a couple of people
31:01
Speaker 4: in the room that got it. Their phones were going
31:03
Speaker 4: off and it said, you know, evacuate immediately. But then
31:08
Speaker 4: underneath it says Los Angeles County is sending out this
31:11
Speaker 4: message and it's something I read in the paper that
31:17
Speaker 4: it's just in the software. It's a malfunction. At first,
31:21
Speaker 4: you know, I felt sorry for the guy that's pushing
31:24
Speaker 4: the wrong button, but it sounds like it's a software
31:28
Speaker 4: issue that they're dealing with.
31:29
Speaker 1: Should we have any concerns here in Laguna regarding air
31:33
Speaker 1: quality over the next few days coming down from la
31:36
Speaker 1: Is there any sense that our air quality could be compromised?
31:42
Speaker 4: There's there's always that possibility. I know, over the last
31:44
Speaker 4: couple of days, we could definitely see the smoke out
31:47
Speaker 4: over the coast. But if the wind conditions change and
31:51
Speaker 4: if you could smell it, it's definitely the particulate matter
31:54
Speaker 4: in the air. And if you have a pre existing
31:59
Speaker 4: health can any kind of respiratory problems, it's always best
32:03
Speaker 4: if you just play a mask on to make sure
32:05
Speaker 4: that you filter out those particular matters.
32:08
Speaker 2: What's the best masks we should have?
32:11
Speaker 4: Those ninety five are are great. They do a good
32:14
Speaker 4: spot a filtration right and.
32:16
Speaker 1: Then talk to us about an actual Everybody should have
32:20
Speaker 1: an evacuation plan. And I don't mean when they evacuate,
32:24
Speaker 1: because you're going to tell us, but once they get
32:27
Speaker 1: out of harm's way, what kind of preparation should they do?
32:35
Speaker 4: So you're asking after they evacuate, Well, yeah, you know.
32:38
Speaker 1: You hear about these these go bags or what do
32:43
Speaker 1: they call them, you know, and I know the city
32:45
Speaker 1: was selling them to bug out bags. And I generally
32:49
Speaker 1: look at those lists and it's, you know, it's your medications,
32:52
Speaker 1: your your important documents, your insurance policy.
32:55
Speaker 2: Water, a little bit of food. But you know, what
32:58
Speaker 2: if people where do they go?
33:00
Speaker 1: I mean, what if they don't have relatives or friends
33:02
Speaker 1: and they and they leave and don't don't they need
33:05
Speaker 1: to be prepared for the possibility or they get stuck
33:07
Speaker 1: somewhere that they might be in their car for a
33:10
Speaker 1: couple of days.
33:12
Speaker 4: It's you asked that. And I'm actually dealing with my
33:18
Speaker 4: sister right now, who lives in the Pacific Palisades. She
33:22
Speaker 4: was home for a while. She didn't grab or load
33:25
Speaker 4: her car. Her and her significant other they both just
33:31
Speaker 4: kind of bugged out, thinking that they're going to drive
33:33
Speaker 4: back home once this thing passed and they were luckily
33:38
Speaker 4: enough able to get a v RBO for a week
33:41
Speaker 4: right now, but they're actively looking to find a new
33:44
Speaker 4: place to live. So there's so many people that are
33:47
Speaker 4: going through that right now. So if you could imagine
33:49
Speaker 4: if your house just burned, what are those documents that
33:52
Speaker 4: you need to know? Do you know your homeowner's insurance?
33:54
Speaker 4: Do you have those phone numbers with you? Do you
33:56
Speaker 4: have a policy? Do you have yeah, your medication. Did
34:01
Speaker 4: you take a toothbrase, your toothbrush and some toilet trees
34:06
Speaker 4: just to take care of yourself in the first few
34:08
Speaker 4: days as you're going through this. So it's all those
34:13
Speaker 4: just those things. Of course, your jewelry and your belongings.
34:17
Speaker 4: People always talk about keeping those valuables that you you've
34:21
Speaker 4: turned back and like, most of the things in my
34:24
Speaker 4: house were just stuff, But it's it's those pictures and
34:27
Speaker 4: those things that are you know, nearestendorous to you that
34:30
Speaker 4: you just can't go to a storm and replace. So
34:34
Speaker 4: most people, you know, you don't, you don't keep those
34:37
Speaker 4: things in plastic tubs in your house, but people should
34:41
Speaker 4: should think about that, what are those things that are
34:44
Speaker 4: irreplaceable that I wish I had with me, and what
34:47
Speaker 4: are those things that are most valuable? And then of
34:49
Speaker 4: course those those documents.
