Morning Wire - Palisades Fire Rages & Wildfire Fallout | 1.9.25

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

LA suffers city’s most destructive wild fire, residents blame officials for fire mismanagement, and Mexico breaks up immigrant caravan headed to US. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. Lumen: Head to http://lumen.me/WIRE for 20% off your purchase. Beam: Try Beam’s best-selling Dream Powder and get up to 40% off for a limited time when you go to shopbeam.com/WIRE and use code WIRE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The most destructive fire in L.A. history is raging across Southern California, burning more than a thousand structures and forcing tens of thousands of residents to evacuate. She came out. I'm sorry. Just, you know, one day you're swimming in the pool, and the next day it's all gone. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire, Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, January 9th, and this is Morning Wire. California's leaders are facing scrutiny from, angry residents for their handling of the massive wildfires.

If you want to be the mayor of a city like Los Angeles, you're in charge of some really important things and you just let it go. And Mexico is urgently working to break up U.S.-bound migrant caravans ahead of Trump's inauguration day. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Hey guys, producer Brandon here.

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Here with the latest is Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips. So Cabot, a major disaster unfolding in one of the most densely populated regions of the country. Truly shocking footage coming out of California. Get us up to speed. Well, at the start of this week, the National Weather Service issued its highest fire alert for Los Angeles County, warning that conditions were ripe for a serious blaze. Humidity was low, vegetation was dry, and most importantly, extremely strong winds with gusts up to 100 miles per hour,

were coming in off the Pacific. Sadly, those warnings came to fruition Tuesday when what's now being called the Palisades Fire broke out in the morning between Santa Monica and Malibu. Hours later, a separate blaze, potentially caused by flying embers, started near Pasadena. And then again, yet another blaze set off in the San Fernando Valley northwest of downtown L.A. Within 24 hours, those fires had consumed well over 20,000 acres,

destroying thousands of homes and other buildings, knocking out power for hundreds of thousands, enforcing tens of thousands more to evacuate. Well, the scenes of the evacuation and the destruction are just horrifying. Yeah, it really has looked like something out of a disaster movie. Many residents were clearly caught off guard by how quickly the fire was spreading. In one video, you can hear two men attempting to fight the fire with a garden hose before fleeing down the street as trees and rooftops all around are set ablaze. No, just let it burn and God protect this house in the name of Jesus. Protect this neighborhood God in Jesus name, I pray amen.

This tree is going to kill us. There's nothing we can do now, bro. But as more and more folks rushed to evacuate, roads out of town became snarl. with traffic. Many chose to abandon their cars to flee on foot, which only worsen the gridlock and made it even harder for first responders to get to the scene. In a number of instances, fire departments brought in bulldozers to clear a path through street after street of abandoned luxury cars. In Pasadena, just harrowing footage shows nursing home employees and first responders frantically pushing elderly patients down gridlock streets with, again, flames and smoke all around them.

You can get an idea of the chaos in this footage from the scene. Just incredible heroism from those nursing home employees and first responders there. Yeah, and it's worth noting. First responders, particularly the L.A. County Fire Department, have been completely overwhelmed with Chief Anthony Morone saying there were, quote, no additional personnel to spare. 24 hours after the fires began, Morone said they were, quote, zero percent contained. He added that they were prepared for one or two major fires, but not. not for it once.

In fact that there are all those fires burning simultaneously has, again, stretched resources thin with fire hydrants across the city running out of water and firefighting planes and helicopters simultaneously grounded due to the intense winds. So it really is just a perfect storm right now. In response, fire departments from around California and even surrounding states poured into L.A. to offer help. And sadly, first responders are also having to contend with looters taking advantage of homes left empty. Listen to this firefighter, for example, requesting police help to stop break-ins.

Now, as crews work to contain the blaze, officials say when all is said and done, it'll likely be the costliest wildfire in American history, with billions of dollars worth of property destroyed. That's, in addition to the lives lost, we just don't know how many people have been killed right now. Keep in mind, many of the neighborhoods being destroyed are home to some of the most expensive real estate in the country, places like Malibu, Pasadena, Pacific Palisades, and that's in addition to the dozens of working class neighborhoods that are leveled as well. But we won't get a full accounting of the damage or the death toll until these fires are put out. And right now, that is far from accomplished.

Right. Well, as a former Los Angeles resident, it is devastating seeing these videos. Cabot, thanks for reporting. Anytime. California officials, including L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom, are taking criticism for their handling of the historic wildfires. Here to discuss the fallout is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta Giacomo. Hey, Amanda. So perhaps the biggest controversy angering a lot of residents revolves around L.A.'s Mayor Karen Bass.

That includes that she was on another continent when this began. Tell us what happened there. Right. As neighborhoods were burning down in Los Angeles, Mayor Bass was on a taxpayer-funded trip to the African nation of Ghana. Bass was there for the inauguration of Ghana's new president. And she didn't make it back to L.A. until Wednesday. In the airport, she was peppered with questions to which she did not respond.

Do you owe citizens an apology for being absent while their homes were burning? Do you regret cutting the fire department budget by millions of dollars, Madam Mayor? Residents have said that they had very little notice, if any at all, and they're upset that Bass was MIA for so long. Here's one Pacific Palisades resident, Rachel Darvish, expressing some of that frustration on Fox News. We have questions. We have questions.

