Supervisor Barger (00:00):
Thank you. I'm going to make my comment short. I know you want to hear from our fire chief and the people that really have the information in real time, but let me just say this is a dynamic situation. We've got fires throughout the entire county, which are spreading our resources very short. One of the things that people ask me is what do you want to convey to the public and that is heed the advice to first responders when they ask you to evacuate, evacuate. This is not a drill. This is in real time, so I want to thank the city of Pasadena who's opened up the Pasadena Convention Center for those impacted by the Eaton Canyon Fire. I also want to acknowledge our faith-based partners.
(00:38)
All Saints has opened up their church for those that are evacuating the Pasadena area, but again, it's important for us to recognize that while the firefighters are there to protect structures, life is first and foremost frontline. We need to make sure that people heed the advice of our first responders. With that, I'm going to introduce our LA County Fire Chief Anthony Moroney, to give you an update on what is going on, but I just want to thank Chief Moroney as well as Chief Crowley for the work that they are doing to make sure that our first responders have all the resources necessary. Chief Moroney.
Anthony Moroney (01:17):
So good morning. Thank you, Supervisor Barger. My name is Anthony Moroney. I am the county of Los Angeles Fire Chief and I'm also the region one coordinator for fire and rescue resources. I'm going to be giving an update on the Palisades fire in addition to the Eaton fire. Although I am aware that we have four large fires burning in LA County at this time. The Palisades Fire is located in both LA City and LA County. We are in unified command with the city of Los Angeles Fire Department. In addition to Cal Fire, we have well over 5,000 acres that have burned and the fire is growing. We have no percentage of containment. We have an estimated 1,000 structures destroyed and also no reported fatalities and a high number of significant injuries to residents who did not evacuate in addition to first responders who are on the fire line. We have over 1,000 personnel assigned and the cause of the fire is unknown.
(02:27)
However, it is under investigation. For the Eaton fire, it is located in both the Angeles National Forest, the Altadena area of LA County and Pasadena. LA County is in unified command with both the Angeles National Forest and the Pasadena Fire Department. We have over 2,000 acres burning at this time and the fire continues to grow with 0% containment. We have over 500 personnel assigned and unfortunately we have two reported fatalities to civilians, unknown cause at this time, and we do have a number of significant injuries. We have over 100 structures destroyed and the cause of the fire is unknown and under investigation. I will ask that LA City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley update you on the Hearst fire after I am finished with my remarks. The LA County Fire Department operational area consists of 29 separate fire departments in LA County and all of those fire departments are at draw down with no fire apparatus or additional personnel to spare.
(03:51)
As the region one coordinator, I have requested mutual aid from the five counties of Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties. Additionally, last night I contacted the State Office of Emergency Services and requested 50 engine strike teams. 50 engine strike teams is composed of 250 fire engines and over 1,000 personnel. We have also requested resources from out of state as well as Northern California thank you to the first responders from Nevada, Oregon and Washington state that are already on the road coming to LA County to assist. Lastly, the National Weather Service has predicted a continued red flag weather event with strong winds and low humidities placing all residents of Los Angeles County in danger.
(05:02)
To all of our viewers, please prioritize your safety as well as the wellbeing of those around you. As we come together to continue to get through this widespread disaster Los Angeles County firefighters will remain on the front line until we reach full containment and we ask that you keep all of Los Angeles County in your thoughts and prayers. I would now like to invite up Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley to give her briefing. Thank you.
Kristin Crowley (05:45):
Good morning, everyone. My name is Kristen Crowley, Los Angeles City Fire Department Fire Chief. I'd like to start with just a moment if we could of gratitude, a moment of gratitude for our first responders, our boots on the ground that are battling this intense and multiple jurisdiction and number of fires, so gratitude to those who are doing the work since yesterday through the night, and like Chief Moroney said, we're going to continue to work hard to ensure that we save people lives and property.
(06:22)
With that, I'll be touching on a couple major points. With the Pacific Palisades Fire, we know that it continues to demand a significant amount of resources and attention. A second major brush fire now referred to as the Hearst fire has erupted in the Sylmar area of Los Angeles. Now together these fires are stretching the capacity of emergency services to their maximum limits. The Los Angeles City Fire Department is battling these two major fires while also maintaining, I want to focus on this as well, 911 services for the city's approximate 4 million residents. Now, despite the severity of the conditions, our department remains fully committed to safeguarding lives and property.
(07:15)
Next, I want to focus on what we've done over the last 24 hours and with that even within the city of Los Angeles with these two major brush fires, our department has responded to 3,624 911 calls for service and to put that in perspective, our average is just under 1,500 calls in a 24-hour period. Over the last 24 hours, we've also responded to an additional 32 structure fires within the city. We've treated and transported an extensive number of medical emergencies, well extending our normal 650 transports to the local hospitals. When it comes to the Pacific Palisades Fire, as Chief Moroney had said, this is over 3,000 acres at this point and continues to grow. We'll confirm the exact acreage later, so we'll make sure that we also communicate that to the community and to the media. Last night, as of 19:30 hours, all aircrafts were grounded due to the high winds.
(08:18)
Aircrafts are continued to be able to resume their water drops in acreage mapping today when the weather allows us to do so. A total of 3,398 civilians and 15,105 structures are in the evacuation zone. And again, the evacuation zones are the following, North of PCH, West of Kenter Avenue and San Vicente Boulevard, South of Mulholland Drive and East of Topanga Canyon Boulevard. There are multiple evacuation centers which are supported by the American Red Cross. Injuries, of course, there's a lot of interest in injuries. We have several firefighters and civilian injuries that have been reported and all patients have been treated and transported to the local hospitals. Damage assessments, Chief Moroney did speak about a specific number. We are still vetting that through on the city side, so more information to come and we'll message that as soon as we can validate that. Approximately 400 LAFD firefighters have been deployed to the Palisades fire.
