Latest / The Lila Rose Show / LA Fire Victims Share Unbelievable Story w/The Halpins

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LA Fire Victims Share Unbelievable Story w/The Halpins · The Lila Rose Show

0:00
Hey, guys, welcome back to the Lila Rose Show.
0:02
All right, I'm very honored, deeply honored by who we have in
0:06
studio today. We're going to be talking with
0:08
an amazing couple that are very inspiring.
0:11
Can't wait to introduce them. But today's show, as you might
0:14
have guessed from the thumbnail from the title, is about ongoing
0:17
coverage of the fires that have been sweeping through Southern
0:20
California. As you guys may have seen on the
0:23
news, these are fires that have burned through 10s of thousands
0:27
of acreage. They have displaced thousands of
0:30
people. There have been 12,000
0:31
structures that have been demolished from the California
0:34
fires. And there have been at least 24
0:36
people that have lost their lives due to the California,
0:39
Southern California fires. So all that.
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It's pretty dark. It's pretty heavy what's been
0:43
happening. But there's been some incredible
0:45
inspirational things that have come out of the devastation.
0:48
And so I want to turn your eyes to this viral clip that has been
0:52
making the rounds on social media and really on news
0:56
stations across the country of a family whose home was devastated
1:02
by the Altadena fire, going back to the ruins of their home.
1:07
And this is the clip. We'll take a look.
1:51
Alleluia. We're going to now get to talk
2:08
with Jackie and Peter Halpin, who are in studio from the clip
2:11
that you just saw their home burnt down in the Altadena fire.
2:15
They returned to their home. You just saw the clip of them
2:17
singing the Regina Chaley. Here they are in studio with me.
2:21
Thank you so much for being here.
2:22
You're welcome. What a what an honor to have you
2:24
guys here and you've you've inspired so many people with
2:28
that clip and you've been through an insane week over the
2:32
last week. How are you doing today?
2:34
Well, we're doing the best we can.
2:36
We've been running on adrenaline and I'm I just want to say that
2:41
I'm so proud of my six children. They, they all love one another.
2:47
And our faith has been everything to us and our life
2:49
and it and it allows us to be spontaneous in our prayer life
2:53
and able to sing beautiful hymns like this.
2:56
How? Are you Jackie?
3:00
Again, it's I think we're still in shock, but, and I'm a little
3:05
in shock about the video because we were on our property.
3:08
We weren't supposed to be there, but we were there and I had
3:10
texted my children and said we're going to be try and be
3:13
there by 10:00 AM If I never want to put expectations on my
3:16
kids because they have kids. And everybody made it except 2
3:20
spouses who were home with babies, which was perfectly
3:23
fine. And we really went to pray.
3:26
We didn't go to sing. I wanted we have a very strong
3:30
devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and we say the
3:32
consecration daily and most of our children do, if not all of
3:35
them. And so I said, I want to get up
3:37
there and surround the statue and just say our consecration
3:40
and just thank God. Thank God for the years we had
3:43
there, the beautiful memories and to ask his protection.
3:47
And so we said the prayer and then then we just sang and we we
3:53
had, we sing that song after baptisms and weddings and
3:56
funerals and we sing it a lot. So that's why we just know it
4:01
and then it just, wow, it just spreads.
4:04
So if it can do any good, that's just wonderful.
4:07
I think it's doing a lot of good.
4:09
I'd love to hear if you're willing to share the events of
4:12
last week. I'm sure you were not expecting
4:16
to lose your home for the fires to engulf Altadena.
4:19
A lot of people said they were caught out guard, off guard.
4:21
Can you tell us about what happened?
4:23
Yeah, this is. We actually saw it a start
4:27
immediately. Yeah.
4:28
We, we, everyone had lost their power.
4:31
So we had decided in the early evening to go down and get a
4:35
quick meal at Denny's in Pasadena, which is South of the
4:38
mountains there. And when we were done, as we
4:41
were driving up Altadena Drive and everyone's heard about that
4:43
street because it runs North and South from Pasadena, but once it
4:47
gets up on Altadena, it runs parallel to the mountains.
4:51
All of a sudden I see this flare, this flare up maybe the
4:55
size of a human being. And I thought I was, I was
4:58
hoping that I wasn't seeing what I thought I was seeing.
5:01
And I said, oh, no, Jackie, I think I just saw a flame up
5:04
there, right up in Eaton Canyon there because I'm, you know, I'm
5:07
a contractor. So I work in this whole area
5:09
this. Was on last Sunday or last what?
5:12
Was this what day did it? Started on Tuesday.
5:15
So a week from last, a week from today.
5:18
Today, one week's drive is a Tuesday.
5:19
Yeah, we can't even keep. Track of time.
5:21
I don't blame you. And as we drove up Altadena
5:26
Drive, by the time we got to New York, it was, it was raging and
5:31
the response of the fire department, I mean, they are
5:34
flying up Altadena Drive. They were coming because they,
5:37
you know, they saw it happening too.
5:38
And there was a port and I with the winds were 70 or 80 miles an
5:42
hour. And I thought we are in trouble.
5:45
I mean, I knew the whole community was going to be in
5:48
trouble immediately because these particular winds were
5:52
erratic. They weren't really just going
5:54
One Direction. They were all over the place.
5:57
And as we headed home, you know, as we got home, which is about 2
6:02
1/2 miles away from there, we just see the smoke just coming
6:05
across the land, you know, and I would have to say within no more
6:10
than about an hour, we knew that we are in a danger zone.
6:14
You know, we couldn't see the flames, but the way the wind was
6:16
blowing and the smoke was coming across the land, you know.
6:20
And so we we packed up a few things started knocking on the
6:22
neighbor's door to. Tell.
6:24
Her to tell everybody because not everybody was aware of how
6:26
fast this was coming, you know, so I was worried about my spouse
6:32
here. And so I took her down into
6:34
Pasadena to get her to safety when I got her into a hotel.
