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The Untold Truth Behind The Los Angeles Wildfire Crisis · The Lila Rose Show

0:00
Hey guys, welcome back to the Lila Rose Show.
0:02
OK, We are going to go Live Today and we're going to have a
0:05
really special guest in studio to actually debrief some behind
0:09
the scenes insider information about the Los Angeles fires.
0:14
This is a perspective that I think it's absolutely crucial,
0:17
but maybe not a lot of people are hearing right now, whether
0:19
you're on X or you're listening or watching to listening to or
0:23
watching traditional news media. So we're going to have Paul
0:26
Ibarra in studio today. He is a retired fire captain who
0:30
has spent 38 years doing firefighting and 34 of those
0:33
years he has served in the City of Los Angeles Fire Department.
0:38
So he's going to actually be in studio with us just here in a
0:40
few minutes talking about his opinion, his experience, what's
0:44
going on behind the scenes as he sees it in Los Angeles with the
0:47
fires that are raging, how the fire departments respond to
0:50
them, is there mismanagement, what's the deal with leadership,
0:53
fire safety tips, so much more. It's going to be really
0:55
fascinating. But before we do that, I just
0:58
want to say we've been praying for so many of our friends who
1:00
are affected by the LA fires. I have friends and family who've
1:04
had to evacuate people whose homes have burned down.
1:06
I mean, it's absolutely catastrophic.
1:08
So they deserve our prayers and our support.
1:10
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4:26
So welcome back to the Lila Rose show here.
4:29
For those that are joining us on YouTube Live, we're also
4:33
streaming now on X for the first time.
4:35
So welcome to my friends on X. And we're going to be doing
4:38
something a little bit different with today's show that I think
4:41
is, I hope going to really help discourse happening right now.
4:45
Headline news everywhere is about the Los Angeles Angeles
4:47
fires that are raging. There's a lot of criticism right
4:50
now of city leadership, state leadership in California.
4:54
I think some of it is warranted. That being said, I think there
4:57
is a perspective about the Los Angeles fires that is maybe not
5:01
being shared from boots on the ground.
5:03
And that's why I'm very excited to have Paul Ibarra in studio
5:06
today. Paul is a retired fire captain
5:10
who served for 38 years firefighting and for 3/4 of
5:14
those years Paul was with the City of Los Angeles, Angeles
5:17
Fire Department as a fire captain.
5:20
So he has incredible expertise and perspective to offer us.
5:24
We're going to unpack what's happening of course, with the
5:26
fires in LA. Is there mismanagement?
5:29
Why was water apparently running out of the hydrants?
5:32
Why? Where did these fires come from?
5:34
How do we stop future fires and even some fire safety tips for
5:37
people listening. So that being said, the, the,
5:41
the, what we're dealing with right now, according to some of
5:43
the latest reports, I'm seeing 29,000 acres damaged and
5:48
destroyed, $57 billion in economic damage because of the
5:51
LA fires, 180,000 people evacuated.
5:54
There have even been deaths. So much to unpack here.
5:57
So without further ado, Polly Barra, thanks so much for
6:00
joining us live here. Well, thank you Lila for having
6:03
me. Pleasure to be here with you.
6:05
I'm I love Los Angeles. I've lived there for five years.
6:08
You have been how many years and Los Angeles area?
6:12
All my life. Your life I've.
6:14
Lived in Los Angeles, except for four years when I was at the US
6:16
Air Force. Then I I didn't live here, but
6:18
this has been my home. Well, first of all, thank you so
6:21
much for your service. Well, thank you.
6:24
I appreciate that. And you, for folks who are
6:28
learning about your background here, you were a fire captain.
6:31
You were a fire captain, too, is my understanding.
6:34
Yeah. First, let us start.
6:35
It. Off with my career as a
6:36
firefighter in US Air Force. That gave me my first start.
6:39
I attained the rank of buck Sergeant or Sergeant.
6:42
Then when I left, I joined the Los Angeles Fire Department in
6:45
1987 and I was a firefighter for nine years, called a tail board
6:52
like a soldier. One year I was in the recruit
6:55
training Academy and then the next nine years I was a driver.
6:58
Three years as an apparatus operator, drive the aerial
7:00
ladder truck, and then the other six years as an engineer and
7:05
then I promoted to captain one. I held that rank for about four
7:08
years and then the last about 9 years I was a captain to task
7:12
force commander at the fire station.
7:15
Six of those years were spent when we call on special duty.
7:18
So what they they pull you out of the field basically do 410
7:23
schedule. That's my background.
7:25
So were you managing firefighters in Los Angeles?
7:29
Yeah, at every station I ever worked as a captain, I was a
7:32
supervisor of my shift at the station.
7:35
So how many fire firefighters would you be managing?
7:38
Well, it depends. There's a single engine company,
7:40
so they normally have an engine company to rescue.
7:42
So that'd be 6 people at other at another station I had eight
7:47
people or seven under me as a task force commander.
7:51
There was 12 of us. There are stations that are
7:54
larger, but that's what I normally supervise 11.
7:57
So the task force, I don't have the junior captain, captain one
8:00
with me and and then 1010 firefighters and three of those
8:05
were drivers. So in the fire department the
8:08
rank starts firefighter, then you have a firefighter
8:11
paramedic, then you have engineer, apparatus operator,
8:14
cat, 1 cat and two use at the station level.
8:16
Some stations have a battalion commander there.
8:19
I never was assigned to a station with a battalion
8:20
commander. So tell me, Paul, what it's been
8:24
like for you now. You're retired as of just a
8:27
couple years ago and you're watching really a catastrophic
8:31
fire break out in your beloved Los Angeles.
8:34
And I'm, I'm imagining you still have a lot of friends who are
8:36
still serving in the department and might even be active right
8:41
now fighting fires. What's that been like for you
8:43
over the last few days? Well, I've tried to reach out to
8:46
some and I'm thinking most of them are busy and I have reached
8:49
some firefighters that were not working so talk to them a little
8:52
bit. But my heart really goes out to
8:55
the poor persons that lost their homes.
8:58
Many times in my career I would respond to a person's home and
9:02
sometimes it's fatality or the loss of home, and that's really
9:05
a sad thing to witness or be a part of to see a person
9:09
homeless. So I think one of the things
9:13
that would impact me most is to see pain and suffering, and I
9:16
think a lot of us firefighters don't want to see that.