(09:25)
We have many hundreds of law enforcement officers, our partner agency responders and public works members engaged in supporting our overall operations. We are going to be transitioning to fire this morning to manage this incident at O8:00 hours. Next, I'd like to talk briefly about our Hearst fire, which is located in Sylmar. Last night at approximately 10:10 PM the fire erupted in the Sylmar area of Los Angeles adjacent to the Los Angeles National Forest. The fire has rapidly expanded to over 500 acres, prompting the emergency evacuation of more than 3,000 residents. This fire is burning within the footprint of the historic Saddle Ridge fire. Now, despite the extreme winds and significant risks, and that's what we're going to be talking about from today and probably throughout the next few days, there's always that significant risk of life and property will continue to focus on saving lives and protecting property.
(10:27)
The exact acreage at this point will be confirmed later and we'll make sure that we communicate that to you as well. Lastly, we want to make sure that everybody understands we are absolutely not out of danger yet. With the strong winds that continue to push through the city and the county today, I would tell you, and we are all committed to our first responders. Our firefighters will remain focused on protecting lives and property. The LAFD is extremely proud to stand with all of the entities behind me. Our top priority will continue to be life's safety, ensuring that safe evacuation and the rescues of our residents that are in harm's way. It will continue to be our primary focus in this wind-driven fire event as it continues. Thank you for your cooperation, your support, and your diligence, and today we will continue to stand with our partners to protect everyone. Next up, I would like to introduce Sheriff Luna. Thank you. Sorry, next up… Oh, we moved it.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Yes. We're just moving around having LA Unified Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, please.
Alberto Carvalho (11:42):
Thank you very much. Good morning, everyone. Thank you. Chair Barger county and city leadership in addition to the leadership of our first responders in our great community for the very, very work you continue to do to protect our community, protect the assets, and first and foremost, the health and well-being and lives of members of our community. Los Angeles Unified is the second-largest school district in the nation representing the interests of 540,000 students and 75,000 committed employees. We make decisions regarding closure of schools in a very methodical and science-driven manner. So after a great deal of consultation overnight with experts looking at the data and considering the fact that air quality conditions deteriorated significantly overnight, we have made the decision to shut down a number of schools, particularly in the Eastern part of our school system. I will define what those boundaries are. School communities, beginning with leadership, workforce and families have been informed about these areas and as of now, those schools within the boundaries of the area that I will define are closed.
(12:57)
This accounts for about 10% of our total schools in our district, about 100 schools out of 1,000 schools. The areas that I'm speaking about are schools located North of Manchester Boulevard, Firestone Boulevard, East of 10th Avenue, West of I-710, and South of Highway 134. Any school within that area, and that accounts again for the Eastern part of our district where the air quality met or exceeded levels that are not appropriate for employees or students to be around are effectively shut down. We will be making decisions about what will happen in those schools going into tomorrow by 4:00 PM today based on the evolution conditions. In fact, since we made the decision to shut down those schools, air quality conditions have improved significantly despite the fact that they worsened significantly overnight. I want to speak specifically about schools surrounding the Palisades area. As of last night, we had to shut down five schools as a result of mandatory evacuation conditions.
(14:16)
Those were Kenter Canyon Elementary School, Canyon Elementary School, Marquez Elementary School, Palisades Charter Elementary School, Revere Middle School, and Topanga Elementary School, in addition to Palisades High Charter High School. We have reports that Palisades High sustained significant damage as a result of the fire. We are working with state and federal entities to quickly access resources to address the issues facing this community. I want to very briefly address our workforce. We know today is not going to be a perfect day. A number of schools are shut down. However, localized conditions may make it difficult for our workforce or parents and students to access schools. Air quality conditions may vary and in fact may not necessarily be appropriate beyond the area where we close schools. Please use your discretion. We will utilize grace and be flexible regarding attendance and for students and employees alike, specifically students, employees who face chronic respiratory conditions or other health issues.
(15:34)
We will be flexible regarding these individuals. We will provide additional updates later on today regarding conditions of schools going into tomorrow. For the schools that are open, recognizing the workforce needs of the parents of our children beyond the bell activities care for children in those schools will continue to be provided today. Today is not a typical day. We need flexibility, patience, and grace, and we shall extend that to our workforce and certainly our parents and students in our community. Once again, our hearts go out to those who have been impacted and our internal gratitude to the first responders of our community for the fantastic difficult work they've done over the past 24 hours. Thank you very much.
Sheriff Robert Luna (16:31):
Morning. A lot of information to pass on, but please know this. This is a very difficult and challenging situation, but we're surrounded here by people who really care and we're going to get through this together. That means with all of you as partners in our community, our top priority continues to be the safety and wellbeing of our impacted residents, first responders and all of the individuals involved, but understand that this is a very fluid situation, specifically in the Alta Dena area, and a lot of our personnel, our deputy personnel, are involved in life-saving measures as we speak now.
(17:11)
We are working very closely with local, state, and federal agencies to provide necessary resources and support. We have been in constant communication with both our fire and law enforcement partners across LA County and beyond to ensure that all available resources that are needed are being deployed strategically and effectively, but we are prioritizing life over everything else. There are over several hundred Sheriff department personnel working around the clock to evacuate residents in danger, assist with road closures, and respond to multiple missions that are given to us and do change periodically depending on that life mission to ensure that everyone is going to be safe or safe as possible. Additional personnel will likely be assigned
Sheriff Robert Luna (18:00):
… to this fire as this continues to go. And you heard from our fire partners that there is no containment yet. I do want to split it up into two. I want to start talking about the Eaton fire first. Currently, there are evacuation orders in Pasadena, Altadena, and Sierra Madre. Evacuation orders, there are approximately 32,500 residents under evacuation orders and approximately 13,186 structures that we deem at risk, and that could grow. Evacuation warnings, approximately 38,600 residents are under evacuation warnings and approximately 14,342 structures are at risk.
(18:50)
At 4:00 AM this morning, the evacuation orders did expand to parts of the city of Duarte, Monrovia, and La Cañada. And again, we continue to assess that. That's evolving. That's going to change. So I encourage you to consistently pay attention to all sources of information so you're ready to go when you are given that order if that does come.
(19:18)
As information's changing, even as I was driving up here, even as I'm walking up to this podium, I'm getting messages about several of our employees who have lost their homes in the last several hours. I don't know how many because we are still gathering that information, but we all live here in Los Angeles County, so we are impacted, so we're going to make sure that within our department we're wrapping our arms around our employees just like we do with community members.