6:39
And what was really sad is every hotel in the city of Pasadena
6:43
must have been booked within two or three hours.
6:45
I mean, it was a madhouse down there, people with their animals
6:48
and everything else. And I went back up to get a few
6:52
things. You know, we were in kind of a
6:54
panic state, you know, So I got all, at least I got all our
6:57
photo albums. She had already grabbed, you
7:00
know, some important papers, you know.
7:02
I grabbed my bill drawer. Yeah, yeah.
7:04
I thought, oh, I might. And I really didn't think I we
7:06
thought we'd be back. I just didn't take anything.
7:09
And by that, by that time, you know, I'm starting to see
7:13
Amherst lying through the air. OK.
7:15
And so I, I got all those things in the car and there were a few
7:18
other things that I was able to grab and, and then I brought
7:21
them back down. And then I decided to, to go
7:25
back up one more time. And that was at 10:30 at night.
7:29
And I got to my house. One of my neighbors was Carlos
7:34
Oscar, which I still haven't heard from.
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I hope he's OK. He was going to try to fight off
7:38
embers. He was sitting in his car
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waiting, you know, as things would spark up to put him out.
7:44
And I attempted to hose my house down and the back house that we
7:48
have. And I have a lot of water
7:49
pressure, but the wind was blowing so hard that the water
7:53
wouldn't direct itself. It was blowing along with the
7:55
wind and it was, it was kind of frightening, but I wasn't even.
7:59
Were you seeing live flames? When you went back to your
8:01
house, I was seeing ball embers the size of my fist flying.
8:04
Through here and there's wind still.
8:06
And the wind, all the wind was and it was getting worse.
8:08
You know, the storm is creating even worse wind.
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So I just I just knew I couldn't stay.
8:12
There was nothing I could do. Little did I know my neighbor
8:16
down the street who's a fireman, Dan, they were down the street
8:19
fighting the fire because he was able to hook up to a fire
8:22
hydrant. OK.
8:23
And this is Dan and his two high school sons.
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They saved 4 houses. On our street.
8:30
They are. They are heroic.
8:31
So they were firefighting, yes. Where were the firefighters at?
8:34
That point you know what this. Thing on the other side of the
8:36
fire. There was no way, there was no
8:38
way this fire could be fought because of the wind.
8:41
They just it was, it was happening.
8:42
So they weren't even, you're saying when you were on that
8:45
street going on housing down your house, when the winds were
8:47
up and the embers were flying, there weren't firefighters
8:49
there, but some neighbors were trying to save some of the
8:52
homes. Well, yeah, they.
8:55
So anyway, like I said, the winds were so severe, this is an
8:59
impossible situation. I don't care how much water you
9:01
would have had or how many firemen.
9:04
It was a once in a lifetime situation.
9:08
Even though we've seen many fires up there over the years,
9:11
but they always kind of step close to the mountain, the base
9:14
of the mountain and a few and some homes would get burned.
9:17
But this was different. This was a little different this
9:19
time. Did you after that, at what
9:22
point did you just say I got to get out of here?
9:24
Yeah, I was probably on my property for about 30 minutes.
9:28
I didn't even have any goggles, you know, and so my eyes are
9:31
just getting filled full of debris.
9:33
I, I did get try to get the roofs of both houses, but I just
9:36
knew it was and, and I have to, I knew that we were done for,
9:41
but I couldn't tell her when I got back to the hotel.
9:43
I just said it doesn't look good.
9:45
You know, I'm just going to have to keep our fingers crossed.
9:48
But I could tell that it was it was a lost cause, you know, and
9:51
then I went back up. It's 6:00 in the morning, and
9:54
that's when my whole block was ablaze.
9:57
So I couldn't believe that my neighborhood was able to save
10:00
those four houses down at the end of the street because I was
10:02
out on Lake Street, which is a block away, and I could see that
10:05
the whole street was ablaze. OK.
10:08
And then that's when I just, I went back to the hotel.
10:10
And then of course, I, I actually told a dear friend of
10:13
ours first because I was going to have to tell my wife that our
10:20
house was gone. So that was sorry.
10:25
And so she that my friend cried and I was crying.
10:28
But anyway, so we got back, I got back to the hotel and I I I
10:31
told her that everything was gone.
10:34
So anyway, I told you there'd be some tears.
10:36
I can't help it being in that house for Yeah.
10:39
A lot of memories. Yeah, and raising all our six
10:41
kids. And so that was that's how that
10:45
whole situation happened with us.
10:46
And then is there anything you want to say at this point?
10:49
I don't know. And then, and then when the fire
10:51
was out in our neighborhood, even though it was still
10:54
burning, we worked our way back up there to the property because
10:59
our neighborhood was all out. OK?
11:01
It was, it was out and, and, and I couldn't believe it.
11:04
We are calling our kids from different locations and they all
11:07
got up there. And one of our dear friends,
11:10
Joanne Goodwin, I mean, I, this isn't something that she would
11:14
normally do because we were walking through smoldering
11:16
debris and she got up there with us and there was an, another
11:20
nephew that was up there with us, Timothy, he's my nephew.
11:24
And so we, we walked on the property and we saw the statue
11:28
there and, and Timothy had already been up there and, and
11:32
he saw the statue prior to us getting up there.
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And we felt like we needed to get up there on our property.
11:37
And that's when we just decided we were going to pray around
11:40
that statue, and then the song just came in spontaneously
11:44
because we sing together all the time, so.
11:46
How many days after you evacuated on Tuesday was this?
11:51
I think this. Was Thursday.
11:52
We went up Thursday morning, yeah.
11:54
So we went back to the house. It was.
11:56
You saw it for the first time? Yeah, the.
11:58
Whole neighborhood How was. That being back there at the.
12:01
First, you know what, I was very nervous about going.