34:51
Speaker 1: Because you know, people think, oh, I'll get enough of
34:54
Speaker 1: an advance alert and I'll put my stuff together and
34:57
Speaker 1: but but oftentimes you don't get you don't have that
34:59
Speaker 1: kind of time.
35:00
Speaker 2: These wind events.
35:01
Speaker 1: Suddenly you think you're safe, and you know it's a
35:04
Speaker 1: quarter of a mile away, and these embers spread, and
35:07
Speaker 1: you know you mentioned those embers. Isn't that I just
35:09
Speaker 1: want to be clear all of these other areas that
35:12
Speaker 1: where the fires went up in La in Pasadena, Hollywood Hills, Altadena,
35:19
Speaker 1: were those all caused by embers from the Pacific Palisades.
35:26
Speaker 4: No, the wind direction was offshore, so Pacific Palisades. It
35:32
Speaker 4: started up above the Pacific Palisades, and it looks like
35:37
Speaker 4: it was pushed, you know, towards the water. And then
35:41
Speaker 4: and then it was the Pasadena fire, the Altadena fire,
35:45
Speaker 4: and those other fires happened kind of chronologically afterwards. But
35:51
Speaker 4: as you can imagine, any any small fire that would
35:56
Speaker 4: usually just be extinguished in less than a quarter of
35:58
Speaker 4: an acre and not make the news, we'd never hear
36:00
Speaker 4: about it. Those those small routines start turned into major
36:05
Speaker 4: confliagurations very quickly with eighty or ninety mile an hour
36:10
Speaker 4: win behind it.
36:11
Speaker 2: And how do most of these fires start? Do we know?
36:15
Speaker 2: I don't.
36:16
Speaker 4: I can't speak to the most recent round that we've
36:20
Speaker 4: seen in the last thirty two hours, but generally speaking, uh,
36:23
Speaker 4: ninety fires that start our human.
36:26
Speaker 2: Cause intentionally or unintentional, I don't.
36:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, not necessarily arson, but a lot of accidental people
36:33
Speaker 4: burning trash, people at a construction site. The one that
36:37
Speaker 4: we saw here in our backyard, the airport fire is
36:40
Speaker 4: the you know, the the crews outworking and sparks from
36:44
Speaker 4: some equipment started the fire. So it's it's just us
36:48
Speaker 4: being cognizant again, of there's a red flag warning that
36:52
Speaker 4: means something. You know, you can't just proceed with your
36:55
Speaker 4: day and have you know, the backyard of barbecue and
36:59
Speaker 4: you really have to think about the activities that you're
37:02
Speaker 4: conducting in and around your house. Yeah, when conditions, especially
37:06
Speaker 4: in our community off, we going to beat yep.
37:09
Speaker 1: Well, you're listening to KXFM Radio one four seven with
37:13
Speaker 1: Fire Chief Laguna Peach Fire Chief Nico King, and I
37:16
Speaker 1: really appreciate your time as we wind down here, and
37:18
Speaker 1: the important information you're providing, and Chief King this might
37:22
Speaker 1: be a little bit beyond your purview, but I'm just
37:26
Speaker 1: thinking about the aftermath, and let's just say, going with
37:30
Speaker 1: what has been destroyed right now, and the pressure on
37:35
Speaker 1: the insurance companies because of these continual disasters, and we're
37:39
Speaker 1: not just talking about fires, but floods and those types
37:43
Speaker 1: of hurricanes that are happening on the Gulf Coast, all
37:45
Speaker 1: of which we can say climate changes has a hand
37:49
Speaker 1: in because of extreme weather events. But you've been around
37:52
Speaker 1: the block a few times. You were on the scene
37:55
Speaker 1: at the Paradise fire. I don't know how recently you
37:57
Speaker 1: went back there. You're I'm imagining familiar with the Santa
38:02
Speaker 1: Rosa fire and the Monecito fire in the last few years,
38:05
Speaker 1: and just wondering, I don't want to be apocalyptic here,
38:09
Speaker 1: but just the magnitude of the destruction here, the funding,
38:15
Speaker 1: the displacement of people. You know, I just wonder what
38:20
Speaker 1: it will take and how long it will take to
38:23
Speaker 1: bring these these these communities back, and if ever. I mean,
38:29
Speaker 1: it's hard to get my head around it, but you
38:31
Speaker 1: see those tracks and Pacific palisades that are destroyed, and
38:34
Speaker 1: you just wonder how. I mean, yes, we're America, we
38:37
Speaker 1: can were a can do country, but I mean the
38:39
Speaker 1: amount of resources and money require to rebuild these communities.