(19:48)
Again, as I was coming up here, I did find out that we did have two fatalities in this area. I don't have any specifics. There is a lot of damage out there. We're still in the process of doing these assessments, trying to still save lives, so this information is going to change.
(20:07)
The Altadena Sheriff's Station itself was evacuated and it was at least limited on fire. There was some fire at the Altadena station, but we did have to clear out all of our employees out of there. I'm hearing some miraculous stories, and they're just barely coming in, of our deputies who were trying to evacuate the Altadena station, and then residents were running up from different locations around there asking them for assistance in getting them out of their structures. And from what I understand, they were barely able to get people out before these structures started burning. There's just heroic stories of what our deputies are doing out there from last night and this morning.
(20:50)
I want to make sure people know deputies are working to assist residents who are evacuating and continuing to make evacuation notices as we're speaking. They are securing areas that are evacuated. And it's always sad when I have to say this, but part of our responsibility is to make sure that no one loots or steals from our residents, our community members who are already being impacted. And I'm sad to report we've made two arrests this morning for looting already. So if you are thinking about coming into any of these areas to steal from our residents, I'm going to tell you something. You're going to be caught, you're going to be arrested, and you're going to be prosecuted. Don't do that. Stay out of these areas. It's only for emergency workers and people who live there.
(21:38)
We are at this point unable to clearly determine the extent of damage at this point because the conditions are rapidly evolving and the destruction needs to be assessed as the daylight hours have come forward. I do know that I've lost at least one sheriff's black and white to a fire. Thank God that the deputy is okay, but deputies continue to be on patrol throughout the road closure areas to ensure evacuation areas remain closed to the public.
(22:09)
All schools in the Pasadena Unified School District are closed. There is a road closure at Altadena Drive from Allen to New York Drive. For those in need of shelter, please head to the Pasadena Convention Center located at 300 East Green Street in the city of Pasadena, and we're working with them in Unified command and in partnership as well. For animals, there are established shelters at large animal shelter Rose Bowl Stadium at 1001 Rose Bowl Drive in Pasadena. Small animal shelter, Pasadena Humane Society, at 361 South Raymond Avenue in Pasadena.
(22:47)
I'm going to switch gears now to the Palisades fire that we've been heavily involved in with our partners, again with the LAPD and LA City Fire and everyone else that's up there working. As of this morning, the fire was still burning in that area. That's impacting our residents. Evacuations are in effect, continuously in effect for the city of Calabasas, the city of Malibu, Los Angeles city, Pacific Palisades, an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County in Topanga Canyon. Evacuation orders, there are approximately 37,000 residents under evacuation orders and approximately 15,000 structures at risk. Again, that's specifically for the Palisades fire. Evacuation warnings, approximately 20,000 residents are under evacuation warnings and approximately 6,500 structures are at risk.
(23:40)
There have been minor injuries, and our partners at the fire department have talked about those. And several, unfortunately structures that have been lost and we're still assessing those. Bear with me. I'm almost there. There's a lot of information, very important information.
(23:56)
There are several road closures which can change rapidly. The 10 Freeway at Lincoln Boulevard, southbound PCH at Las Flores Canyon, southbound PCH at Topanga Canyon, Coastline Drive at southbound PCH, westbound PCH to Entrada to eastbound close from PCH and Malibu Canyon. We have established shelters up for that fire in the following locations: Westwood Recreation Center, which is at 1350 South Sepulveda Boulevard in Los Angeles, Pasadena Convention Center, which I already mentioned, you can go there at 300 East Green Street in the city of Pasadena, and El Camino Real Charter High School, 5440 Valley Circle Boulevard in Woodland Hills.
(24:42)
Animal shelters, large animals, LA Equestrian Center at 480 West Riverside and Burbank, large animal shelter, Pierce College 6201 Wenetka Avenue in Woodland Hills, large animal shelter, Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, small animal shelter, Agora Animal Center, and small animal shelter, Pasadena Humane Society as well. We've got to take care of our pets.
(25:09)
As I wrap up, a reminder, and you've heard it from several of us, you need to be prepared. If you are in a warning area, make sure you have your essentials, your important paperwork, your medications, things that you can take, your phone charger, to survive for at least a week. But if you are told to evacuate and given an order, there is nothing worth your life. Please listen to the police and fire officials that are out there and be prepared to evacuate. If you have more questions about evacuations, evacuation centers, or road closures, go to lacounty.gov/emergency or our Sheriff's Department social media. Now it's my honor to introduce my partner, the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, Jim McDonnell.
Chief Jim McDonnell (26:02):
Thank you, Robert. Thank you very much. And as you look at the group assembled behind me this morning, each of those and everybody we represent who is out in the field all have families. Many are impacted directly by the fire, but they leave those families to come and try and be able to help everybody else who's out there. So I owe a debt of gratitude to everybody who is putting it all in the line for everyone else.
(26:29)
This is a tragic time in our history here in Los Angeles, but a time where we're really tested and see who we really are. And it's critical that at these times we be patient, that we come together, that we focus on saving lives and to be able to do the very best job we can so when we look back on this, we know that we did what we could for others.
(26:51)
I look at the people who were out there on the line last night. The winds were like something that I have never seen before. Firefighters, police officers, deputies, they're out there sheltering in their vehicles, their trucks, and their cars so that they don't end up getting burned from the fire that was being driven by 75+ mile an hour winds. They were there until they could get out of the car and go back to doing their work. As you can imagine, a very difficult circumstance to deal with.
(27:21)
These are, as I mentioned, conditions, but also unpredictable. As the fire continues to spread and pop up in different locations, none of us know where the next one is going to be. So I would ask you to be vigilant, to look at your neighborhood, to talk to your neighbors, to have everybody on board so that if they see something start up, that we get on it very quickly, we get fire resources out there as soon as we possibly can. Because with these winds, once it starts small, it'll be very big very quickly. And so, I would ask for everybody's help, cooperation, and vigilance in that role.