9:19
The I'm hearing a lot of reports from what's happening in Los
9:22
Angeles. I'm, you know, seeing it from
9:24
news reports or you're seeing it live on X from people reporting
9:27
even on the ground. And I'm curious how you see the
9:31
current state of affairs right now with the Los Angeles fires.
9:34
I know some right now I think are contained, some aren't.
9:37
How do you how do you see it right now?
9:39
Well, this time of the year we have something called the Santa
9:41
Ana winds and that was sort of the the natural phenomena that
9:48
occurred in Pacific Palisades. Some people are reporting 80
9:52
mile 80 to 90 mile an hour per winds and what I have a chart if
9:58
we could see that, but. Can we pull it up, Paris?
10:01
This will explain I actually want to see the video first
10:06
because that red area will will prove to be more significant.
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So we're about to watch a video of the Santa Ana winds that
10:14
Paul's going to show us here to understand what's happening in
10:17
Los Angeles right now. Been to here a tornado or maybe
10:24
a hurricane? No, it was Santa Ana winds at
10:28
their worst. In early December 20, 1197 mile
10:32
an hour winds tore through Southern California.
10:36
Hundreds of trees came down and about 200,000 customers lost
10:40
power. California mix of weather and
10:44
geography creates the perfect potent wind machine we call
10:48
Santa Ana Winds. One of the key ingredients for a
10:51
Santa Ana wind outbreak is having a big strong high
10:54
pressure system over the Intermountain West and the
10:57
higher elevations of the Rockies.
10:58
When air flows out away from that, it descends in altitude
11:03
toward the Pacific Ocean, and that air descent leads to
11:06
warming and compression that also dries the air out
11:10
significantly. And that wind can spread
11:12
pre-existing fires just like an old school bellows.
11:16
These fierce winds can quickly turn small brush fires into
11:20
sprawling, raging infernos. So there's a really.
11:24
Peculiar thing about Santa Ana winds.
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It's not like a sustained wind that you might find with a
11:29
hurricane. This is more of a gusty type of
11:31
event where one minute it can be calm and the next minute you can
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have winds 7580 a hundred mph at times.
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That is the kind of wind that can do a lot of damage not just
11:42
to trees and vegetation, but also the structure.
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Santa Ana winds maximize fire danger during the autumn months.
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That's when the vegetation is still dry after summer and
11:53
before winter precipitation arrives.
12:00
All right, so Paul, what did talk to us about the Santa Ana
12:03
winds and why this is so key to understanding what's happening
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and. You can also see that the map,
12:09
so in the city of Los Angeles and and other jurisdictions, but
12:13
I can only speak to the city of Los Angeles, we have what we
12:15
call high fire severity zones. If you look at the red map there
12:19
and then look to the left and where ends of the beach, that
12:22
specific Palisades, that's the route that the that area, all
12:26
that red area and that we have a number of areas in the city of
12:28
Los Angeles. And these are places that were
12:33
that homes interface with wildland.
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So this is going to be an area more of a hazard or a threat.
12:42
And historically these fires have happened in these areas.
12:46
So if we saw the film earlier where you see the wind coming
12:49
through, it's coming off the hills down through there.
12:51
And if you see where it's between Santa Monica or Malibu,
12:55
right? But that's the area that was
12:56
hit. So and as as the man said, or
13:02
they said there it was autumn. So right now, right after summer
13:06
and right before winter and if you get 80 to 90 mile an hour
13:10
winds, there's not a whole lot the fire department can do.
13:15
Helicopters will be grounded are the philosophy of the LAFD is to
13:19
hit it hard and fast. So prior.
13:22
So we have something called the red flag.
13:24
When the relative humidity drops below 15% and the wind speeds
13:29
are over 25, a red flag goes up and there's a lot of things that
13:33
we respond to. 1st we pre deployed companies and then we
13:37
limit parking on narrow streets in those areas so traffic can
13:42
get through, especially fire apparatus right?
13:45
So these winds at 25 miles an hour we declare a red flag, but
13:52
Can you imagine 90 miles? OK, so I have a good friend, a
13:55
retired captain who who was making a comparison between the
14:00
Hollywood fire that was the next day versus the Palisades fire.
14:04
We got or the fire department got helicopters up quickly.
14:07
They tried, but then the helicopters had to be grounded.
14:11
We do not put out fires without the assistance of helicopters.
14:14
So we get to the head or the the front of the fire.
14:17
Then there's flanks. We get on the sides.
14:19
If we can't, if it's safe, we do something also called structure
14:22
protection permitting the weather permitting because we're
14:26
not going to lose firefighters. We're not going to get in the
14:28
way of sort of like a wind Sonam.
14:30
We're not going to get in front of that.
14:32
And so if you talk to firefighters have been around
14:36
like I've been talking to a number of my colleagues, some
14:39
retired, some still active duty with wins like this, it's to be
14:44
expected. It's to be expected.
14:47
And if you have a home in that area, I understand that those
14:50
are beautiful areas to live in, but they come with risks.
14:53
That's why a lot of insurance companies won't how would you
14:57
say insure them or will charge an arm and a leg because of the
15:01
the risk. So I want to unpack that because
15:04
I think there's a lot of complaining going on and
15:07
understandably so. People already pointing fingers
15:11
about why this catastrophe has happened in Los Angeles, saying
15:13
this person to blame, that person is to blame.
15:16
And I want to go through some of, and I think there certainly
15:17
is some leadership failures here, which we're going to get
15:20
to in a minute. But I do want to get to some of
15:22
the concerns that people have had that have been I've seen
15:26
kind of go viral. Some of these concerns, for
15:28
example, there's a concern that the fire hydrant hydrants where
15:32
there's not enough water in the fire hydrants, and that this was
15:35
due to some sort of mismanagement in the LA fire
15:39
Department and city, and that that was somehow responsible for
15:44
the lack of containment of the Pacific Palisades fire and other
15:48
fires. And it sounds like one of the
15:49
things you're saying is that the lack of containment of the
15:51
Pacific Palisades fire, where most of these homes are just
15:54
burned to the ground, had to do with winds that prevented
15:58
helicopters from being safely flown in order to drop water on
16:02
those homes and buildings. Because that was not a fire that
16:06
could be contained with on, you know, on the ground fighting.
16:08
Is is that a correct understanding?
16:10
Yeah. I would also say too is that
16:12
like the system was maxed out with lots of fire and of course
16:17
we would always want more water, of course we do.
16:21
But when you have that number of structures burning in that
16:25
environment, you know, it's it's going to train the system and
16:28
and a lot of times citizens well meaning will turn on their
16:31
sprinklers or get on the roof with hoses, right, trying to
16:35
they think like save their house.