12:05
I was really dreading it, but I thought I, I knew I kind of had
12:08
to do it. And honestly, being up there and
12:11
praying and singing, I I felt better after.
12:14
And being with our kids. Yes, we were all together.
12:17
And my son Andrew said it best. He said he went to be strong for
12:21
us. And it turned out we were strong
12:22
for each other. And it was and, and with God and
12:26
praying and singing. And so it was a positive thing,
12:29
even though I was just dreading it.
12:30
But if I hadn't been up, well, now you can't get up because the
12:34
National Guard is there. And if I hadn't been up, I, I
12:36
think I would be a little tortured.
12:38
But I've seen it. And you know what?
12:40
We're normally very joyful family.
12:43
And we laughed too. We, we laughed about things.
12:46
We cried. Can I just a one story, please?
12:49
We're a musical family. We're a music studio.
12:51
We lost all our answers. Everything was gone.
12:53
Except my one son who's a goofball and he he's expecting
12:58
his eighth baby and he went back and he found a cowbell and he
13:02
comes up the driveway banging on this cowbell and we just
13:05
laughed. At to the starting of the song
13:07
Low Ride. Yeah, it was very funny.
13:08
One of my truck's tires was completely gone and it was
13:11
sitting on the ground and everyone just started to howl.
13:13
You know, so, you know, you just, you just have to keep a
13:17
sense of humor. And then I thought, oh, I wonder
13:18
if we have mail. And I looked at my mailbox and
13:20
yeah, there were a bunch of ashes there.
13:21
It was just funny things like that.
13:23
But it really was a, a positive thing.
13:26
And I think that's what I've learned is that, you know,
13:31
everything is God's. Anyway, in our morning offering,
13:33
we offer everything to God and we say it, We say it, we say it,
13:36
and it is all his. And the Lord giveth and the Lord
13:41
taketh away. And blessed be the name of the
13:43
Lord that I just cling to those words and we'll be OK.
13:47
We'll be OK. I mean, I think that the reason
13:50
people were so the reason that video is viral of you guys with
13:53
your how many of the six kids were there?
13:55
All six kids were there, most spouses except for two.
13:58
Spouses and most spouses. And you have 14 grandkids.
14:01
Yeah, yeah. No grandkids though.
14:02
No grandkids they have, but you, you.
14:04
That's a big. Beautiful, say 15 'cause that's.
14:06
A that's good, baby. That's right.
14:07
Congratulations. Thank you.
14:09
And you're, you're all there and you're singing.
14:12
Praise. Yeah, I do.
14:13
We have to praise God again for what we've had and what we have.
14:17
We have each other, we have our church community, we have our
14:20
friends. We're really blessed.
14:23
We're we're just, we really are. This was something that was also
14:27
really incredible was that there you had statues of the Blessed
14:30
Mother and Saint Joseph on your property.
14:33
And I think we're going to pull up some pictures here.
14:34
Harris is going to pull up some pictures here so you can see
14:36
them. They're going to be on the
14:37
screen of Busted Mother and Saint Joseph, and they were
14:42
untouched by the fire. They're a little brown, that's
14:45
about it. They're a little brown, so
14:46
there's probably white. Here's the image right now on
14:49
the screen here. And yeah, you guys can see it
14:54
the. Little one on the right is also
14:56
Our Lady. She's quite singed, but we put
14:58
her when we left, we put her up in front of the house, so I'm
15:01
never giving getting rid of that statue.
15:03
Peter, you were sharing earlier, your background is in contract
15:07
work with Concrete. Tell me about what was
15:10
surprising to you seeing Our Lady.
15:11
Like this, I was amazed because a lot of the concrete was just
15:16
blown apart from the heat, you know, and, and, and The thing
15:20
is, is that concrete should have been much higher strength than
15:24
the statue was because, you know, these, these, these
15:27
statues are easy to come by, You know, you can buy them at a lot
15:30
of places. And I just, I couldn't believe
15:33
it. I mean it, it's it, it actually
15:34
looks better now as she's a little bit singed.
15:37
She's got that little thing a little more classy Patino look,
15:40
but it it, it, I have to say, it blew my mind that both those
15:43
statues were intact. I couldn't believe it.
15:47
I mean, a stainless steel refrigerator, stainless steel
15:51
stove, everything melted over, you know, just melted over from
15:55
the heat, extreme heat. And those and those statues are
15:57
still there, you know. So that was.
15:59
So hopeful it just you just feel protected and you know what God
16:04
has this we're going to give this to God.
16:06
And so it was it was really it's not a bad memory for me for you
16:11
to have gone up there. I like I said, I was dreading
16:13
it, but it was it was a beautiful experience with our
16:16
kids there with us. Have you guys been in touch with
16:19
any first responders at all or people from the, you know, the
16:24
firefighting teams, evacuation teams, What's that been like?
16:27
I mean, you're, you're in the middle of this is I think that
16:29
the an unprecedented amount of damage that these fires have
16:33
done in Los Angeles, in the greater Los Angeles area.
16:35
We've had some of the some incredible experiences since
16:39
this is happening. I have to tell you what happened
16:41
to happened to us yesterday morning.
16:45
We were at the same Denny. We went to the same Denny's to
16:47
have breakfast that on the night of the fire and we were
16:50
practically the first ones in there because we have been
16:53
getting up really early. We haven't been able to sleep.
16:55
And these, these big firemen come into the Denny's and
16:59
they're the Pasadena firemen who are involved in trying to fight
17:01
this thing also because a lot of Pasadena got hit bad too.
17:05
And I immediately just said, man, thank you, you guys.
17:08
This was an unbelievable situation.
17:10
I knew everybody did the best they could.
17:12
And they said, oh, thanks a lot. And they said, well, how are you
17:16
guys doing? And I said, well, we lost our
17:17
house, you know, And the stunned look on these fireman's faces,
17:22
you know, they're looking at us and they're just going, oh, man.