(27:53)
As you've heard before about evacuation, that makes the difference between living and not. And so, I would ask you to take these warnings, these orders to evacuate very seriously. As you've heard over and again, be ready to go, pack what you need up, but then please comply with these orders. We don't put them out lightly. When we believe that you're in the path of the fire, we're going to order that evacuation. And we really, really need your compliance on that because if we have to send people in to try and make rescues, those people are putting their lives on the line directly for something that could have been avoidable.
(28:28)
Sheriff Luna mentioned looting. That's something that we also have to watch out for. That is incredible that we'd even have to talk about that during these tragic times, but we are going to take that also extremely seriously and we will follow up with that in the strongest way possible.
(28:45)
As far as traffic goes, that's something that we're used to dealing with here. This will be an extra test of gridlock in many places due to people not having access to their normal routes. I would say that if you have an ability to be able to stay out of the West Side today or to work from home, as long as your employers are good with that, to take advantage of that. The air is very tough today for particularly those who are challenged medically. If you can stay home and work from there, I would recommend that. We will continue to support our partners and the fire service and our other law enforcement partners, but to all in the public who are watching this, a sincere thank you to all of you for your cooperation and your patience as we all get through this together. Thank you.
Supervisor Barger (29:36):
Now we're going to introduce my colleague, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who represents the Palisades area.
Supervisor Lindsey Horvath (29:43):
Thank you, Madam Chair. This morning we woke up to a dark cloud over all of Los Angeles, but it is darkest for those who are most intimately impacted by these fires. It has been an immensely painful 24 hours for communities I represent. The Palisades, the Hurst, and Woodley fires are all in the Third District. But our strength is in our togetherness, and that will determine how we make it through.
(30:19)
We need your partnership in this time of crisis. It is difficult to process the immensity of the destruction and loss, and we extend our hearts and every resource we have to all of our impacted residents. We know when we talk about these structures, they aren't just structures, they aren't even just houses, they're homes. This is our home. These are places where we built community, where we raised families, where we made memories that we will never forget, even if we can't go back to these structures. These are our home. Losing home is simply devastating, and I know that we are all here to support you and stand with you in this time of need.
(31:12)
Aggressive winds and fire know no jurisdictional boundaries, nor does coordination and action across our LA County agencies with President Biden and Governor Newsom as they unlock support through fire assistance management grants for Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst fires so far.
(31:34)
The talent and tenacity of our first responders is nothing short of extraordinary. And I've said it before. These people on the front lines are doing this because this is their calling. This is not simply a job that they came to to have an occupation. They are called to this work to keep us safe, to keep our community safe, and to do all they can in this time of crisis to protect our Los Angeles County. Overnight winds grounded our vehicles, and we have red flag conditions through the end of day tomorrow, but we know that because of these fearless warriors on the front lines, we are doing all that we can to contain this fire. Thank you for your work to keep Los Angeles County safe, including the Third District communities of Pacific Palisades, Topanga Canyon, Sunset Mesa, Malibu, Santa Monica, Sylmar, Granada Hills, Lake Balboa, and surrounding communities.
(32:40)
Our number one message to everyone in impacted areas is to follow all evacuation orders and warnings, and to stay where you are safe as long as the evacuations remain in place. We continue to have shelter capacity for you, as you have heard, for you, for your pets, and we have animal sheltering sites as well. These orders are not just to keep you safe and to keep your community safe, they're also to keep those on the front lines of this devastating crisis safe. And the longer that you wait to evacuate, the more you are putting people in danger who are putting their lives on the line to protect your homes. Please don't do this. Please evacuate.
(33:26)
There is also an evacuation order in Santa Monica, the Northern border of the city to San Vicente. The warning is north of Montana to San Vicente as well. We have an evacuation order as well as a warning there. Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall is in Sylmar, and that is under evacuation warning because of the Hurst fire. Our probation department has evacuation plans in place should that move to an evacuation order from a warning, and our priority is to keep our youth in our care safe. Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District has closed its schools today, and as you heard from Superintendent Carvalho, LAUSD has a variety of updates.
(34:12)
We have heard from our State Insurance Commissioner as well. And while this is still quite early in this emergency, we do have some initial guidance from his office for evacuated households on reimbursable insurance expenses with information to be found at insurance. ca.gov. Obtain a complete copy of your insurance policy, take note of additional living expense limits, track additional expenses, document conversations with your insurer or adjuster, and don't rush any decisions. If you have any questions, call 800-927-4357. Please continue to check emergency.lacounty. gov for the latest information. And I know we will see brighter skies by working together. Los Angeles County will continue to be unrelenting in our response, and I know we have only the finest on the front lines fighting this fire. It's our duty to see them succeed. Thank you.
Supervisor Barger (35:24):
All right, now we are going to hear from LA City Council President and Mayor Pro Tem Marqueece Harris- Dawson.
Mayor Pro Tem Marqueece Harris-Dawson (35:32):
Thank you so much. Good morning, everybody. On behalf of the city of Los Angeles, I just want to begin by thanking and recognizing and acknowledging the great work of our first responders, especially the men and women of Los Angeles Fire Department, who last night we all witnessed doing heroic work in the face of grave danger. Last night was one of the most devastating and terrifying nights
Mayor Pro Tem Marqueece Harris-Dawson (36:00):
… nights that we've seen in any part of our city, at any part of our history, fire literally jumping roads, taking out structures, and our public safety professionals created an environment where injuries were kept to a minimum, fatalities were kept to a minimum, and we wake up this morning with a renewed spirit that we can defeat this fire and move on to a brighter day.
(36:29)
I want to also acknowledge the two members of the council that are with us today that represent the areas of the fire, Councilwoman Traci Park of the 11th District, who's I think probably has about 90 minutes sleep by my count, because every time I looked on the television you were there knocking on doors in neighborhoods, in community centers at the shelters, making sure the community was okay. And then an absolute professional, someone who, since I've been on the council with her, has had to fight a fire almost every year, and so is a pro from the San Fernando Valley, the council member from the 7th District, Monica Rodriguez.