16:38
But this so imagine in your own home, turning every faucet,
16:43
shower, bathtub, things going to drain.
16:45
This is going to tax the system. We have limitations, right?
16:49
There's limitations on everything.
16:51
And this is out of the ordinary wind event, 89 miles an hour,
16:58
OK, maybe it's 25 and we can get the helicopters up, we can knock
17:01
it down. But when you can't get the
17:03
helicopters up, we just sit and watch it burn, which is
17:07
unfortunate, right? You said that a lot of the
17:11
insurance companies, they didn't want to give policies to
17:15
families who owned homes in Pacific Palisades because it's
17:19
such a high risk area. And is that because of
17:22
infrastructure or is that because of the environment?
17:25
No, like like I live in Santa Clarita, OK and my insurance has
17:28
gone up and as a matter of fact, when I bought my home 8 years
17:30
ago, I had a hard time finding fire insurance because I live in
17:35
an area zoned high fire severity, right?
17:37
The, the likelihood, right? So if you live in that zone, the
17:41
insurance companies, they're going to charge you a premium
17:46
or, or you're going to have a problem trying to find
17:49
insurance, right? Because those are high risk
17:52
areas, right? There's a high risk areas.
17:55
Is that just because of the winds or is there also?
17:58
It's also OK there's also other factors in a fire.
18:01
The topography as we saw the the high pressure comes down and
18:06
it's a kind of slopes down and pushes across right.
18:09
So topography plays a large factor also the fuel.
18:13
So when you butt up against the wildland suburban areas, right,
18:18
you're, you're very close to lots of fuel.
18:23
There's another thing too, like oak trees.
18:24
Oak trees are sort of like sacred cows.
18:26
You can't touch them, right? I used to have a oak tree.
18:29
I could. I had to call somebody out to
18:31
inspect a tree before I cut it and they would only only would
18:35
let me cut it a certain amount. So wait, wait, this is a state
18:38
policy, like California law. You can't cut your own oak
18:41
trees. Yeah, you have to, because
18:42
they're preserved. I mean, I understand they're
18:44
beautiful trees, but but one of the things that we try to do
18:48
with trees is keep them, the branches 10 feet from the roof
18:52
light. Another state would let us do
18:53
that, right? But let's say me myself, my own
18:55
home, I've taken down 4 trees to minimize the risk.
19:00
I wouldn't be able to take down an oak tree unless I could
19:03
argue. But I don't think I could win
19:04
because the last time I spoke with one of the inspectors, it
19:08
was going to be minimal what I could do.
19:10
Another problem is too is how we set up homes right if home, and
19:14
I understand the developers want to make Max dollar so they butt
19:18
up homes next to each other. If your neighbor on the right's
19:21
house is burning pretty well now that fire is exposing your
19:25
house. So it's almost like a domino
19:27
effect, right? So when you place homes butted
19:30
up against each other, that causes a problem.
19:32
Another thing is our how our homes are made of wood, right?
19:36
Wood burns. I know we have stucco and
19:38
there's a lot of things that we have done over the years to
19:41
minimize this, right? We do brush clearance.
19:44
We don't allow wood shake shingles.
19:47
The eaves are boxed in. We do brush clearance.
19:50
We have like 100. We create a defensible space.
19:53
Those things do help. However, the way the layout of
19:59
that area is, we knew that or, or a lot of firefighters know
20:03
what's going to happen. But I will say one thing on a
20:06
positive note. The LAPD and the fire
20:09
department's planning prevented a lot of potential deaths by
20:13
evacuating the people. Our job as firefighters is to
20:17
save life and property. I think right now Palisades 2
20:22
deaths. For that many homes, it's pretty
20:24
incredible, right? I know there were some problems
20:27
with people blocking roads, stuff like that, but the fire
20:30
department and the Police Department was able to like
20:34
there are there were pre designation places to go to like
20:37
gyms or schools or staging areas, right?
20:41
And so firefighters, police officers would speak at HOA
20:44
communicating to the to the citizens, this is where you go.
20:48
So I think that's a very positive note.
20:52
It's unfortunate we lose homes. We can rebuild homes.
20:55
And you know, I've also been inspired by many of the people
20:57
that have lost their homes. They, they seem to be more
21:00
concerned about their citizens and family, which is they're on
21:03
the right. But we can always rebuild.
21:05
We can always rebuild, right? But as far as like bringing back
21:08
your loved ones, that's not going to happen.
21:11
It's such a important perspective and point and I, I
21:14
just, I hear incredible. I mean, people are sharing their
21:16
stories on social media right now whose homes have burned
21:18
down, but there's a trend of sorrow there.
21:21
It's extremely sad and, and devastating, but there is
21:24
gratitude that their life is saved.
21:26
Their families lives are saved. And to your point, there have
21:29
been only a handful of deaths, which is still horrific.
21:31
But you're saying that's because of the work of firefighters.
21:35
You know, you, you're a retired fire captain.
21:37
You worked 34 years for the City of Los Angeles Fire Department,
21:40
just recently retired, tired. Do you think, Paul, that there
21:44
were things leading up to this moment, these catastrophic fires
21:48
in Los Angeles, just the last few days, Were there things that
21:50
local and state governments could have done differently to
21:54
have made less catastrophe from the last few days?
21:58
What what would you? How do you see that?
22:01
Well, I think a lot of things were set up properly, right?
22:04
What we call red flag brush clearance was done.
22:07
It was done brush clearance because that's a.
22:09
Criticism that's required the citizens have to comply with
22:11
brush currents, right? So other things sort of like
22:18
having equipment, pre deployed helicopters when when that fire
22:23
broke out, we're dispatched and got on scene.
22:25
However, when the winds kicked up to that speed, they have to
22:28
ground the helicopters. That's a big problem because
22:31
helicopters, they do a brunt of the fire.
22:34
So we have a philosophy or the city of Los Angeles philosophy
22:36
hit it hard and hit it fast. Well, they tried to do that, but
22:40
90 mile an hour winds, it's reported it's going to ground
22:43
helicopters. So the fire is going to get out
22:45
of hand. Firefighters do not do make a
22:47
direct attack, meaning get in front of the fires.
22:49
We kind of on the flanks if it's safe and then we do structure
22:53
protection. So we kind of stay out of the
22:55
way. And this is a 90 miles an hour
22:58
moving in the direction. A story of a friend of mine,
23:02
retired fire captain. This is a few years ago.