17:25
And so we had a little dialogue. I mean, they were.
17:28
Making sure they pull up their. Chairs.
17:29
They pull up their chairs at our table.
17:31
This is in the middle of a of a Denny's, and two of them, we
17:34
noticed, had crosses on their lapels, so we assumed that they
17:38
were chaplains. But, you know, they're in their
17:40
full uniforms and and there was another third fireman there with
17:43
him. And he said, would you, would
17:46
you allow us to sit with you and pray with you guys?
17:50
Wow. Yeah, it was.
17:51
Amazing. It was.
17:53
Here's a meltdown in Denny's. They got down next to us.
17:56
The one of the firemen would have put his arm on my wife, but
17:59
he probably didn't want to be too familiar.
18:00
But they put their arm on me and we were in a huddle there.
18:03
And that Denny's and this chaplain, he was very
18:07
spontaneous and his prayer was straight from his heart.
18:10
And he prayed for us that we'd have the strength and the
18:14
courage to try to, you know, rebuild and go through what
18:17
we're going to have to go through.
18:18
Because everybody knows this is going to be years and there's
18:23
going to be a lot of people that aren't going to be able to
18:25
rebuild. And so I mean, if this is a have
18:27
of these wonderful firemen, public servants get down around
18:31
us and pray, I mean, it was, it was beautiful.
18:34
That was an absolutely beautiful experience.
18:35
And may I also say they also prayed for patience for my
18:38
husband because he's already got plans on how to save the city.
18:43
We're going to talk, I want to hear about that because we were
18:45
talking earlier and we're for those that are just joining the
18:48
live now, we're here with Jackie and Peter Halpin, who are
18:50
survivors of the fire that tore through Altadena Pacific
18:55
Palisades. They lost their home in the
18:57
blaze and they're just incredible people.
19:00
I want to also do a a quick shout out to our sponsors right
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We're going to hear from our two sponsors.
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And I also want to just tell folks who are joining for the
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first time that you can actually support and the recovery efforts
19:15
for Jackie and Peter and their family.
19:17
In the link in the description, there's a GoFundMe and they're
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21:28
That's Exodus 90.com/lila. Hey, guys, welcome back.
21:35
OK, we are here with Jackie and Peter Halpin, who survived the
21:40
fires that ripped through Altadena.
21:42
They lost their home in the blaze.
21:43
There's a viral video of them going around.
21:45
If you haven't seen it already. We should at the top of this
21:48
podcast of their family and all six children at the site of
21:52
their home, singing, singing praise to God in the middle of
21:57
the devastation. And so very excited that they're
22:00
here in studio and extremely grateful for you guys coming in
22:03
and being willing to Share your story.
22:04
And you know, you're one week out from this catastrophic event
22:08
and you're already doing media view interviews.
22:10
You were on Fox and friends, I think just a day or two ago at
22:13
3:00 AM in the morning. What was that?
22:14
What, what, how, how has that been the reaction beyond dealing
22:18
with the loss of your home? Well, we have.
22:20
Family on the East Coast, and so they're, they're starting to
22:23
respond before anybody on the West Coast has seen it.
22:26
OK, and and then I have to tell you something that's incredible.
22:30
So my one of my nieces that's in Boston, her her husband is
22:35
Lebanese and he sent the video to Lebanon.
22:39
And then my sister and then my sister Marianne, that lives up
22:42
in San Jose. Hi, Marianne.
22:45
She, she, she knows somebody. And they said they saw the video
22:48
in Italy. And so, so I mean, this thing
22:51
just took off. It's got 10s of millions of
22:53
views across all these different platforms.
22:54
I didn't even know that. I didn't know.
22:56
I didn't know it was the 10s of 1,000,000.
22:57
So I mean, we're we're thankful that it's had the effect it's
23:00
had. It was totally spontaneous and
23:03
and because our, our religion has been part of our life all,
23:08
you know, all our life, it was just spontaneous and natural for
23:12
us to do that. OK, so.
23:15
I think it's been incredibly inspiring.
23:17
I mean, I, I was telling one of our, our team here with the
23:21
podcast that I was getting that video and then I found out that
23:24
I knew people that knew you and that we think we think we've met
23:27
at a family wedding. And so I said this is just, it
23:29
just shows the heart of the the, the faith and how it can just
23:34
touch people in the middle of the worst circumstances.
23:37
And the and the Catholic community, The Web, the Catholic
23:39
Web. That how that's one thing I was
23:41
going to ask you about it. I'm going to ask also turn to
23:43
the chat here because we're live here and we got people putting
23:45
in questions. So I'm going to encourage people
23:48
watching. You can put in your questions
23:49
for Peter and Jackie again, they survived the Altadena fire lost
23:54
their home. They're from that viral video
23:55
that's going around where they're singing on the at the
23:58
ruins of their home. We've got them in studio.
23:59
So we're really excited and honored that they're making time
24:02
for us in the middle of all the insane stuff you're dealing
24:04
with. You mentioned the Catholic
24:05
community. That's been something again,
24:08
I'm, I'm seeing it from afar, but I just watched some of that
24:11
emerging, just the community coming together.
24:13
What's that been like for you guys in the last week?
24:17
Well, amazing. We have a group of wonderful
24:20
friends. We're we're kind of attached to
24:23
two parishes. Pre COVID we were at Saint
24:25
Therese and Alhambra and they have been so supportive.
24:27
We go to Saint Andrews and Pasadena.
24:29
St. Andrews has had lots of families
24:32
with, you know, lose, lose our homes.
24:35
But we, we feel protected. We feel lifted up.
24:40
We're staying at Friends right now.
24:42
And then we'll probably go back to my oldest sons and maybe
24:44
we'll go back to Friends. It, I don't know how people do
24:47
it without a community, without family.
24:50
There are people worse off than ourselves.