38:43
Speaker 1: Do you have any sense of how long it takes
38:46
Speaker 1: and what it might look like here in the next decade.
38:51
Speaker 4: I think you really pointed to what was going to
38:54
Speaker 4: be The first words out of my mouth is Number one,
38:57
Speaker 4: it's never going to be the same right some of
38:59
Speaker 4: those places. Is it's the history that gives it the
39:02
Speaker 4: charm and the character that history is, and then you
39:07
Speaker 4: replace it with brand new construction and it's just, you know,
39:11
Speaker 4: the vegetation's gone, and for that to grow back and
39:15
Speaker 4: give the same charm that a community once had is
39:19
Speaker 4: I think it's it's gone forever. It's just it becomes
39:22
Speaker 4: something new. And I think we're likely going to see
39:27
Speaker 4: with with just the new building standards that are in
39:30
Speaker 4: place when you replace entire communities, you know you're going
39:36
Speaker 4: to see more fire resistance building codes enforced for the
39:40
Speaker 4: new construction, and it's it's just gonna same with the landscape.
39:44
Speaker 4: The landscape design. You're going to see some fire resistant plants.
39:50
Speaker 4: It's just going to have a different fill. It's gonna
39:53
Speaker 4: be something new for.
39:54
Speaker 1: The excellent point. And you know, sadly, in my view
39:56
Speaker 1: of the we're always dealing with the the effect, but
40:00
Speaker 1: not the cause. And you know, I I'm always amazed when,
40:05
Speaker 1: like the communities on the Gulf side of Florida got
40:09
Speaker 1: taken out by those hurricanes, how quickly people rebuild in
40:13
Speaker 1: the exact same area. Same with Katrina. They built a
40:16
Speaker 1: little higher in New Orleans too, you know, they put
40:18
Speaker 1: them on stilts and things. But knowing what we know
40:21
Speaker 1: and seeing the amount of devastating fire events that are
40:25
Speaker 1: now happening on the regular here in California and one
40:28
Speaker 1: hundred year of floods that are happening on the Gulf coast,
40:31
Speaker 1: you know, you wonder if these places are even inhabitable
40:34
Speaker 1: and fool me one shame on me.
40:36
Speaker 2: But you rebuild. And that's I mean.
40:38
Speaker 1: Pacific Palaces was a phenomenally affluent community. So I'm assuming
40:42
Speaker 1: those houses, you know, they're not going to be cheap
40:44
Speaker 1: to rebuild. They're probably you know, five thousand square foot mansions.
40:48
Speaker 1: And to go through all of that and wait the
40:52
Speaker 1: amount of years it takes to complete it and then
40:54
Speaker 1: go back to a community that, like you said, looks
40:57
Speaker 1: entirely different and maybe somewhat stair from what it used
41:00
Speaker 1: to be without the lack of vegetation. I mean, I
41:04
Speaker 1: question whether I would want to do that, and whether
41:07
Speaker 1: you know people are going to start leaving the state.
41:12
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think we're starting to see some of
41:15
Speaker 4: that population shift now. But my thoughts, and of course
41:20
Speaker 4: just my thoughts alone, I mean, it's why we all
41:23
Speaker 4: live here right then, the sunshining most of the year time,
41:27
Speaker 4: it's fantastic, and the ocean's beautiful, and it's it's someone's
41:33
Speaker 4: going to want to be in Pacific Palisades. That neighborhood
41:36
Speaker 4: will get rebuilt and they're going to pay a lot
41:38
Speaker 4: of money to do it because they have all those
41:42
Speaker 4: things that we love to do every day.
41:45
Speaker 2: Well, you got it right, Chief King. It's true.
41:48
Speaker 1: We live in paradise and every day, even in the
41:52
Speaker 1: middle the midst of this storm, and once our winds
41:54
Speaker 1: died down, I went outside and I said, my god,
41:56
Speaker 1: we were spared a bullet here.
41:59
Speaker 3: Uh.
41:59
Speaker 1: It's still is a magnificent place to live, where the
42:02
Speaker 1: envy of the world, with all the resources we have
42:04
Speaker 1: and all the good things, and yet we realize it
42:08
Speaker 1: can all be taken away from us in an instant
42:10
Speaker 1: and if anything, it just makes life more precious to us.