23:06
He was doing structure protection, which was meaning
23:08
getting rid of dead, dead brush, cutting trees, getting wooden
23:13
furniture away from the house. And a more senior chief chemist
23:15
is get out of here now. So he told the strike team to
23:18
leave, and he didn't want to leave because he thought he was
23:22
doing good. But you get an order, you move.
23:24
That area was lost. It got torched.
23:26
And my friend always remembered he was really happy because of
23:30
the wisdom and the authority with what the chief spoke with.
23:33
So the prioritization, of course, is people's lives.
23:36
And so that's where and sometimes, like you're saying,
23:38
you just let the buildings burn because there's not a way to
23:40
contain them. Yeah.
23:42
Another example is in Hollywood. The same thing happened the next
23:45
day about 4:30 PM. Another fire broke out.
23:48
This was just a couple days. Ago the following day, Tuesday,
23:52
it broke out about 10 something, the Palisades and then the fire
23:56
in Hollywood broke out at about I think 400 PM.
24:01
Same response pre deployment, but the helicopters were able to
24:05
do that. That was handled quickly and did
24:09
not get out of hand. It could have been worse
24:11
actually, because there's just a number of people there too, and
24:14
those, the hills, navigating the hills and roads, it's a tough
24:17
thing. People were evacuated.
24:20
So that step was done, evacuated.
24:23
And then the helicopters came in and did it so we would get
24:25
control. So the difference is wind, Wind
24:29
90 miles an hour. When I was a firefighter and I
24:31
drive into work, when the wind started to howl, I'd get worried
24:34
because I knew we were going to go to work.
24:35
We were going to go to work. Have you heard from, you
24:39
mentioned earlier you've heard from some folks, but what it's
24:43
what is, what has it been like for firefighters?
24:45
I mean, these fires are still raging in LA.
24:47
It's been now since what is it Sunday, Monday, we're in Friday
24:50
now it's a whole week of fires. How are people handling that?
24:54
Do they have enough staff? Well, you know what?
24:57
The fire department has what you call mutual aid agreement.
25:00
So other departments are coming in.
25:02
Like I've heard even Arizona has sent people in Long Beach, so
25:06
they come in to assist us right now.
25:08
The city, this is another thing. The city is not vacant.
25:11
We still have to protect the city of Los Angeles.
25:13
There's a high rise, there's an airport, there's the harbor,
25:17
there's still people that are having medical emergencies,
25:20
there's still other fires burning.
25:21
So we do not completely abandoned the city.
25:24
We we basically kind of disperse them to to get adequate
25:30
coverage. So we still have them, but so
25:33
some firefighters are still doing the regular routine job
25:36
back at home in a sense in the city.
25:38
But a lot of the firefighters on the fire line, they do get
25:41
relief if it's possible, but it gets cold at night.
25:45
It gets cold at night. Are they eating 3 squares?
25:48
Not the beginning. They're dirty.
25:52
Think about using the bathroom, little things like that.
25:55
Sometimes there's no cell reception.
25:58
Sometimes they're, they're wise and kids worried about them.
26:01
So I, I, my heart kind of goes out to that a little bit because
26:04
of the wise they worry, right. But anyways, yeah.
26:07
But some of the firefighters sleep in the hose bed.
26:09
They sleep in the engine. You would almost as time
26:13
develops, maybe we can get something for them to stay at a
26:16
hotel or something. But in the very beginning,
26:18
they're establishing a beachhead and it's, it's, it's, it's going
26:22
to be tough for some of them. Some of them may have to work
26:25
two or three days in a row, depending on their schedule.
26:28
It's cold, it's windy. I don't know if like lately
26:31
myself, you know, I'm retired now.
26:32
When I go out, I put on a sweater, put on a beanie because
26:35
it's cold. These poor guys don't get to do
26:37
that right? And sometimes not eating a good
26:40
hot meal. Now the department does try as
26:42
things go on, they set up something called logistics,
26:45
which gets firefighters equipment, food, water, things
26:50
that they need. But sometimes firefighters are
26:53
going to be there two or three days, right?
26:56
And, and you know, one thing is I, I will always grateful to the
27:00
citizens of Los Angeles. A lot of people would come and
27:02
bring up stuff and that was a always a kind gesture by a lot
27:06
of the citizens. So for those who are just
27:08
turning in because we're doing this live, we've got Paul Ibarra
27:11
here. He's a retired fire captain, 38
27:13
years in the fire service, 34 in the city of Los Angeles Fire
27:16
Department. I'm going to take a look at the
27:18
chat, Paul. And I've got more questions too,
27:20
but folks are coming up with questions already.
27:23
Again, there's a lot of any time there's a natural disaster that
27:26
strikes a catastrophe, people want someone to blame.
27:29
I think part of it. And there are sometimes people
27:31
to blame. And then there's just a lot of
27:33
questions and concerns and people are interpreting events
27:36
certain ways. Anyways, one person here is
27:38
asking, why was the power turned off?
27:40
So my understanding is in Los Angeles, a lot of people lost
27:44
power purposely. It was done by the city as part
27:47
of the firefighting measure. Well, first of all, in big wins,
27:50
a lot of power lines are brought down even without a Bush fire.
27:55
That was one of the biggest things that I would respond to.
27:57
The most common things I would respond to is wires down in a
28:00
windy day because the lines are hanging overhead for a long
28:03
period of they become brittle, right?
28:04
So you're going to lose power. If transformer lines catch fire,
28:08
it's going to knockout whole sections of the town.
28:11
DWP does a pretty good job. They're going to get out there,
28:13
isolate power, going to try to get up power as soon as
28:15
possible. But when you have power poles
28:17
burnt down, lines dropped, you know, transmission lines, I, we
28:21
don't know the extent yet, but your power is going to be
28:24
interrupted if it's above ground.
28:26
Fortunately for myself, where I live, our power comes in
28:29
underground. And that's something that
28:31
thinkers have done to prevent these types of things from
28:33
happening, right? Because when you have overhead
28:35
wires, those are hazards to be shocked or to start fires.
28:40
There's a big piece of news going around on X especially
28:45
saying that 17.6 million dollars, $17.6 million was cut
28:50
from the LA Fire Department, I think by the mayor.
28:53
And that, you know, the concern is that left the department
28:56
under resourced. So there's not enough
28:58
firefighters, it's not enough supplies.
29:00
And that's one of the reasons these fires are so devastating.