24:52
And I want to remind everybody, Saint Elizabeth Catholic Church
24:55
is right there. It's still intact, just was on
24:57
the edge of the fire line. Sacred Heart Catholic Church is
25:01
over on Lincoln. The Catholic Church has always
25:06
been a place not only for for the community, but they know how
25:10
to organize. All the churches know how to
25:12
organize. And, and there's a lot of people
25:16
that have fallen away from their faith.
25:18
And right now, if they are, you know, nominal Catholics or
25:22
whatever, hey, get back to one of these parishes.
25:24
Open arms. This is where this is where
25:26
organization is taking place. I'm sorry to say that people are
25:30
being very generous, but some of the situations we've seen are
25:34
not pretty because they're piling up clothes just in huge
25:37
piles. And that's hard for people to go
25:39
through that stuff it it really does need to be a little more
25:42
organized. And the other thing that
25:44
everyone has to remember, and nobody has any place to go, so
25:48
they can only take a limited amount of things with them.
25:50
You see, they're, they're, they're stuck out there.
25:52
They don't have a home to go to. So you can only bring to so many
25:54
items on your person or in your car, you know, so this thing,
25:58
this thing is a devastating situation.
26:00
And so being organized, you're going to, you're going to some
26:03
of these Catholic churches, not just Catholic churches, but all
26:06
the churches in the area, you know, you know, we're Catholics,
26:08
but all, all the churches are, I'm sure are all are all ramped
26:13
up. I know they've all ramped up to
26:14
help people out. And so I just, I think people
26:18
will find community there and, and, and, and, and help and
26:22
help, you know, And so I, I wanted to mention that because
26:26
the, you know, the churches are important, very important.
26:29
Yeah, it's also just for I think some of our neighbors may be
26:34
despairing and find, just find a church, find your church, Come
26:39
back, come back. We want you back.
26:41
I've already, we've been in contact with almost all our
26:43
neighbors on our little St. of Lewis.
26:45
Hi, everybody on Lewis Ave. and, and some of them, everybody's
26:49
discouraged, but I've already talked to a couple of them that
26:52
are thinking they just can't do it.
26:53
They don't. And I don't blame them.
26:55
I'm we're, I'm 65, she's 64. I keep saying we're 65.
26:59
But she she. Doesn't like that 65 number yet.
27:02
And some of them just said, we just don't think we have the
27:05
energy to do it. And so, you know, they, they
27:07
may, they, if they are insured, I think they are, they may just
27:11
take the money and sell their property because one of my
27:14
neighbors, he and his wife were taking care of their hundred
27:16
year old mom. And see, that's going to be a
27:18
very difficult situation for them.
27:22
Don't go through because it could be a couple of years, OK,
27:25
Because there's a shortage of there's going to be a shortage
27:27
of contractors, there's going to be a shortage of Labor.
27:30
And and so it's, it's going to be quite an ordeal.
27:33
It really is. There's been a lot of folks
27:36
online and news media stories and criticisms of the response
27:41
to the fire or the preparations before the fire, whether it's
27:45
getting the fire department and the place to have the resources
27:47
it needed. The mayor, criticisms of Karen
27:50
Bass, criticisms of Gavin Newsom saying that this was mismanaged,
27:54
like this is happening because it's mismanaged.
27:55
Do you have any opinions or thoughts on that, having been on
27:58
the ground in Altadena when this was?
27:59
Happening. I just we both agree we have no
28:02
criticism of the fire department or or We have sheriffs in
28:05
Altadena, not police. Yeah, we love our.
28:07
Sheriffs, they did what they could.
28:09
This was like trying to fight Hiroshima.
28:11
I'm not kidding. Now, prior to this, we have, we
28:17
have concerns that the state we don't feel spends money
28:22
correctly. We're trying to build a bullet
28:24
train for billions of dollars, but not bury wires.
28:27
That just doesn't make sense to me.
28:29
And I, we don't want to be divisive or anything like that.
28:32
But you know what? What I would beg our leaders,
28:36
put down your ideology and help us.
28:38
We need help. Help the people.
28:40
Put all that stuff aside and help us.
28:42
Yeah, unfortunately it's going to be a messy job, but there of
28:46
the cleanup. But there are things that can be
28:49
done and need to be done right now.
28:52
And if you don't mind me bringing these up because I want
28:55
someone to, to put me on on a board of one of these groups
28:59
that are going to be up and out to DENA.
29:01
I know how to do demolition. You know, I'm a concrete
29:03
contractor, but also general contractor.
29:05
I have, I've been proactive. I've already made contacts with
29:09
one of the local disposal company, Heritage Disposal,
29:12
that's right down in Alhambra to get, I want him to be ready to
29:16
get going. He's the one with the big, huge
29:18
bins. They need to have a staging area
29:21
down there on Madre in Pasadena, underneath all the Edison wires.
29:25
There's all this open area because those are going to have
29:28
to come in by the hundreds and hundreds.
29:30
To rebuild. They've already set up a staging
29:36
area down at the Rose Bowl to bring in all the green waste and
29:38
things like that, but that's just the stuff that's on the
29:41
streets out of the fire. Zone, are they even starting
29:45
that yet or yeah the. Palm.
29:47
Fronds not not on the not on the Fire Zone preferers because
29:51
there's stuff in trees all over the place and all the properties
29:55
need have need to have water going again because when we
29:58
start the demolition there needs to be a lot of water keeping
30:01
things wet and damp OK and and we can't worry we can't worry
30:06
the environmentalists can't worry about oh there's going to
30:08
be debris flying around we don't have time to be too worried
30:11
about that this is not a job for the for the wimpy.
30:15
This is for the, for the people that are willing to get up there
30:17
and not be afraid you're going to get dirty, You're, you're
30:20
going to have to work in a dirty circumstances.
