The Governor of the receive folder Crown Fire and Fires Statewide status

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We welcome you here to the incident base for the Crown incident here in Antelope Valley in the city of Palmdale. I'm Michael Freeman, fire chief of Los Angeles County Fire Department.We have a number of elected officials here today and we certainly welcome them. I'd like to acknowledge Supervisor Michael Antonovich who is here with us, also several members of the Assembly, Assemblymember Steve Knight and local elected officials as well.This fire continues to challenge firefighters. There were very specific objectives that were provided this morning and that is to protect life and property, to limit injuries. And the firefighters have been very successful at that. We've not had any additional significant damage to homes or other structures this afternoon.The fire has grown since this morning, nearly 5,000 acres. And as we experience the wind right here, that is the real challenge for us right now, is the wind continuing to move the fire.There are many people here that are going to speak. And I'd like to certainly welcome our governor for being here with us. Always here, always supportive of the firefighters and law enforcement and everyone in public safety working together to protect life and property.We've also worked very hard today to protect the infrastructure, basically the power grid, the high-voltage power lines, and that will be covered in a moment.But it gives me great pleasure at this time to introduce to you Secretary Matt Bettenhausen of Cal EMA. Secretary?Chief, thank you. The chief and all of our local partners and state partners maqui berry does it work and volunteers, we appreciate all the great work that they're doing. As the Governor frequently says, we have the best law enforcement, fire, volunteers in the nation. We have got a world-class mutual aid system and I think that you've seen them at work here today in terms of the resources that we've been throwing at this.Las night as we looked at the number of structures that were threatened and the way the fire was growing and the expectations that the winds would pick up today, the Governor instructed me to start working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department for Homeland Security to request a federal management assistance grant, which will help us with the financial costs and the resources in order to combat that fire. And I'm pleased that the Governor's request last night -- actually, early this morning about 12:00, 12:12 this morning -- we got the call that the FMAG was granted, so that's going to also help us, assist as we continue to battle this fire.So I appreciate all of the great work and support that the Governor has had in terms of making us able to build the mutual aid system that we're able to deploy here today, the resources from the DC-10s to the 747 that's just arrived.And so it's my honor and privilege to introduce my boss, the great partner and the birthday boy today, working -- Governor Schwarzenegger, happy birthday and thank you for all your help.Thank you very much. And I'm very happy to be here, not under these circumstances, but I mean just happy to come out here and to be assisting and making sure that the state does everything that it can in order to help with those fires.You know, we were very fortunate to not have fires for quite some time because the air temperature was cool and we didn't have the experiencing of dry weather and all those winds and so on. But all of a sudden the fire season kicked in and so here we are. But we are ready and we have, luckily, distributed resources all over the state of California so we are ready at any given time. And we also made sure that all the fire engines are manned with not just three men but with four or five men, and I think that's very important. And I think that there is great coordination going on between the local firefighters, the state and also federal firefighters throughout the state of California.So I wanted to say thank you very much to Secretary Bettenhausen from Cal EMA, who has been a great leader and has always been right there where the action is, and also with the coordination. Then L.A. County Chief Freeman -- he has also been here from early on and we want to thank him for his great, great work. And then Cal FIRE Chief McKain and then L.A. County Deputy Chief Bryant, who is the ground-fire incident commander. We want to thank also Supervisor Antonovich for being here today and also for Chief Tyler for being here with us. Sherriff Baca couldn't make it so he sent him, but he has also been really helpful with coordinating law enforcement.I first want to just also say thank you to the firefighters because I always make this clear, that we have the best and the most experienced firefighters in the world and the most courageous firefighters that risk their lives to go in there and to fight those fires. So let's give them all a big hand for the great work that they are doing. (Applause)I also want to thank law enforcement because, as you know, when you have fires like that evacuation is extremely important. And law enforcement is in charge of that, not only with the evacuations but also to make sure that those homes are safe after they are evacuated. So law enforcement has worked very closely with the fire officials, so we want to thank them also for the great work they have done.And I want to thank also everyone, from Secretary Bettenhausen to L.A. County Fire Chief Freeman and Cal FIRE Chief McKain and everyone for giving me a briefing here.And I just want to bring you up to date on this briefing right now, which is:That the ground fire, there are 13,000 acres that have burned so far,20 percent has been contained,Four structures have been destroyed but there are a lot of structures that are being threatened -- 2,000 structures are being threatened right now.300 homes have been evacuated,1,713 personnel are deployed at this fire,Then we have three shelters that are open,There are 16 hand crews that are working on this fire,250 engines are out there working on that fire, five helicopters, three water tenders and then one DC-10 and, of course, just as of the last hour the 747 has also arrived.So as you can see, we are deploying everything that we've got because the most important thing is -- and you will hear this always from the fire officials -- that the first 24 hours