(37:11)
And, again, all the men and women, the firefighters are in the front, but our DWP workers are out there making sure we don't have additional fires from power lines. And countless folks, DOT, making sure the flow of traffic stays so that folks who want to evacuate can do so, are out there as well. So there're literally thousands and thousands of people working together to make this work. I want to announce a few more closures to add to the school closures that we heard and the closures that the sheriff and the supervisor read to us. Griffith Park, closed today, including Lake Hollywood. Runyon Canyon, closed today. The Los Angeles Zoo, closed today. The Hollywood Reservoir, closed today. The Hollywood Sign, closed today, as well as all the roads through the Sepulveda Basin in the San Fernando Valley, so nobody should be going those places today anyway.
(38:13)
I will amend what Chief McDonald said, not only if you're on the West side or in the valley, anywhere in this city, if you can stay off the roads, please do so. I live in South LA a long way away from the fires. Visibility is less than one block because of the smoke, so if there is not a good reason for you to be on the roads, we ask that you leave the roads open as possibly as you can to the public safety professionals that have to do their work and will lead us out of the crisis that we face here in the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles today.
(38:54)
Also, lastly, just grateful for the work of the President of the United States kicked in for us late last night, who happens to be in Southern California. The governor was with us in the Pacific Palisades last night and has helped out, and a range of municipalities around the county and outside the county have come in to help where they can and we're extremely, extremely grateful for their help in this time of crisis for our city and our county. And with that, I will ask the director of the Office of Emergency Management for Los Angeles County, Kevin McGowan to come to the mic.
Kevin McGowan (39:34):
Thank you for the introduction. I'm Kevin McGowan, I'm the director with the LA County's Office of Emergency Management. As my partners up here have said before, we're facing a historic natural disaster and I think that can't be stated strong enough. This is not a normal red flag. We've been in partnership with the National Weather Service for days prior to the arrival of this severe windstorm. There's been amazing communication by the National Weather Service and they should be acknowledged for all of the communication that was put out days in advance. What's critical about that is it partnered all of our public safety and emergency organizations throughout the county to begin preparations for this, and a lot of the successes we saw over the last 18 to 20 hours is a direct result of painstaking preparations that had gone into place for the last 48 to 72 hours.
(40:33)
We still have a long road ahead of us. Our county is known with wildland fires. We just finished working on the Franklin Fire. We've had the Bridge Fire, the Post-Fire. This has been a very destructive fire season. This is just going to add to it. Our eyes are on mitigating the impacts from this emergency, working with our community partners and then charting a course for what will be a long recovery effort. With that, I would like to introduce our Department of Public Works for LA County director, Mark Pastrella.
Mark Pestrella (41:12):
Good morning. Thank you, Kevin. My name is Mark Pastrella. I'm the director of Public works for Los Angeles County, the largest public works department in the United States. We're coordinating across the area with all our partner agencies, including of course, primarily the city of Los Angeles and addressing this event today.
(41:29)
I'm going to talk a little bit about our focus in terms of infrastructure and then I'll move on. Before I do that though, I do want to acknowledge all of the residents that have either lost a home or who are being evacuated. I do personally understand what that is about and understand what kind of fear that can put into you. One thing I would recommend to you before you leave that home if you want something to do, is to close that home up tight, close any openings completely tight to the home, and make sure that access is open to the fire department in the event that they want to come on and do work on your property. That's one thing I've learned through the years is important.
(42:03)
So right now, LA County Public Works is focused on water supply, the road safety and transportation system, and preparing our flood control system for the inevitable post-event, which may be flows of debris and mud. With respect to water resources, there's been quite a bit of talk in the media about the water system that we are using for suppression, so let me make the following statement. There have been quite a bit of comments over social media about the local water supply and its impact on firefighting efforts. There is collaboration across this region. Over 200 water retailers serve the region. LA County serves the area in the Eaton Fire area, LA City serves the area of the Palisades area. We also serve the Palisades area and the North area, unincorporated area, water supply through the hydrant system.
(42:53)
The municipal water systems that service our homes and businesses continue to work effectively. However, they're not designed to fight wildfires. A firefight with multiple fire hydrants, drawing water from the system for several hours is unsustainable. This is a known fact. That's why air support is so critical to the firefight. And unfortunately, wind and air visibility have prevented that support. However, county and city water reservoirs, open reservoirs are available and on standby, once that support becomes available, we will be having fixed wing as well as helicopter draw of water from our system. We also need customers to understand that it is really quite futile to attempt to fight fire with your hose at your house. That's not something I would recommend you do, but in fact, I would ask that you turn off your water and turn off your gas, both things before you leave the residence so that we can continue to have that water supply for the hydrant system.
(43:53)
The transportation system is operating with many, many closures. Those closures are meant for evacuation as well as fire-suppression efforts. So we're asking residents not to abandon vehicles in streets, to not park vehicles in streets, but to leave those vehicles on your property. And we ask that you drive very carefully because we also have the other event of wind right now and we have numerous, numerous signals out across the area, so we need people to drive very consciously in the street system. And then the third piece in the road system and in our homes is the wind is causing massive tree fall. We have numerous, over hundreds and hundreds of trees that have fallen in the area already, and we expect more of that to occur.
(44:35)
This is a safety hazard for you and your children, so we're asking that you avoid walking outside, avoid being under trees, avoid parking cars under trees, all the things that you can imagine that a tree can do. A tree can be just as devastating to a home and to your personal self as a fire, so please be aware that the wind event is going to continue and the infrastructure is in place to do with that. We are currently preparing to remove that, we are removing trees as they fall where it's safe to do so. There will be a mass debris removal system put together the county is coordinating, but we would be removing and working with the cities to remove the mass debris that's going to occur, not only from the structures that have been damaged but all of these trees that are down. So please, one of the things is make way for our utility workers who are in support of the very, very brave firemen and sheriff and police force that are out doing their job. We are in full support of them.
(45:33)
So lastly, on the flood control system, this is just a quick note that, yes, in fact we will have a lot of debris. The flood control system has been impacted that covers the entire region by the fire. In fact, many of our facilities have been burned. One in Eaton area, Eaton Yard where there is a debris dam there and its facilities are currently threatened. We are looking at that and I'm going to raise up those systems. As we enter into post-fire, our department will be available to do review of your individual properties to make sure that you're safe from debris flow as another event that may occur in LA County. With that, I'm happy to turn over the microphone to my partner from the Department of Water Power, the general manager, Janisse Quiñones.