30:22
But if, if they, if they make that experience too rigid and
30:26
you get all these panels, all, let's have a meeting about how
30:28
we're going to do it. There are plenty of people out
30:31
there like me that know how to get this thing going and get it
30:34
going fast. And, and, and because The thing
30:38
is, if you don't, if you don't allow people to, to start
30:41
rebuilding fast, they're going to lose hope.
30:45
That's really. I could get my whole
30:48
neighborhood cleaned up in a couple of weeks.
30:50
My whole block I I've already called all the contractors I
30:53
need to call, bacco operators and everything else.
30:56
I have my own equipment and I know the feds are going to come
30:59
in and help with the cleanup situation.
31:01
I don't, you know, I'm just hoping that.
31:03
Have they called? Has anyone called you from the?
31:05
Well, no one has. I don't even know who to talk
31:07
to. You don't even know.
31:08
And so I mean by about. Helping with the cleanup in your
31:11
own St. Or organizing it, just helping
31:13
to organize it. But The thing is, I don't know
31:15
who to communicate with, you know, and but, but I know I know
31:19
how to get it done. Has anyone been in touch with
31:21
you guys from the city or? From No, they're overwhelmed.
31:24
They're overwhelmed. Everyone's overwhelmed.
31:25
Everyone's. Overwhelmed and The thing is is
31:27
see I'm a guy I'm a guy that's out in the field okay that's.
31:29
You're a contractor. I'm in the trenches, okay?
31:32
A lot of these people that want to get in or organize that
31:34
they've been sitting at a desk all their life and, and, and,
31:37
and there's no pretty way of, of getting this done.
31:40
OK. But you're going to have to let
31:42
your restrictions that we have in California go by the wayside.
31:45
You need to expedite building permits.
31:47
Governor needs to know that don't worry about some of this
31:50
debris that may be flying around.
31:51
You got to keep it wet and get it.
31:53
They may have to ship it out to, to one of the bases, one of the
31:57
big bases that we have to get it out into the desert because the
32:00
dumps in the area, they're all full.
32:02
So this debris can't be brought into the local dumps because
32:05
they're, they're at, they're at capacity.
32:07
OK, so they got to set. They may have to take a lot of
32:09
it out by train and things like that, But you know, they need to
32:13
set up these staging errors for each of these things to take
32:15
place so they can get the material out of the area.
32:18
I know I'm rambling on, but The thing is the whole community is
32:21
very anxious to get back to their properties and get on with
32:25
it. Some of them aren't going to be
32:26
able to get on with it. But I, I, I think most of my
32:29
whole, my whole block, they want to stay but, and the sooner that
32:33
we can get moving on it, the better it's going to be.
32:35
Further, you were saying earlier that they your block in
32:38
Altadena, most of it which burned down is not accessible.
32:42
That's correct. There's the National Guard, is
32:44
there? They're not letting people in
32:47
is. Did you get any Intel about why
32:48
that's happening where you're not even able to go back to your
32:51
home right now? Yeah, there are a lot of
32:52
investigations going on. I went up there with my broker,
32:55
my jester. Jim, you're doing a great job.
32:57
He's with Allstate. I mean, really he he really is.
33:00
And he's just sharp and he's, he's an ex builder and
33:03
everything else. And he thought for sure he was
33:05
going to be able to get in. But these guys were serious now
33:08
and they're doing some investigations, a variety of
33:11
investigations. Unfortunately, I, I just
33:14
personally think that we're going to see more bodies.
33:16
I don't think. I think a lot more people maybe
33:18
didn't get out. OK.
33:20
You're thinking the investigation, the reason you're
33:22
not allowed to get back to your neighborhood in that area is
33:24
because they're doing an investigation to find more
33:26
bodies. We're just wondering.
33:27
I think that we already, we already have some dear friends
33:30
that that somebody was left behind.
33:32
They thought they were following her and, and she she wasn't with
33:35
them. They got to the rendezvous point
33:37
and then they found her. I was it yesterday or today?
33:40
And, and, and The thing is, is when the fire got to a certain
33:43
point and some people waited a little too late, you know, they
33:47
were in a mad rush. I can just imagine somebody
33:49
going back into the house for one last second to get something
33:52
and then the rest of the, they were in three different cars,
33:54
you know, and then the rest they've taken off thinking that
33:56
she's behind them or something like that, you know, but so
33:59
they're, they have to investigate deaths.
34:01
If they find bodies, they have a, I've been told they have 1000
34:05
utility men up there so that they can get power back to areas
34:09
surrounding the fire situation because there's a lot of
34:12
communities that may still be up without power and they've got to
34:14
get all the gas shut off. So all that stuff is totally
34:17
understandable. And I do think they are worried
34:20
about safety, which is also understandable.
34:22
So while we're extra anxious. We're trying to be patient.
34:27
We we've said, yeah, we've said that they, we've heard that
34:30
maybe three to five days, maybe they'll start letting people up.
34:33
And that's going to have to be organized too, because you don't
34:35
want this mad rush. You know, I mean, obviously you
34:38
can say, OK, everybody east of this particular St. you guys can
34:42
start working your way up because what's going to happen
34:45
is there is going to be a mad rush and it's just going to be 1
34:47
big traffic jam. So it's it's got to be done kind
34:50
of in a strategic way so that the whole area isn't
34:53
overwhelmed. There's nothing to go back to.
34:55
It looks like a war zone. They they are also worried about
34:58
looters. I just want to mention that.
35:00
And if if someone's house is standing, it's a big problem.
35:03
So that is a reason. To I just my, my Saint Andrews
35:08
that we're planning on having a a big we, we're just organizing
35:12
it now. There's going to be an attorney
35:14
with the insurance department. I'm going to be there as a
35:18
contractor. I can tell people what they need
35:20
to be careful of when they're hiring contractors and things
35:23
like that. But we're trying to set that up
35:25
at Saint Andrews. We haven't gotten the exact day
35:28
so people can come to the auditorium.