are the most important time to contain the fire. And so they have done an extraordinary job of having all those resources available.Now, there are other fires that are going on statewide and I just want to tell you:There are approximately 30,000 acres that have burned so far statewideThen 34 structures have been destroyed, 2,230 structures are threatened statewide,then there are 4,193 firefighters that are working on those fires, 107 hand crews, 300 engines statewide, then 21 helicopters.So I think that the thing is, I would say, under control. But I wanted to just come here personally to make sure that everyone knows that the state, even though we have a budget crunch and that we have a $20 billion budget deficit, that everyone should be assured that we have the money always available for fighting those fires or for any disaster that may happen here in California. I think that public safety is our number one priority and so the faster we jump into action the better it is.And, of course, there are a lot of other things that are threatened. The power lines that were threatened in this fire today, but luckily they worked fast enough to save those. There are windmills that are further up north that are threatened, so the fire officials do everything that they can to fight those fires.So, with that, I want to hand it back over to Secretary Bettenhausen to introduce the next speaker. Thank you very much.I once again want to thank the Governor for having the involvement in helping us to assist those who are being impacted by this fire. As we had last year with the Station Fire, he was there and gave that assistance and that assistance is still being carried out today, just as the assistance to those who have been victimized by this fire will be there to be assisted tomorrow.The county facilities, from the Department of Public Works, Animal Control, Department of Mental Health, Regional Planning, are all there working now to assist and being able to help those who have been harmed by this fire to repair and get their life back to normal. But we want to thank the Governor, we want to thank the men and women in our fire department.Mutual aid has been very, very important, that mutual aid pact with all the other local municipalities coming here to help and to assist and the air support that our fire department has up there, preventing any spreading of this fire beyond what has happened already. The winds we don’t have any control over, but we have a great aerospace unit, great men and women on the ground and in the air and great support from the Governor to the fire department and our public safety Highway Patrol and the Sheriffs, who are here to assist those who have been victimized by this fire.So once again, thank you, Governor. (Applause)Thank you, Supervisor. We are also going to have SteveHofbauer from Palmdale, who is representing the mayor here today. And then, as the Governor introduced, we have Chief Tyler from the L.A. County Sheriff's Office. But one of your very own, who lives here, Captain Denham, is going to give the briefing after that on the road closures, where we stand right now, and then we'll open it up to any questions.Thank you, Secretary. I’m Steve Hofbauer, councilmember, city of Palmdale. Either we have to have an Amgen race or a fire to get all you guys up here, but thanks for coming.The city of Palmdale has mobilized their public works units to assist with the road closures. We have the Marie Kerr Park Recreation Center which has been opened up last night, staffed by the Red Cross, and our personnel from Parks and Rec are out there to get the people and the families settled in for temporary shelter. Last night the Red Cross had 174 people over there and our staff is over there to assist them with that.We're pleased to be able to provide these facilities and resources to the Fire Department, Cal EMA and the law enforcement officials. I'd like to thank the Governor. We've got one of the best fire departments around here. The chief is really throwing a lot of resources at this. The state's got them in here; it looks like an air show out here right now.And so, anyways, thank you all very much and we'll be happy to answer any questions for you later. My Director of Communications John Milner is here; he can assist you as well. Thank you.Thank you, Steve. And Captain Denham from L.A. County Sheriff's Office?Hi, I'm Captain Denham from the Palmdale Sheriff Station. We have about 80 manpower, 80 deputies on the ground assisting with this fire. Since yesterday we've evacuated close to 2,000 homes. Currently, over at the Tiger Trail housing development which is between 20th West and 30th West on Elizabeth Lake Road, we have a cover in place going on there while the firefighters are battling the flames behind there near the aqueduct.We do have a road closure, a hard closure on Elizabeth Lake Road between 25th Street West and Bouquet Canyon, which means we're not allowing anybody into that particular area. Also over Godde Hill, which starts at 60th Street West, into the Leona Valley area. That road is also closed.Currently, if you need updated information we are asking people to log onto nixle.com and sign up for LASD Palmdale Sheriff's and text message FIRE888777, and then will give you all of the latest information regarding evacuations and road closures in the area.So I want to thank you for coming and putting this out for us. Thank you.GOVERNOR: Thank you very much. And are there any questions? We have all the experts here in law enforcement, in firefighting, we have the politicians here, the elected officials, so this is like a candy store for you.QUESTION: Governor, I guess we're in the back here, using a microphone in the back.GOVERNOR: Yes. So where is the back?GOVERNOR: OK, right back there.QUESTION: Steve Gregory, KFI, Los Angeles. A quick question -- this is either for maybe Chief Tripp or Chief Freeman. Can you talk a little bit about the reaction time for air support? That was a bone of contention with the major fire last year, Station Fire, which is still under investigation and those parts are still under investigation. Talk a little bit about when air support was notified and who made the decision and how it's been helping.CHIEF FREEMAN: OK, thank you very much. The question is about response of air support.As soon as this fire was reported, as is our standard procedure within the county of Los Angeles, immediately were dispatched three