Janisse Quiñones (46:20):
Thank you, Mark. I am Janisse Quiñones, CEO and chief engineer for LADWP. I want to start by thanking everybody on this response. I've been in emergency management my whole career and the collaboration I've seen in this response has been incredible, especially our first responders, our crews. I want to thank our crews that have been working on high wings trying to restore power as fast as possible, and also county, city council, mayor's office. The mayor has been in contact with me all the time, and also other utilities in California have been practically reaching out to us to help us with the restoration, so we're in the process of contacting them to ask for more support.
(47:01)
I want to continue the thought process that Mark had about water supply in Palisades. We had a tremendous demand on our system in the Palisades. We pushed the system to the extreme four times the normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight, which lowered our water pressure. We were pushing 75 cfs on our trunk line to try to keep water pressures in the system. If there's a message you take away from me today is I need our customers to really conserve water, not just in the Palisade area but the whole system because the Fire Department needs the water to fight the fires and we're fighting a wildfire with urban water systems, and that is really challenging.
(47:46)
What happened in Palisades? We have three large water tanks, about a million gallons each. We ran out of water on the first tank at about 4:45 PM yesterday, we ran out of water on the second tank, about 8:30 PM, and the third tank, about 3:00 AM this morning. Those tanks help with the pressure on the fire hydrants and the hills of Palisades, and because we were pushing so much water in our trunk line and so much water was being used before it can't get to the tanks, we were not able to fill the tanks fast enough, so the consumption of water was faster than we can provide water in our trunk line. So I want to make sure that you understand there's water under the trunk line, it just cannot get up the hill because we cannot fill the tanks fast enough and we cannot lower the amount of water that we provide to the fire department in order to supply the tanks because we're balancing firefighting with water.
(48:40)
So we have our operations' people on the water side at the command post with the Fire Department helping them with tactics to ensure that we can provide as much water as we can find to our first responders. What are we doing now? We're sending about 20 water tanks for our construction crews full of water to support the Fire Department. We identify other areas in our system where our tankers can refill. It takes about 30 minutes to refill about 4,000 gallons of water and we're constantly moving that water to the Fire Department to get them as much water as we can. I would also ask for the people on ZIP code 90272, because we're pushing the water system so hard, our water quality is decreasing, so we're going to be issuing a boil water notice this morning and that will extend for about 48 hours. The water quality is low, we have a lot of ash in the system. And so please, if you're going to be drinking water, you need to boil the water. Those boil waters will continue to increase as the system starts restoring.
(49:45)
We are also managing a power outage restoration. Our water emergency has been the number one primary issue, but the power issues are continue to increase. The winds picked up around 11:00 PM last night and that's when we saw the majority of our outages coming in. As of 7:00 AM today, we have 135,000 customers out of power. We have restored about 78,000 customers since the start of the outage. 32 customers have been out of power for more than 10 hours and seven for over 18 hours. If you are out of power, I urge you to call us, call 911. Let us know so that we can get to you as fast as safely as possible. We are on a severe emergency activation at the EOC for both water and power. It's taking us 24 to 48 hours to get to all of the others. That's why we're going to start increasing our mutual aid request to get more crews on here to reduce that restoration time, but we cannot do that until it's safe for our crews.
(50:46)
And I'm happy to report we have had no safety incidents for either the water and the power crews, which we need all the crews safely operating in our system. 40% of our outages were due to us having to energize the circuits for public safety and we cannot energize them until it's safe to do so, and we have put eyes on our system. 20% is because of wire downs and 6.5% is because our system has protected itself from further outages and so we have to patrol every line before we come back online. With that, I just want to thank everybody and [inaudible 00:51:23].
Speaker 2 (51:24):
Thank you so much. We want to transition. We're five minutes over. We do want to give a little bit of time for question answer with the press. I'm going to call on you. Please identify yourself, your name, and which media outlet you're with. I see a hand up here. We'll go with you first.
Speaker 3 (51:41):
[inaudible 00:51:39] I wanted to ask because this press conference called-
Speaker 2 (51:45):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (51:45):
That's okay.
Speaker 3 (51:45):
… One Voice is bringing together some of our city leaders, our county leaders here together for this incredible tragedy, this crisis that we're experiencing right now. And a lot of our viewers are asking, how can other Angelenos help? Because people want to volunteer, people want to help. What's the best way that other folks out there that want to help, what can they do?
Supervisor Barger (52:03):
Well, first of all, thank you for that question because I think this does speak volumes to the fact that it's not just at the local level, it's at the state and the federal level as well, and it is One Voice. We're seeing these fires taking place countywide, which is stretching our resources, but to the public, I mentioned All Saints in Pasadena that's opened up its church to people that are evacuating, people that are not only part of their parish, but also people that are seeking refugees. I would encourage, and we will work with our Office of Emergency Management to put together a list of what you can do to help.
(52:33)
I know at Pasadena Convention Center, they're looking for resources, food and blankets. Red Cross is putting that together, but we can always use more. So this is the time for us all to come together. I mean, we're trying to wrap our heads around just getting this fire under control, but make no mistake, we will put something together so that people can offer their support. You are seeing the goodness, and I know Supervisor Horvath mentioned it, with all these horrific stories you hear, you also hear stories of people that are doing amazing things to help their neighbors and their community.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
Thank you for that. Go ahead in the green shirt.
David Zahniser (53:15):
Yeah, the DWP was talking about the problems with the water supply and I was wondering if either the DWP or the fire department has any kind of numbers to talk about like what is the number of hydrants that could not get water because of these pressure issues? What percentage of the system in Pacific Palisades wasn't getting serviced at that point? And given the type of things you're describing this morning, do you think there needs to be an overhaul of the system given these increasing number of urban fires? And also, when does the mayor return?
Speaker 2 (53:46):
And name and media outlet, please?
David Zahniser (53:50):
David Zahniser with The Los Angeles Times.
Speaker 2 (53:54):
Thank you.