35:30
So in other words, people in the community and these people that
35:33
are that are setting this up, they didn't lose their homes.
35:36
They know that these things have to take place so that we can
35:39
give advice to the whole community.
35:41
OK. Through the churches.
35:43
Though through the church, you know, this, these are places
35:45
they've got the room to have these meetings.
35:47
So and there, there are probably other, the other churches, St.
35:51
Saint Elizabeth, Sacred Heart over on Lincoln.
35:54
They could probably do the same thing there at their parishes,
35:56
you know, and and if we can fit in the time, the we gentlemen
36:00
that are putting this together could probably go from church to
36:03
church because you, you can get to those.
36:05
At least you can get, I think you can get to Sacred Heart.
36:07
Still, they may not have allowed.
36:09
I don't know if Saint Elizabeth is open, But The thing is, it's
36:12
even the sooner you can have people get together and, and
36:16
commiserate, if you will, over their situation.
36:19
And, and, and it's, it's a, it's a place where everyone can
36:21
gather too, you know, for these meetings that need, need to go
36:24
on. Are you, are you guys hopeful
36:26
based on what you're seeing from the community response?
36:29
I mean, again, you mentioned the amazing Catholic Christian
36:32
communities, but then also just based on what you know of the
36:36
larger community, the governance, everything else, are
36:39
you hopeful for the future of Altadena, the future of this
36:43
part of LA? Well, I, I have to be honest, I
36:46
mean, everybody that lives up and out, we've loved living up
36:49
in Altadena and of course our weather conditions have gotten
36:52
much better. When I was, you know, in the 60s
36:55
when I was a kid, I mean, half the time you couldn't see those
36:58
mountains, but now they're, they're, you know, you can see
37:01
them 90% of the time. But you know, that whole, our
37:04
whole area has got an inversion layer always has, you know, from
37:07
the beginning of time. But and it's so and I, I know a
37:11
lot of people up there, not necessarily closely, but we
37:14
everyone acknowledges one another at least in our neck of.
37:17
The I'm hopeful about the community.
37:19
I am a little worried that the character is really going to
37:21
change. The character I mean.
37:24
Because you're going to lose. People are going to move away
37:25
from out the US and people that. Will come in and maybe now again
37:30
with the housing laws in Sacramento they've made it very
37:34
very easy to build a huge apartment on your little family
37:37
lot and I I just think the character may go yeah we but the
37:41
community itself is great but. The, the state has allowed, has
37:46
taken over the local governments and they're, they're calling all
37:50
the shots and they're not notifying the communities about
37:54
what they're going to allow to be done in our communities.
37:57
And so we're very disturbed by that.
37:59
It's been going on for several years now and it just started to
38:01
happen right before this fire happened, happened in our
38:04
street. There's supposed to be a three
38:06
story limit in Altadena and the state has come in and is
38:09
allowing them to build 5 stories.
38:11
OK. And you know, we have a
38:12
panorama, the mountains up there.
38:14
You don't want to start building big tall buildings up in there
38:16
in Altadena because that's why everybody goes up there.
38:18
It's beautiful. You can see the mountains.
38:20
You know, you start building high rises and, and you want to
38:23
talk about ruining a community that's going to ruin Altadena.
38:26
So I, I, I don't, that's so I'm not, I'm not naming anybody in
38:29
particular, but that's the kind of thing that's happening.
38:32
We have lost control of our local government and the state
38:35
is coming in and they're telling us what we must.
38:39
Do. What we must do, and it's it's
38:41
frightening, it really is. What has been It's been one week
38:45
now since the fire and again for folks watching for the first
38:49
time, Jackie and Peter Halpin are here lost their home in the
38:52
Altadena fire. They are sharing their story of
38:55
faith and trust in God despite the worst circumstances, some of
38:58
the worst circumstances. What has been most surprising to
39:02
you guys, or at least one of the most surprising things in the
39:06
last week since the loss of your home?
39:09
I want to say our little neighborhood has come together
39:12
and we again, we feel so lifted up by our friends and our
39:16
church, but that's not super surprise.
39:17
Well, maybe the neighborhood's surprising, but everyone has
39:20
always been so great. I don't know what's what's.
39:22
Surprising, maybe. Well, what's interesting in this
39:25
tragedy we're and of course with technology, we are in
39:31
communication with I think almost every neighbor on our on
39:34
our block, OK. And the ones that lived closest
39:38
to we knew a little knew well, but the ones on the fringes,
39:42
we've just acknowledged one another.
39:44
We all know each other by our first names now.
39:46
This has really brought us. Together, you know, and, and,
39:49
and, and and the, and the, and the down the street, those four
39:51
houses that were saved, you know, they're afraid that the
39:54
rest of the neighbors are going to give up on our on our block.
39:57
And, and, and, and The thing is, is I'm you can understand why
40:01
some people feel like they're not going to be able to go
40:04
through the whole rebuild. You really can, especially if
40:06
you're older. If, if I was 75 years old, I
40:09
don't think I could do it, But I think I have enough energy left
40:12
at 65 and I feel good. I've always been a healthy guy
40:16
to to just, I'm going to get in there and I want to help at
40:19
least my neighborhood. I I want to, I want us to kick
40:21
some butt, OK? I I that's that spirit is so
40:25
inspiring and thank you halpens for being really just a a core
40:30
part of California, Southern California.
40:33
I mean the foundation that you've built with your family,
40:35
supporting local schools, churches, six kids, 14
40:38
grandkids, 1515 grandkids going on the way.
40:41
I mean, I what happened to you is devastating, but God, I think
40:47
is using you guys, has been using and is using you guys to
40:50
inspire so many people. Any any final thoughts for
40:53
people listening about? Yeah, just that you're trusting
40:56
God. And what's giving you hope
40:58
during this really tough time? Well, I think I already
41:02
mentioned that the morning offering where we, we offer
41:04
everything to God and it's really not ours.