29:04
What do you think about that, Paul?
29:05
Well, first of all, the chief, the, the, the chief engineer
29:09
used to be called chief engineer and general manager.
29:11
And the deputy chiefs, what head of the fire department, they had
29:14
something called civil service protection.
29:16
Many years ago. I had that when I left.
29:18
All firefighters, captains and battalion chiefs, I believe,
29:21
still have civil service protection, which means like if
29:25
I were to go against the administration or let's say a
29:27
citizen, I was trying to force a law.
29:29
And because I'm going to get you, Paul, we're going to get
29:31
rid of you. I had civil service protection
29:33
this way I could carry out the the fire department regulations.
29:37
The chief engineer and deputy chiefs at head department no
29:39
longer have that. So they're what they're called
29:41
at will employees. So when you see the chief
29:44
speaking, she's very careful is what she says, because she could
29:48
be gone. She.
29:49
Can be sued. For no, let go, let go,
29:52
terminate it. Because when you when you reach
29:55
that level, you sign an agreement and you say that you
29:58
now understand, for whatever reason, if the chief or the the
30:03
mayor wants to let you go, you're gone.
30:06
How? Does that impact performance
30:08
would you say and their ability to?
30:09
If you listen to the poor chief tried to explain herself, you
30:12
can see it in her face, right? She doesn't want to say anything
30:15
negative about her boss, the mayor.
30:18
And she's on the other side looking at the citizens, right?
30:21
So she's in it between a Hard Rock.
30:24
She's in a tough spot. So the civil service protection
30:27
was taken away. I think it's Mayor Reardon.
30:30
And I remember that day a chief officer came and he goes.
30:32
The fire department will change from this day on because in the
30:35
old days our chief officers had a spine because they knew they
30:39
were protected from losing their job.
30:41
That's one of the problems, so. Meaning, and when you say that,
30:43
just to clarify, from my understanding of folks
30:45
listening, they had spine, meaning they could say the hard
30:48
truth to their boss, the mayor. Like you cut $17 million from my
30:53
budget, dude. But now the Fire Chief can be
30:56
fired at will by the Los Angeles mayor as of just a few years
30:59
ago. And so now they're not going to
31:01
be spitting hard truths on to the public.
31:03
They're going to be really careful what they say because
31:05
they don't want to make the mayor look bad.
31:07
Yeah, and and a lot of firefighters would would talk to
31:09
me about that and say hey, look at the chief is in a tough spot
31:13
going to be fired or or removed if it doesn't carry out the
31:15
will. You know, another thing is too,
31:18
is you keep asking the fire department to cut 10%.
31:22
If you do that, like over three or four years, you're cutting
31:25
the budget. Now, the budget for the fire
31:26
department is about 890,000,000, OK, 90% of that is for salaries
31:33
of firefighters. They're really only getting like
31:36
4345, don't you? Look, on the Internet, you can
31:39
get the number, the budget for the city of Los Angeles, the
31:42
whole budget is like $13 billion.
31:45
So, and most of the cost goes to fire and police because of
31:49
public safety. Now, I'm going to tell you right
31:52
now, the fire department's going to go whatever it asked for
31:55
because people can see this, right?
31:57
We have a lot, we have a lot of older stations.
32:00
We need new equipment. A lot of times we go get
32:02
equipment. We had to go through bonds.
32:04
We there's there's a number we have to like, beg, borrow and
32:07
steal to get equipment at times, right?
32:09
Because you can't afford it. The city's not giving.
32:11
You enough of a budget? Yeah, So fire trucks maybe
32:14
million, million and a half depend on what they're carrying
32:16
per apparatus, right. And then I know they're
32:20
canceling some academies classes, but per capita like the
32:25
city of Los Angeles is not in the top ten as far as and I, I
32:28
just checked this and if somebody wants to Fact Check me,
32:31
fine. But per thousand population, how
32:35
many fires we have, we have 3000 firefighters and I think the
32:40
population is like 4 point something million.
32:43
In Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, so.
32:46
And you're saying that's a that's really a small amount of
32:49
firefighters compared to other? Cities we, we have over 100,
32:53
maybe a little over 100 and something fire stations serving.
32:56
I think it's 450 square miles. That's a lot of area.
32:59
The city of Los Angeles is huge. So a lot of it's the thought, we
33:04
need more firefighters, We need newer stations, equipment,
33:11
reserve. There's something called a
33:12
reserve apparatus. So let's say we get an accident
33:15
or when the truck goes out, we need something to replace it or
33:18
to like, imagine if your car breaks down, you need something
33:20
to do, right? We need a reserve fleet.
33:23
We need mechanics. We need staffing in the
33:26
mechanics. Those trucks don't continue to
33:28
run. We need them to be serviced.
33:30
We have brake issues, air air pressure issues.
33:34
There's a number of things that happen.
33:35
Accidents, unfortunately, do happen.
33:37
Why? Why?
33:38
It sounds like the city of Los Angeles, the fire department is
33:42
under prepared, not necessarily its fault.
33:45
It doesn't have the money to have more firefighters, have
33:49
more reserves, have better equipments, even equipment, even
33:52
have more stations. I don't know if you can theorize
33:55
this, that if you want to, but why is that?
33:57
Why has that happened? Well, I'm going to tell you
33:59
something too. If you think the the Palisades
34:03
fire was going to happen, the chief said that you'd have
34:06
thrown a double the amount. I'm not going to quote exactly,
34:11
but let's say you just double the amount.
34:14
I'm going to stop that fire the winds.
34:16
OK, so. Even more resources to LA.
34:19
The winds. Wouldn't.
34:21
Have stopped that Palisades. It's a wind driven event.
34:25
We're at the mercy of nature. It's almost like in Florida you
34:28
have those hurricanes come in. You said the fire departments
34:31
try to stop the water. You're not going to stop this
34:33
fire. It's wind driven 90 miles an
34:35
hour. You look at this topography, the
34:37
slope, right? Then you have a number of
34:40
structures that are made of wood.
34:41
Then you have wildland up against it.
34:44
Brush. I'm sorry that it's not going to
34:47
stop it, right. If you wanted to stop it, don't
34:50
have homes there. And you know what?
34:51
I know those are beautiful places for people to live, but
34:55
living there comes with a risk. And if we look historically over
34:58
the past, remember many years ago, I think it was Governor
35:02
Wilson had mentioned exactly what I'm saying.
35:05
If you build your homes in heavily wooded areas with poor
35:09
access, many years ago, the roads were narrower.