Janisse Quiñones (53:56):
So, Chief, please correct me if I'm wrong, but we were trying to
Janisse Quiñones (54:00):
We keep water at all altitudes on the Palisades, and I think about 3:00 in the morning, that's when the hydrants went dry above the Brentwood area. We are able to push water on that trunk line on the east side of that and we have some water on the higher elevations, 16,000 to 18,000, but at 3:00 A.M. all of the fire hydrants went dry in the Palisades. To your question of climate resiliency and how do we need to update the system, I would say that that is true. We were talking with the county supervisor and Mark on how are we going to change the way we operate our water systems for events like this. This is a non-presidential event, I think the 2011 winds was significant from a power outage perspective, but the fires have really increased the response complexity of this. We had crews trying to mitigate this and we had to evacuate. We worked with fire department to try to get back in and try to fill the tanks again, it wasn't safe to do so, so you're managing the fires, you're managing the power outage, and you're managing the water needs because it was an urban wildfire firefighting. So yes, we have to look at our system from a climate resiliency as a region and it's going to be more than just DWP, it's all the water agencies here, including the county.
Speaker 5 (55:27):
Thank you. Over here in the Burgundy with a mask, name and media outlet please.
Speaker 6 (55:31):
Mayor question.
Kristin Crowley (55:32):
Real quick, I can speak on the operational side of the hydrants. We don't have a specific number to the hydrants, we do know that it came in phases. Now, our firefighters always have a primary plan, a backup plan, contingency, and emergency plan. So oftentimes, just so that the public is aware, in large brush fires, water supplies are normally limited. So with that, our apparatus do have that ability to draft water, if we need to, out of pools, ponds, any type of water resource. We also utilize the water tenders in which we spoke about a little bit earlier. So with that I just wanted to clarify that, and in regard to when the mayor is returning, I spoke to her this morning at 4:00 o'clock. She's on her way for the last leg of her journey back home from Dallas, so her ETA is right around noon.
Speaker 5 (56:24):
Thank you, go ahead.
Speaker 7 (56:26):
Buenos días, everybody. Ali Santana with Telemundo 52. For Chief Crowley, Chief Moroni, where can people go to donate food, water, supplies? And for Superintendent Carvalho, Sheriff Luna, and CEO Quinones, just something in Espanol for our people now.
Speaker 5 (56:44):
We will do something in Spanish right after we conclude over here with a couple of Spanish speakers. Regarding the volunteer information?
Kristin Crowley (56:52):
Sure, so thank you for the question about the donations, I know we spoke about that earlier. Just a touch point for the community, we are so grateful for the community's efforts in regard to donations. Now what I do want to be mindful about to make sure that we share is please listen to the direction of where those donations, either through money and/or food, any type of donation, it can become problematic if the public starts to just drop things off. So we are putting together a strong plan from our emergency operations center, we're at the highest level at this point, we're coordinating with the county as well, so stand by for more information. We want to be very purposeful and strategic in how we're going to collect those donations, and they are welcomed.
Speaker 5 (57:39):
Right over here with the glasses and the gray right behind you. Over here with the hand up.
Speaker 7 (57:43):
Thank you sir. Scott Snowden, Santa Monica Daily Press. Question for Ms. Horvath. Are there any forecasts or predictions at this point for the economic impact of this?
Supervisor Lindsey Horvath (57:55):
There are no early numbers of the economic impact, but we are already exploring how we can do, for example, a business interruption fund as we have done in other states of emergency. We know that there are many businesses that have also been impacted, in addition to the people who are experiencing difficulty in their homes, so we are looking at what resources the county has available to support on all fronts, but thank you for the question.
Speaker 7 (58:20):
Lastly, do you think this will affect insurance companies and their approach to house owners going forward?
Supervisor Lindsey Horvath (58:26):
I believe it already has, and the conversation is ongoing. As I shared earlier from the insurance commissioner, I know this is an ongoing conversation in his office and he has provided that information and welcoming phone calls from folks who do have questions about insurance impacts as a result of these fires. I do know that yesterday, through the help of our chair, the county declared a state of emergency, as did the governor, and I know that there are other states of emergency that will be declared in order to make sure that all residents are able to readily access everything that they need to in response to these claims.
Speaker 5 (59:02):
Thank you, we need to move on. Right here in the front, young woman with the hand up.
Speaker 8 (59:09):
Hi, Grace Toohey with the Los Angeles Times. I was hoping one of the fire chiefs could talk a little bit about long-range spotting and how far we actually saw embers jumping from one fire to other spot fires? And then additionally we heard repeatedly fire crews requesting help back and not having enough crews, were you guys prepared enough for this? Did we have enough resources to fight these fires? Thank you.
Anthony Moroney (59:33):
Thank you for the question, so I'll start at the end and work back. No, LA County and all 29 fire departments in our county are not prepared for this type of widespread disaster. There are not enough firefighters in LA County to address four separate fires of this magnitude. We were prepared, we get state pre-positioned resources that came from Northern California that were up in the Santa Clarita Valley, we did hire additional firefighters from the LA County Fire Department and pre-positioned them in the Santa Monica Mountains. The LA County fire Department was prepared for one or two major brush fires, but not four, especially given these sustained winds and low humidities.
(01:00:24)
Like our director of emergency management said ,this is not a normal red flag alert. People were calling for help, we tried to get them the help that they needed. LA County right now, like the LA City Fire Department, is prioritizing life safety, but we are also engaging in structured defense, perimeter control, and aerial operations. Remember that the LA County fire Department has 13 aerial assets available to it. In addition to our agency-owned helicopters, we have our two CL-415 Super Scoopers and our CH-47, which is part of the three-county QRF. So we're prepared to keep fighting the fight. Like I said earlier, I've requested additional resources not only from Northern California but from out of state, we did that last night yesterday. So we're doing the very best we can. But no, we don't have enough fire personnel in LA County between all of the departments to handle this, thank you.
Speaker 5 (01:01:32):
Thank you. And we have a couple of just quick questions.
Speaker 9 (01:01:34):
I just want to also acknowledge that, that came down from Sacramento State Senator, Ben Allen, and Sasha Pérez, as well as our Santa Monica Mayor, Negrete, who's also present here. And I know that Congressman George Whiteside is flying in from Washington, D.C. He represents the Sylmar, Santa Clarita area and so we appreciate you all being here.