helicopters, two from Los Angeles County, one from Los Angeles city, which is our normal operating agreement. And that's day or night. This fire started about 3:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon, so we had immediate air attack using our own helicopters.It so happened, as you recall, yesterday at about the same time there was a second separate fire reported in the same general vicinity, so we had a double response because we sent additional local helicopters.In conjunction with our contact with Cal FIRE we very quickly ordered fixed-wing aircraft, which responded immediately. So we had immediate air attack at the point of the fire being reported. And we continued that with our helicopters until after dark last night. We did not fly extensively last night but we had helicopters here should we need to fly at night. And then, basically first light this morning, again working through our partners Cal FIRE, not only the fixed wing of the nominal size but the DC-10 arrived here before 9:00 a.m. this morning and began their work.So we've had air support over this fire, for all intents and purposes, from the initial report until this current moment.QUESTION: Ann Simmons with the L.A. Times. Governor, you're dealing at the moment with several fires across the state. What's your main concern right now? And also, for the fire chief -- sir, can you tell us what your strategy is going to be for this evening as we go into the evening hours?GOVERNOR: Well, first of all, as you know, that because in the last few years we have seen that fire season starts normally very early, in March -- we have seen fires in March already. So we were ready for this. And we also know that in California there is never just one fire. You know, when the wind kicks up and when it gets really hot we know there will be more than one fire that starts. And, as a matter of fact, there were years since I have been in office, I think it was two years ago where there were 2,000 fires at one time all over the state of California and we had to be very quick in distributing the resources all over the state of California.I think the most important thing that we always do, and that is unlike any other state, and that is the coordination between the locals, the local firefighters, the state firefighters and also U.S. Forest Service. They all work together in harmony and work together really well and also law enforcement comes in and works very well. And I think that they have done always an extraordinary job and I think that California, because we are prone to disasters, we always are much better equipped for those kind of disasters.So we will do everything we can to fight those fires. This is only, like I said, the beginning; there will be many more fires throughout the state of California. But we will be meeting them, you know, with all the power that we have in order to get rid of those fires and to not have them spread and to stop them as quickly as possible.The important thing also I want to mention is that you hear it over and over again, that the homes that are safe are the ones where there is a defensible space around it. So I think it's very important for the people to understand, don't wait for the fire. Create a defensible space around your house. Get rid of the dry needles and of the brush and all of the growth around the house, because that can protect your house.And it's also very important for the people to always listen to law enforcement. When they tell you get out of your home that means that it's getting dangerous. Get out of your home. Now, the good thing here in this area is that the people actually voluntarily left their homes very quickly. And so this is the kind of cooperation and working relationship and team effort that we need in order to have the least amount of injuries or death, so I think that the people's effort is very important in this team effort here.So thank you. And Chief? Chief Bryant, OK.CHIEF BRYANT: Hi, I'm Mike Bryant, incident commander for the Incident Management Team 3 for county of Los Angeles Fire Department. I'll address the question regarding strategy.Every incident for us -- wildland fire, flood, earthquake, whatever incident we go on -- our incident priorities drive the incident and from our incident priorities we develop a strategy. And the strategy for this incident is, obviously, civilian and firefighter life safety is number one.In addition to our strategy, obviously we want to remove occupants through evacuation, residents, out of the buildings, out of the path of the fire to safety.Second, we also go into structure protection where we get into communities and we protect the structures from the advancing fire.We look at property and environment and limiting growth of the fire, but today it's very difficult to limit growth when Mother Nature is not cooperating with the winds today. And so if we can't limit growth we're going to do our best on our perimeters to put in control lines to do that. And that's how we implement tactical actions, based on those strategies and priorities that we as an incident command team implement into the incident.QUESTION: My question is about the power lines. Is the fire threatening the power lines at this point? And do we know if there are any contingency plans as far as what you're doing after that?CHIEF BRYANT: Yeah, great question. The question was with our power lines. That was one of our primary objectives for today's operational period. We have power lines running through both flanks of the fire, the east and west flanks of this fire. So we took a lot of action today, last night, to protect that critical infrastructure of those power lines that DWP owns and Southern California Edison. That was critical for us. We were very successful in that today. Even though the fire burned around the power lines, we took action to prevent any damage for that critical infrastructure, not only here locally but also statewide.In addition, I'd like to mention tonight we're going to have a community meeting where we're going to talk about the fire -- talk about our strategy, talk about today's events and everything that has happened -- at 7:30 tonight in the city of Palmdale Council Chamber. And we're going to have the unified command partners, the assisting and cooperating agencies there, to answer your questions and answer questions from our residents about what we're doing, how we're doing and what we anticipate for the future.