35:12
Well, the apparatus have gotten bigger.
35:14
Sometimes we have a problem negotiating the roads.
35:17
Sometimes too, we have people trying to evacuate.
35:20
They're coming down and we're going up and it's sort of like a
35:22
gridlock. And the Palisades fire, they had
35:25
to use bulldozers to clear cars out of the way.
35:28
So when you narrow roads, tough access, lots of fuel structures,
35:36
it's a recipe, right? So you were 34 years the City of
35:42
Los Angeles Fire Department. You are a retired fire captain
35:47
and did you have you seen some of the concerns going on online
35:52
and reports? There's a lot of criticism
35:54
online of the leadership in of the mayor of in Los Angeles as
36:00
well as Governor Gavin Newsom, his leadership.
36:02
And one of the criticisms is about what they're calling DEI
36:05
hires, diversity, equity and inclusion hires, meaning
36:09
unqualified or lesser qualified leaders or firefighters were
36:13
brought into the departments. And they, you know, it doesn't
36:18
help when there's a catastrophic fire burning.
36:21
Have you, when you were working for the city for 34 years as a
36:26
firefighter, did you see the department change over time?
36:30
Did you see some of those policies get enacted?
36:32
And do you think that affected the ability of the department to
36:35
fight fires? Well, I will say that this is
36:40
what I used to tell my firefighters and tell my
36:42
friends. You should never be denied an
36:44
opportunity to try out for the fire department, to apply for
36:47
the fire department, whether your gender, your race, your
36:52
political beliefs. However, you should not just be
36:55
given that job because of who you are.
36:59
It's really important to have standards.
37:01
The job is very physical, contrary to what may be.
37:03
Many people think you may see firefighters at the station, at
37:06
the grocery store, but however, when something happens, like for
37:10
instance, if a firefighter was to fall through the roof, you
37:14
need somebody to pull them out or let's say climbing a hill or
37:17
working long hours. Some of the firefighters
37:20
responded to 25, sometimes 30 calls a day, sometimes 2-3 days
37:24
in a row. It's a tough job.
37:27
So we have to have standards. The equipment isn't that there's
37:32
ladders carried on the side of a truck company.
37:35
They're they're very heavy and it used to be a standard that
37:38
two people had to put it up by themselves.
37:42
That used to be a requirement to come to the fire department.
37:44
That was changed to accommodate a certain group of people.
37:48
They added a second pulley because some people couldn't
37:50
extend the ladder that was dispersed.
37:55
There used to be a size and height, and that's important
37:57
when you go to grab equipment off an apparatus like a ladder.
38:01
That was changed. Why was that changed, Paul?
38:03
Because certain people couldn't get the ladders off the
38:06
apparatus. Or could it raise the ladders
38:09
and and because look at. Not to put too fine a point on
38:12
it, but you're saying they changed the equipment, They
38:14
changed the use of the equipment over the last decade or so.
38:16
When you say certain people, is it ladies you know, women that
38:20
aren't maybe as physically large or strong as their male
38:24
counterparts? Well, first of all, I'd like to
38:26
say that I've worked a lot of women firefighters and they've
38:29
had great attitudes that worked really hard.
38:31
However, you know, with the college football going on right
38:34
now, if you watch Notre Dame and Penn State that played last
38:36
night, how many women are those teams?
38:39
And what's more important, fighting fire, protecting the
38:42
lives, your children, my grandparents, my kids, my wife.
38:49
Who do you want responding in your time of need?
38:53
Do you want the most physically able, most intelligent, most
38:58
mechanically inclined, most virtuous?
39:01
Is that what you want? Or do you want a friend of mine,
39:04
the chief officers, he was my Academy instructor, used to tell
39:09
recruits that got terminated. The city of Los Angeles has a
39:13
job for you, but it not embedded may not be.
39:16
As a firefighter, it's a hard truth that a lot of people don't
39:19
want to mention, right? Does it change the dynamics?
39:22
Like you were a fire captain, You were a fire captain for
39:26
years. You served for 34 years.
39:28
When you have women on the team, does it especially if they're,
39:31
you know, smaller than you, which most women are smaller
39:34
than most men are, does it change the dynamics of how you
39:38
prepare for a fire and you fight a fire?
39:40
You know, I, I on a number of occasions witnessed, you know,
39:44
the inability of members and not only women, but men too, right,
39:49
in the inability to do the job like we do training exercise.
39:54
I was on a truck company. We throw a ladder, raise a
39:57
ladder to the roof, go up there and we'd simulate like it was a
40:00
fire. We'd put on her turnouts to
40:01
breathe an apparatus, an axe, carry a chainsaw to the top.
40:05
And there was a few times that I witnessed those members.
40:08
With the inability to start the chainsaw, that's it.
40:11
That's, that's not acceptable. The chainsaw is what cuts a hold
40:14
of the roof and makes it easier for us.
40:16
Ground ladders, not going up. The ladder's too heavy for the
40:19
person, especially when you load.
40:21
Let's say for instance, I'm not sure how much you weigh, but
40:23
let's say that you weigh 130 lbs and I load you with like 3040
40:26
lbs of equipment. Now you got to push up a ladder.
40:30
It's a heavy ladder. It's not going to go up.
40:33
The other thing is too, is it like, but as women age, they
40:39
don't age as well. I'm going to be 64 tomorrow, by
40:41
the way. And I was able to work until I
40:44
was 62. One of the reasons I did leave
40:46
was because my shoulders started to bother me and I was starting
40:49
to in a sense, age out right. I stayed a long, I stayed a lot
40:54
longer my profession than Tom Brady did.
40:57
Tom Brady has a tough job, but you know, as a firefighter I
40:59
could work a little longer because they relied on my
41:02
experience, my wisdom, right, My know how to a certain degree.
41:05
But there comes a point. But you're not going to find too
41:08
many women like me to be able to work.
41:12
And look, it's not patting my back.
41:14
God bless me with a six foot, one frame £200.
41:18
I was raised by a father. I had two other brothers.
41:22
They were big guys. My dad always had me in sports.
41:25
I went to the US military. I was trained and formed by men.
41:29
I think that's another thing is like the other day I was
41:31
watching the show and it was about the Battle of Saipan.
41:34
And I remember Office, I'm not sure what rank he was, but it
41:39
was a soldier giving commands to for the men to move off the
41:43
beach and he spoke with authority.