42:15
Speaker 1: And hopefully we live in a greater amount of gratitude
42:18
Speaker 1: for what we do have in this moment, and gratitude
42:21
Speaker 1: for people like yourself. And I mean that with great
42:24
Speaker 1: sincerity that we have such a great team of people
42:27
Speaker 1: here in Laguna whose job it is to keep our
42:30
Speaker 1: community safe and doing the work in advance. As you said,
42:33
Speaker 1: harden and prepare and make sure that we have every
42:37
Speaker 1: resource available to us so when there is an event
42:40
Speaker 1: we can contain it as quickly as possible.
42:46
Speaker 4: You're spot on, and it's not just our great team,
42:49
Speaker 4: it's because they're loved by the community. And it's kind
42:52
Speaker 4: of a final thought. You know, everybody is so actively
42:58
Speaker 4: involved and we hear that our opinions, and that's what
43:01
Speaker 4: keeps us so sharp. We want to be responsive, so
43:06
Speaker 4: we continue to ask everyone to keep asking the hard
43:09
Speaker 4: questions challenge of to keep us ready and of course
43:13
Speaker 4: report anything that you think is a hazard in the
43:16
Speaker 4: community and we're going to come thick a look at it.
43:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we know you will, and I'll just tell
43:20
Speaker 1: you from personal experience, we are going to double down
43:23
Speaker 1: here at the radio station to prepare and have some
43:28
Speaker 1: workshops with our team to be our own first responders
43:32
Speaker 1: who will get into the studio at a moment's notice
43:35
Speaker 1: and call the right officials and make sure that our
43:38
Speaker 1: community is informed. As you and I both said, everybody
43:41
Speaker 1: should have a battery operated or hand crank radio in
43:44
Speaker 1: the event. But it makes us feel, you know, that
43:47
Speaker 1: we have an obligation to this town having an having
43:50
Speaker 1: the luxury of an FM radio signal that we can
43:53
Speaker 1: be that beacon of information as well. So I'll leave
43:55
Speaker 1: our listeners with a few of the things that you
43:58
Speaker 1: had mentioned. They should go on onto the city website,
44:01
Speaker 1: the fire department website, sign up for every single notification
44:05
Speaker 1: that you can, and listen diligently to your professionals in
44:10
Speaker 1: the event of an evacuation, so we don't have this
44:13
Speaker 1: awful problem of cars of gridlock, and that we can
44:18
Speaker 1: have an orderly evacuation. I think that's the thing that
44:21
Speaker 1: you have impressed upon us, more than anything can keep.
44:24
Speaker 2: Us safe and alive. You got it all right, Chief
44:29
Speaker 2: Nico King. Always a pleasure.
44:31
Speaker 1: I'll see you around town, and I don't know if
44:33
Speaker 1: I want to light a fire at Aliso for a
44:35
Speaker 1: little while.
44:35
Speaker 4: I think I'm going to take a break, all right, Yeah,
44:39
Speaker 4: sounds good, and I'll definitely see you out there. Thanks
44:42
Speaker 4: again for having me on the show and carrying this
44:44
Speaker 4: important message.
44:45
Speaker 1: You bet take care now. Thank you, Bye bye. And
44:50
Speaker 1: that's Chief Nico king Aro Man. We lucky to have
44:53
Speaker 1: a man like that, a professionally. He's a good looking guy.
44:56
Speaker 1: He's tough, he's big, he's burly, but many's thoughtful and
44:59
Speaker 1: sensitive and I love the way he appreciates his squad
45:02
Speaker 1: and his staff and living in Laguna and how special
45:06
Speaker 1: that is as well. So I hope you guys enjoyed that.
45:09
Speaker 1: We're gonna record it and play it some more. We
45:11
Speaker 1: are going to build a page on our website that
45:14
Speaker 1: will have all the emergency protocols listed for you guys,
45:19
Speaker 1: so we will also be a resource.
45:21
Speaker 2: That's my pledge to you, Laguna. We love you.
45:24
Speaker 1: We are so grateful that we are safe for now.
45:28
Speaker 1: But we have to know that it's not a question
45:31
Speaker 1: of if. It's a question of when we've already had
45:34
Speaker 1: a few little brushfires. It's just part of living here
45:37
Speaker 1: in the twenty first century. It's not politics. People it's
45:41
Speaker 1: climate change, and until we get our act together on that,
45:45
Speaker 1: we are always going to be imperiled.
45:48
Speaker 2: So here we go, folks, take care reading's friends and neighbors.
45:56
Speaker 2: George Dugan with you. I'm your host for Art Now
46:00
Speaker 2: Nerves on Tuesdays