41:07
I do know that we're, we're maybe still in shock and it's
41:11
going to be a long road. So I do ask everyone's prayers
41:14
because we're going to have good days and bad days.
41:17
I would really suggest the power of prayer, the power of
41:24
gratefulness. I've actually started a little
41:25
gratefulness list, which very silly little things on there,
41:29
but they give me little bits of joy.
41:32
So important just to be grateful.
41:34
We are so grateful that we're all here and and we just feel
41:38
the love of everyone. Can I can I send out a message
41:41
to all the dads out there? OK, I want to remind them of
41:44
this. Lead your family in prayer.
41:48
Be a good example to your sons. They need to see their dads
41:52
leading prayer in their home, whether it's saying grace over a
41:55
meal or whatever your traditions are.
41:58
But they need the the boys and daughters too.
42:01
But but the young men need to see strong dads that love God
42:06
and and all it takes really to get started.
42:08
If, if you don't have a prayer life, just say the Lord's Prayer
42:12
every day. Be our father.
42:14
I'm telling all the men, not just not just in Altadena, all
42:18
over this country, because this country needs prayers.
42:21
It really does. We're the most incredible
42:24
country on the face of the earth, and a lot of people are
42:27
concerned with what's what's happened to it.
42:30
But the only way we're going to revive it and save it is we have
42:34
to have a relationship with God. Everybody does.
42:37
You don't have to be a Catholic. You know, you can have your own
42:41
intimate little things, but there is a creator out there.
42:44
That's all there is to it. And and we believe Jesus Christ
42:48
is the Savior, savior of the world.
42:50
And so people need to get their acts together.
42:52
That's what I want to tell you as a as a man, as a father, as a
42:55
grandpa. And I thank you so much for
42:58
allowing us to have this voice here.
43:02
OK? I really do.
43:02
This is a wonderful thing. I know people are really moved
43:05
listening already, the chats going saying thank you so much,
43:08
they're inspiring, they're bringing hope.
43:10
They're trying to do is there. How can people help you
43:13
directly? I'm going to just say right
43:15
away, in case you weren't going to say it, but I'm going to make
43:17
you say it. There is a GoFundMe link in the
43:20
description. And what's so beautiful is the
43:22
Halpens are tithing from that and giving from their own
43:24
GoFundMe to other families in the community.
43:26
How can people support you guys? Well, number one to me would be
43:30
prayer. And we are feeling prayer, we're
43:34
feeling being being lifted up. So prayer is wonderful for us
43:38
and for our children. Our children are actually going
43:40
through trauma also their childhood home.
43:42
And I didn't really. That didn't occur to me until.
43:44
You know all our grandkids. This is where we have, this is
43:47
where we gather. Gather.
43:49
Yeah. But other than that, yes, they
43:51
can give to the GoFundMe and there's many other Gofundme's
43:56
right now. I would say everyone wants to
43:58
give things. And I know someone very
44:00
generously wanted to give us bedding and I said I don't have
44:03
a bed. So maybe in a couple months, you
44:05
know, But really, prayer and people do need, people do need
44:10
money. And there's such a shortage of
44:12
housing already. I'm, I'm going to ask people to
44:16
take a chance because there are going to be people that may need
44:19
a room, you know, maybe if you have a room and an extra
44:22
bathroom. This is why I say these, these
44:25
type of things can be organized through our churches all over
44:27
the community because you know, you, you can't just, in a lot of
44:31
case, you can't let a perfect stranger into your house and,
44:34
and you're going to, there's going to have to be, you know, a
44:37
little might be some background checks for some people because
44:40
people need to feel safe too. But I already, we already know
44:43
many, many people that are doing this.
44:45
They're, they're allowing people that have lost who are, who are
44:48
in an apartment and they've given them a bedroom and a bath,
44:51
you know, and in most these cases, they know the person.
44:55
So that makes it easier. But we're going to have to,
44:58
people are going to have to be as generous as they possibly can
45:01
because a lot of these people just don't have any place to go
45:04
and they're scared. People are scared out there, you
45:07
know, I mean, think about it, the 100,000, something like
45:11
100,000 people had to evacuate, all heading South.
45:14
You know, I mean, that's, that's in a, in a matter of an hour,
45:19
hour and a half. I mean, it was traffic jams.
45:21
Thank goodness we have a lot of North and South streets coming
45:23
out of the mountains. It's not just one Rd.
45:26
Like they had the Pacific Palisades.
45:28
That that was a, that was a, that was a very scary situation.
45:32
But anyway, I'm, I'm rambling on.
45:34
I don't, you know, I'm just. That's I mean that even right
45:39
there that we need to be supporting people, not so much
45:42
handing out clothes and bed sheets like you were saying, not
45:44
yet. I know not yet, but thank you.
45:47
I know this is also a crazy time for you having to handle
45:52
rebuilding and just getting your minds wrapped around it.
45:54
Thanks for coming in today so well and sitting down with you
45:56
for having me and sharing the hope.
45:59
A lot of people, again, are very inspired by your trusting.
46:02
I would just say we have, we have to cling to the cross in
46:05
good times and bad and that's, that's just what we're trying to
46:07
do so. Amen if it.
46:09
Helps God if it helps God's people.
46:11
That's that's the main thing. Thank you, thank you Jackie.
46:13
Thank you Peter. It's been awesome.
46:15
Thank you. Thanks so amazing guys.
46:17
Go to the link for those watching on the live stream,
46:20
check it out. There's a Go Fund Me there to
46:21
support Jackie and Peter. And then please, now is a great
46:24
time to check in on your friend if you know somebody who's who
46:28
might be in need in the larger LA area.
46:32
And please support the victims of the fire and be inspired by
46:36
the trust and the hope of the halpins.
46:39
Thank you so much for joining.