41:45
Sometimes you have to do that. Today, if we were to do that, we
41:48
would be called insensitive. It would be bullying,
41:52
harassment. So as fire, as fire captain,
41:55
you're saying there's certain things that in tone, certain
41:58
tone, you couldn't have or would be problematic to have because
42:02
you're dealing with this more DEI body of firefighters.
42:06
Yeah, we'd call it like, you know, socially sensitive, but.
42:09
Like so like instead of yelling like stop doing that, it's like,
42:12
excuse me ma'am, because you please hand me the hose like
42:15
that kind of a thing. Well, I given like when I was at
42:17
a younger firefighter, I was yelled at and I didn't like it.
42:21
I was scolded. I was brought up front and I
42:24
didn't like it at the time, but when I look back, I'm very
42:26
grateful to those men that formed me.
42:29
Like, you're not quitting. Hang in here, stick it here,
42:32
suck it up. I used to hear that from my
42:34
coaches, for my dad, for my brothers, right?
42:37
Because you know, when a firefighter's trapped or a
42:40
family's trapped, sometimes you got to push through.
42:43
Fear takes a certain amount of mental tests.
42:45
That hasn't happened all the time.
42:47
But when push comes to shove, you want very capable people.
42:51
I was watching this linebacker for Penn State.
42:54
Guy's a monster. If I had a truck company, I want
42:58
the most fit, strongest, smartest guy.
43:00
Now, I'll tell you something. Just because you're fit and
43:02
strong doesn't mean you're going to be a good firefighter.
43:05
It also takes intellect, mechanical aptitude.
43:09
I've known a lot of firefighters that were on the big side,
43:11
incredible firefighters, because they're thinkers.
43:13
They're thinkers. They're hard workers, they work
43:16
well, they speak well, they train well, they have good
43:19
knowledge base. So it's just not bronze.
43:21
However, on a truck company, a lot of times it's just physical
43:24
bronze, right? Paul, are there less, are there
43:28
less of that kind of the less of those types, those virtuous,
43:33
tough, strong, good, you know, 6 foot, like you said, £200 like
43:37
yourself, firefighters again, you're the, you were a fire
43:40
captain, you worked for 34 years in the City of Los Angeles Fire
43:43
department. Do we have less of those types
43:45
of guys now than we did, say, a decade?
43:47
Ago, we still have a lot, but if we're going to backfill, getting
43:52
away from that, then we're going to have problems in the future.
43:55
Now, I did hear the chief say that she wanted to promote
43:59
people like herself. I I don't think that's a good
44:03
comment. You should say we want to we
44:05
want to hire the most capable, the sharpest, the hardest
44:09
working, the most virtuous, because this taxpayer deserves
44:14
that. The little children in the
44:16
schools, the elderly, ladies, the people are disabled, the
44:20
people that are hospitalized, they need the best coming to
44:25
their aid when they need it, right?
44:26
We need the strongest, smartest, toughest people.
44:30
I want to win. I don't want to lose a
44:32
firefighter and I don't want to lose a citizen because I was
44:36
unable to perform my job. So I think it's really important
44:40
that we, we, we many years ago, I, I was, I thought I was a
44:45
decent basketball player and I thought I was going to play
44:46
college basketball. So I tried it for the junior
44:48
college and I didn't make it and it hurt me and I didn't like it.
44:51
I think it was fair. But you know what, it maybe come
44:53
to grips and I had to become humble and find a different
44:56
direction. So I joined the US Air Force,
44:58
became a firefighter, right? We have to accept their
45:01
limitations. We can't.
45:04
I, I've known a handful of younger female firefighters that
45:08
I've been not told the truth about the job and they really
45:11
believe they're just as good. Look, I've worked with some
45:14
outstanding firefighters. I worked with one firefighter
45:16
that was in U.S. military. He was a captain, he was an
45:19
artillery officer. He played football for Army.
45:21
That kind of guy. That was my ideal, one of my
45:24
favorite firefighters because he was aggressive, hardworking
45:27
family man. The other thing is too, you're
45:29
taking jobs from guys that want to get married and have kids,
45:32
right? You know, it's nice to put on
45:34
the uniform. It's nice to have the prestige
45:36
and the benefits, but when the blank hits the fan, I want the
45:41
very best. It's for me it's more important
45:45
that I have the best people than Notre Dame has the best football
45:48
players. And you know, I love Notre Dame.
45:51
I'm glad they won. But there I have a lot of
45:54
friends that have children and sometimes a wife goes to work
45:59
and the lady stuck in the house. If my wife is stuck in the house
46:02
and you show up with a fire company that doesn't do the job,
46:05
I am going to be upset if she's hurt, right?
46:08
As I mean, everything you're saying is so common, sensible,
46:10
and I'm, I'm sorry that it's controversial even in some
46:13
circles to say what you're saying because it's not bashing
46:15
anyone or saying someone is, has more human dignity than another
46:19
person or, you know, should be treated differently by the law
46:21
than another person. We're all equal.
46:22
But it you know, under the law, but in terms of opportunities in
46:26
the workplace, the best person for the job is really what
46:30
should be the case. You know, I go to church every I
46:33
go to church often, OK, I go to on Sunday.
46:35
When I go to church on Sunday, you know what really bothers me?
46:38
When the guy or gal up there is singing, it Can't Sing.
46:42
Well, Why? Why don't we?
46:44
But the best person there, right?
46:46
Or Can you imagine going to a dentist that has problems or a
46:50
mechanic that doesn't know the difference between a metric or
46:52
standard wrench? Look at we, we have to be, we
46:56
have to accept our limitations. Look at I'm not going to be a
46:59
surgeon. I'm not going to be a singer.
47:02
I'm not a musician. But you were an awesome
47:05
firefighter. Well, I I.
47:07
I, you know what, look at, I was gifted with being 6 foot one,
47:13
200 lbs, had a good father. I had fellows on the fire
47:17
department. You know, I, I am indebted to
47:19
the firefighters of the past that trained me, that were tough
47:22
on me. I didn't like it at night.
47:24
But I look back in retrospect, very grateful to that.
47:27
I'm thankful to all the coaches that pushed me, that taught me
47:31
how to win, not to quit, right. In the US military too.
47:34
I was really grateful for that. But you know, the soldiers that
47:38
freed us from the Japanese oppression in the Pacific, those
47:42
were tough men. Those poor men laid it all on
47:45
the line. That's the kind of guy I want in
47:47
the fire department. Because we have to protect our
47:51
our, our little children, our, our, our wives, our sisters,
47:55
our, our daughters, right? Give me the best.