Speaker 5 (01:01:54):
Thank you Chair Barger.
Speaker 9 (01:01:54):
I think someone from the mayor's office would like to… Go ahead, introduce her.
Speaker 5 (01:01:58):
Thank you supervisor.
Speaker 10 (01:01:58):
Thank you, appreciate it. Good morning everybody, Celine Cordero, Deputy Chief of staff to Mayor Bass. I just wanted to step forward and address the question about the mayor. The mayor will be on the ground shortly, very shortly this morning and engaged, but I want to assure the community and the city, our mayor has been actively engaged 100% of the time the entire last 24 hours throughout this unfortunate, unfortunate event and crisis. The mayor has been in constant communication with our chief of police, our fire chief, our council president, our law enforcement partners, Supervisor Barger, thank you, and our county partners. So I just want to stress she has had 100% access the entire time that she's been traveling and been actively involved in the decision making. So thank you very much to all up here and the mayor looks forward to meeting you very shortly this morning.
Speaker 5 (01:02:49):
Thank you for that. Over here in the green shirt.
Speaker 11 (01:02:52):
Good morning, Stephen Coleman, KABC. You mentioned four fires, I'm aware of three, could you describe and characterize the fourth county fire?
Kristin Crowley (01:03:05):
Yes, I can speak briefly on that fourth fire was a Woodley Fire, which is approximately it was a smaller fire, we threw a lot of resources at it, it is under control at this point. We'll push that information out to the media. So you have the very specifics, but we're calling it the Woodley Fire.
Speaker 12 (01:03:22):
Can you tell us where it was located?
Kristin Crowley (01:03:25):
Yeah, it was in the Sepulveda Basin. Yes sir.
Speaker 12 (01:03:28):
Thank you. Last question then we'll have one-on-ones.
Speaker 13 (01:03:31):
Hi, Samantha Norris, San Fernando Valley Sun. I know the Hearst fire is one of the smaller fires here, but can somebody speak more to what resources are being deployed to that fire and for people in the Sylmar area, what are the evacuation zone areas, any closures, and where those people can go in the area?
Kristin Crowley (01:03:54):
Go ahead.
Speaker 14 (01:03:54):
Hi, good morning. Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez from the 7th District. Last night, we evacuated 71 horses from the Stetson Ranch area. The fire came up quickly and so thankfully they were safely evacuated to the Hanson Dem Equestrian Center. As we indicated, this is a very dynamic situation, and the lack of aerial support is making it that much more challenging for firefighters to be able to fight these fires, whether it's in the Palisades or any other part of the county, and so it's critically important that people heed the evacuation orders. In the Sylmar community, Ritchie Valens Rec Center in Pacoima is available for the evacuations. Currently, there is 80% vacancies, so there's still capacity for people to evacuate there. Going beyond that, we will continue to open up additional facilities as is needed. I want to ensure the public that the things that you can do, and I know the question was asked earlier. If you're not in the immediate fire area, there are things that you can do to be of assistance, and it goes to looking at hardening your home from any potential threat of embers.
(01:05:07)
These embers fly, they can go for a couple of miles, so we want to ensure that they do everything to create the defensible space in their homes. If they're in the adjacent areas, again, staying off the roads to the greatest degree possible. More importantly, reducing your water usage at this time. Because there is no aerial support, all of our water is being heavily demanded upon for these firefights in all parts of the county. So these are the proactive measures that people can be taking to be of assistance immediately given the needs of our first responders. If you have downed power lines, report those to 911. We can also report all outages to 1-800-DIAL-DWP, and most importantly for trees that are down, because we know we have a lot of road blockages, our Bureau of Street services for the city of Los Angeles, all of our street services crew and public works crews are out there doing that work as well and they are part of our first responders.
(01:06:10)
We want to make sure that everyone's reporting those to 311 so that we can keep the roads cleared for everyone to have the greatest amount of access for our fire personnel. But most importantly, for the adjacent equine areas, because I know in the Hearst Fire we are concerned about the spread right now, there's a lull in the wind, but we're concerned about the potential spread to other equine areas. We want to make sure that we launched our early evacuation for horse keeping areas in the Northeast San Fernando Valley, and I want to continue to urge the public in these adjacent areas to please be prepared with your bags, with your important documents, to be ready to be prepared to potentially heed the call for evacuation. Thank you.
Speaker 5 (01:06:53):
Thank you very much. We're over time. We're going to [inaudible 01:06:57].
Kristin Crowley (01:06:57):
Just one clarity as well so you have some of the statistics. It started at 10:10 last night, the latest anchorage we have is 500 acres. We're working closely with our partners, which are the Los Angeles National Forest. We have a rep over here behind us, so we can do some one-on-ones if you want more specific, but we are unified with them. Also, the good news is through the heroic efforts of our crews working through the night last night, our overall objective was to keep that fire so it did not overpass the five, did not cross the five at this point. We're able to hold it to that point, but again, the winds are back up, we're working really, really hard there to make sure we maintain that and we're continuing to work really, really hard with our partners.
Speaker 15 (01:07:42):
Yes.
Speaker 16 (01:07:43):
Thanks Chief. I don't have too much more to add, but I will share that the Los Angeles City Fire and the Angeles National Forest went into unified command immediately when that fire started, and that fire started in an area we're well-exercised, known as the, "Mutual Threat Zone." So that's a part of our pre-planned unified command area, and that includes ground resources and aircraft, and of course as mentioned, aircraft has been having a hard time finding good air. And actually with the wind speeds, we're assessing aircraft availability every minute, continuously watching for a window to get aircraft up from multiple parts and multiple agencies, the Angeles National Forest Aircraft and the air tanker base that services the Southern California areas is in Lancaster under the US Forest Service, and they're watching for opportunities to launch aircraft. But last night, the winds out in the Antelope Valley were just as bad as they were here in what we call the, "Front Range," so we're still struggling to get aircraft in the air.
Speaker 17 (01:08:33):
All right, thank you all. Name and title?
Speaker 16 (01:08:35):
Yes sir. Robert Garcia, Fire Chief for the Angeles National Forest.