I know where I am right now, but I don't know where my mayor was when this was happening. For someone to be in charge of my town, where were you? Where were you when the decisions should have been made on how to get in and out of places? Bass is also taking flack for cutting the fire department's budget by more than $17 million, which is actually a more modest cut than the $23 million the Democrat initially wanted to axe. Bass signed off on that budget just months ago, so the timing, is particularly bad. Businessman Rick Caruso, a Democrat who narrowly lost the 2022 mayoral race,

said that firefighters' hands are tied by leadership. And he specifically noted that fire hydrants in the area are bone dry. Caruso was one of those criticizing bass for being out of the country while this devastation raged on. We've had decades to go remove the brush in these hills that spread so quickly. You've got to have water. And my understanding is the reservoir was not refilled in time. and in a timely matter to keep the hydrants go. It's all about leadership and management that we're seeing a failure of,

and all of these residents are paying the ultimate price for that. Governor Newsom is also taking criticism specifically for the lack of water to fight these fires. One of California's top water supply systems has been heavily regulated to appease environmentalists who are worried about two specific fish populations. Now, Donald Trump, when he was president back in 2019, he tried to pump more water from the Sacramento-San-Walkeen, Delta but was stonewalled. Here's the president-elect on the popular Joe Rogan podcast just three months ago. In order to protect a tiny little fish, the water up north gets routed into the

Pacific Ocean. Millions and millions of gallons of water gets poured. I could have water for all of that land, water for your forests. You know, your forest are dry as a bone. Yeah. Dangerous. That water could be routed. You know, you could have everything. Not only dangerous. Billions of dollars a year they spend on forest fires. So it was the Department of Commerce that needed the approvals, but Gavin Newson had to sign him. I got it all done. Nobody could believe it. It was all done. I said, I got it. You got so much water. All you have to do is sign. And that guy didn't want to sign. Trump battled Newsom during his first term over these constant fires in California. In 2018, Trump threatened to withhold federal funds if Newsom didn't amp up forest management.

He said at the time that billions of dollars were being given each year, yet lives were still being lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Trump also said in a post on Wednesday that Newsom is to blame for this most recent devastation, calling it a true disaster. Some harsh criticism there. We're also seeing reports about concerns over in Shepard. What's happening there? Right. There's a major homeowners insurance crisis in California. Over the last three years, seven of the state's 12 biggest homeowner insurance companies have paused or limited their business in California due in part to state regulations.

Companies, for example, have been blocked from raising their rates due to the increasing risks of wildfires. So instead, they've chosen to leave the state. Here's one woman in Pasadena speaking to an ABC News affiliate about her 90-year-old parents losing their coverage just before these fires. They got canceled from their fire insurance, so they're dealing with this. They're 90 years old. And they wonder why people leave California. What terrifying. And as you've laid out, extremely frustrating situation for many residents there.

Amanda, thanks for reporting. You're welcome, John. Trump won't take office until later this month, but he's already influencing immigration south of the border. New reports say that Mexico is breaking up migrant caravans after the president-elect, threatened a 25% tariff on Mexican goods. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about what's happening with immigration and what action Republicans are already taking to restrict it. So Tim, first off, what action is Mexico taking?

Yeah, the Mexican government has adopted a tactic known as dispersion and exhaustion. According to Fox News, Mexican authorities will let immigrants on their way to the U.S. walk for days until they are tired. Then Mexican authorities will offer the migrants a ride to a nearby Mexican city under the guise of reviewing their immigration status. But immigrants have said they can't get any help after they arrive. They can't even buy bus tickets out of the city. So these large caravans are slowly broken up

and the migrants are basically forced to turn around back to their home countries. Mexico has, of course, done this after Trump threatened to put a 25% tariff on its goods unless it takes action on the border. Right, and that would be a very severe blow to Mexico's economy. Now, what about drug cartels? That's also been a major issue. Is Mexico doing anything there? There are some signs that point that way.

For instance, Mexican authorities last month announced the largest seizure of fentanyl pills in Mexico's history. But at the same time, the Mexican president, Claudia Scheinbaum, has welcomed collaboration against the drug cartels. She has accused the United States of making false claims about the drug trade. Shinebom said that fentanyl is a much bigger problem in the U.S. and Canada, and that stories about Mexico's Senaloa cartel manufacturing massive quantities of the drug are false. Of course, there are many experts in the U.S. that disagree with that. In fact, Trump's team is considering a move to designate Mexican drug cartels as terror groups. That designation could open up possible military action against the cartels that have plagued the southern border with drugs, human trafficking, and other crimes.

Now, Trump explored something like that during his first term, but held off because the Mexican government didn't like it. But Trump may have a different mindset now after four years of unprecedented illegal immigration. Right. Well, military action against the cartels would be a huge departure from our current approach. So Republicans in D.C., though, just passed a big priority bill in the House. Tell us about that. Yeah, the Lake and Riley Act passed the House on Tuesday by vote of 264 to 159. The bill was named after Lake and Riley, a Georgia nursing student who was killed by an illegal alien last February. If it signed into law, that act would require illegal aliens to be detained if arrested for certain nonviolent crimes. The bill passed with unanimous Republican support as well as with 48 votes from Democrats. That's a positive sign that it could get past a filibuster in the Senate.

This was also a big victory for House Speaker Mike Johnson. Before the vote, Johnson said that Democrats who voted against the bell last year put politics ahead of principle. 170 voted against it. And I think they put politics ahead of principle. And we're going to find out where they stand on this now. We welcome with open arms any Democrat who wants to help us solve these problems because the American people demand to deserve it. It's overdue. And we'll be looking for that and we'll see how it shakes out.

So we'll see what happens in the Senate. but there's a chance that the Lake and Riley Act could be the first legislative achievement of Trump's new administration. And we'll continue to track its course through Congress. Tim, thanks for joining. Thanks for having me on. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know. Hey guys, producer Brandon here. My sleep in 234 was awful, tossing and turning all night, waking up, exhausted. That all changed when I found Beams Dream powder, a science-backed healthy nighttime blend for sleep. Other sleep aids can cause next day groginess, but Dream contains a powerful, all-natural blend, of rachy, magnesium, elthianine, apogenin, and melatonin to help you fall asleep,

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