48:01
I, I, I hear you. And I think a lot of people are
48:05
wondering why we don't always have that attitude when it comes
48:09
to anything that we're doing, but especially protecting our
48:12
families from things like deadly fires.
48:14
Well. Can I say something to, you
48:17
know, Hollywood and politicians have a lot of influence, right?
48:22
And a lot of times they do not suffer the consequences of their
48:25
own policies. We do the normal average Joe
48:31
does, right? If you were to lose your
48:35
daughter or to lose your son, and you could attribute it to a
48:38
person that didn't have. And that also applies to
48:41
firefighters that are overweight, that have let
48:43
themselves go, that are not competent.
48:45
That applies to them too, right? So we have to have a standard
48:49
and we can't lower the standard. Otherwise, we compromise the
48:52
safety of the citizens. You know, it used to give me
48:55
great pleasure when my firefighters when I was a
48:57
captain. We show up on scene, knock
48:59
things out like a proud daddy, right?
49:01
The guys doing their job really well.
49:03
Or I used to see the guys working out and being really fit
49:06
or really work. We have a lot of excellent
49:09
firefighters on the city. What would be your word right
49:12
now for those that are out there fighting fires bravely from some
49:17
of them, from some of them former colleagues of yours, to
49:19
encourage them? Well, I just, well, first of
49:23
all, you know, like there's, there's certain rules that we
49:25
live by, like there's 18 watch outs, things that you need to be
49:28
careful of, right? There's something called lces,
49:31
right? Operate safely like alert the
49:35
captain if something's unusual happening, right?
49:39
And you know, the firefighters are pretty tough.
49:42
They don't need a retired cap and to encourage them there,
49:46
there's a lot, a lot of firefighters.
49:48
It's kind of funny. They run to danger.
49:52
You have to be a little off to some, to some degree be a
49:54
firefighter because I've seen some firefighters over my over
49:58
my years. I remember 1 firefighter many
50:00
years ago, I think his name was George Perez.
50:02
There was a shaft that went probably 20-30 feet below
50:06
ground, very narrow shaft. They were building a building
50:08
and a worker fell in, so they inverted him and he went down.
50:13
Just imagine going down a tube and he pulled him out.
50:17
That was one of the most dangerous things a firefighter
50:19
could do. I've seen firefighters get up on
50:22
the roof and cut without any concerned roofs, right, because
50:24
firefighters just don't do brush fires.
50:26
We go to high rise fires, structure fires, people trapped
50:30
in an automobile. We go to shootings, stabbings,
50:35
you name it, we respond to that, right?
50:37
The other thing is too, is that like if I'm working solo with
50:40
another firefighter and he's about the same size as me now, I
50:44
hate to put to bring the Police Department into this, but the
50:46
Police Department too has to hire.
50:49
If you don't have a, a, a presence, a command presence, it
50:53
creates a vacuum. And people are seeing that.
50:56
The criminals see that and say, hey, we can take this.
50:58
Remember many years ago I was on scene of a of a guy that was
51:02
giving two female police officers a hard time.
51:05
My partner myself had to subdue the guy and then we told female
51:09
officers to put the handcuffs on him.
51:11
And that wasn't the first time. Another time we responded to a
51:14
shooting where the number of people were shot.
51:16
We were treated and the female officer came in to help us treat
51:19
the patients. I told him we don't need you to
51:22
treat the patients, secure the perimeter because there's a lot
51:24
of gang members. 1 male officer, 1 male officer showed up and I
51:29
remember I was running to the truck for some equipment.
51:31
He goes, what do you need? I said get that crowd back and
51:33
there's a couple of Hispanic gang members.
51:35
I said get the crowd back and he and he goes, consider it done.
51:40
He pulled out his stick PR 24 and he says I want everybody
51:43
back. And one guy challenged him and
51:45
says make me and the officer hit him in the in the in the in the
51:51
thigh. The whole crowd moved back.
51:53
Some people are going to think it's bullying, but you know
51:54
what? He made this scene safe Not too
51:57
long ago. Did I respond to an incident
51:59
where the police didn't do that and then it makes it unsafe for
52:01
us? Well, I, I, I'm thank you for
52:05
sharing this perspective, Paul, because I think again, it's
52:08
unpopular to say it, but it's what I think a lot of people are
52:10
thinking. And again, you're, you're,
52:12
you're very even handed about it.
52:13
You're not saying the reason the fires are so catastrophic is
52:16
because of the weakening of the fire force, but all of these do
52:19
play a role and it does, it is a moment to look at it and say,
52:22
are we doing it? Are we set up for success in the
52:24
city of Los Angeles? So thank you So much for sharing
52:27
your perspective and thank you so much for your service.
52:30
It's a huge, it's helped save lives, I know.
52:33
And it's an incredibly important institution, our fire
52:36
department. So thank you.
52:38
And if I could just say one last thing is that the politicians
52:41
and, and, and movie people, these policies may come and hit
52:46
your home right. So your loved ones, your
52:52
children, your grandchildren, your friends.
52:54
So we want to give ourselves every opportunity to be
52:57
successful. So recruit the best, don't lower
53:01
standards and you don't have no problem with the woman if she
53:05
can do what the standard is. But I think if we look around,
53:10
we're going to see that that's that doesn't happen.
53:14
And I have yet to meet a woman that is better than a male
53:17
firefighter. And once you get a woman on the
53:20
Notre Dame football team as a running back or quarterback
53:22
tackle, then you'll prove me wrong.
53:25
And women have been trying this for some years.
53:27
And you know what? Look at women.
53:30
I love my mom. I love my wife and a daughter.
53:34
So they are precious to me. And you have to sometimes tell
53:38
the truth, right? Because the truth will set us
53:41
free and the truth will make things safer for everybody.
53:44
We've got to come out of this like silliness, this, this.
53:48
I would just say confusion. Anyway.
53:51
Thank you very. Much thank you so much, Fire
53:54
Chief. We're so, I'm so fire captain
53:56
too. I'm so grateful for you coming
53:57
on the show and giving us some insider background and more
54:00
perspective on what's unfolding in in LA right now.
54:03
Thank you so much for your service.
54:04
Alright, you're welcome. All right, guys, thanks so much
54:07
for joining this live stream. We're going to be doing more of
54:09
these and a huge thank you to Paul for joining.
54:12
Always you can put your questions and comments or the
54:14
chat for future live streams. And don't forget to subscribe if
54:16
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54:19
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