testing one two3 testing one two3 is okay the other side be yeah we're GNA have stand here one two 3 1 1 two three good everybody ready all right F media folks just to be aware we'll hold questions until after the press conference itself and then we'll be able to address your your your questions so good morning welcome to the bridge fire press conference for September 11th 2004 my name is Nathan Judy information officer for California inter agency Incident Management Team 5 thank you for coming today we're going to go ahead and get started off with representative from the fist district Los Angeles County Supervisor Katherine Barger thank you thank you for joining us this morning in a moment you'll be hearing from the experts who are leading the fight against this fast moving bridge fire before they do I want to take a moment to express my deep appreciation for the First Responders who have been tackling this horrendous fire it's not lost on me that today is September 11th a solemn day we reserve to Remember The Bravery of the First Responders who lost their lives in the line of duty during the attack on the World Trade Center Our Heroes run into danger putting their lives at risk to keep our communities safe today as much as ever I am so grateful for the dedication of our firefighters from the last SAS County Fire Department San burino County Fire Department US Forest Service and calire I'm also thankful to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for helping to quickly evacuate residents and for continuing to keep our communities out of Harm's Way a special thank you to you Chief morone and Sheriff Luna for leading these efforts on behalf of Los Angeles County I'd also like to thank the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management for their assistance during this incident please know that our County Partners are drawing down every resource available to fight this fire that's why last night we signed an emergency declaration for the bridge fire wildfires are unpredictable and this is a very Dynamic emergency situation I ask the public to be V Vigilant and urge those in fire prone areas to comply with evacuation orders to ensure both your safety and the the safety of our First Responders don't wait to leave when you're asked to go squandering even a few minutes may be the difference between life and death I also want to acknowledge those who've tragically lost their homes and properties during this fire my heart is heavy for you and please know our county is here to offer you our support the County's emergency managers are currently standing up assistance centers to get you connected to the health that you will need moving forward more information will be available soon so stay updated on the latest at lacounty.gov emergency that's also the website for residents who can find the latest information regarding evacuation orders and our shelter locations please please continue to stay safe and heed the direction of our First Responders for every resident impact Ed by the bridge fire Los Angeles county is here to help we were we are all in this together thank you good morning I'm supervisor Hilda ciss and I want to also uh join my colleague supervisor bargar and also send my condolences to those individuals that have lost their property as well as uh in many ways sometimes their livelihood but I want to thank also our chief LA County Fire Department chief and also Robert Luna and all of our partners here especially the Los Angeles National Forest and everyone OEM everyone that's been working on this to help mitigate uh the bridge frer I want to say also that I'm I want to thank uh Governor Gavin Newsome for working to help us secure a fire management Grant assistance from the Federal Emergency Management agency to help ensure the availability of vital resources to suppress the bridge fire as well as our chair Lindsay corv for signing an emergency Proclamation last night to ensure that all resources are deployed during this fire emergency it's crucial for everyone to remain as was stated to be vigilant and to take all necessary precautions this includes staying informed through our local news and media Outlets official channels following all evacuation orders and preparing an emergency kit with essential items such as medications important documents and basic supplies if you're in an area that is under AAC evacuation order please follow directors from First Responders IM immediately your safety is our highest priority evacuation orders are issues based on real-time conditions and the risk of life in property so it's essential to comply promptly to ensure your well-being and that includes current evacuation orders for residents in lever which both supervisor uh bargar and I share but also I'm I'm speaking to Residents in the ausa area as well we're deeply concerned about everyone being impacted but we do want to make sure that people understand that we're doing everything that we can I wanted to let people know that in the first district uh we do have an evacuation Center that has just been opened uh yesterday and that's at the Pomona Fairplex located at 601 West McKinley Avenue in Pomona uh those seeking Refuge there are advised to enter through gate three on the corner of McKinley and white this evacuation Center will be a refuge for both people and animals in fact last night I understand Pomona Fairplex got a call to take four people as well as 42 horses and donkeys to that end our office is working to coordinate a water food diapers and other resources including bringing in our Los Angeles County departments to provide health and wellness checks stay connected through our official channels as was said earlier uh we actively are updating the LA county.gov emergency website social media platforms and local news outlets with the latest disinformation on the fire status in addition to immediate response efforts we're planning for a long-term recovery and that includes support for rebuilding efforts and addressing any environmental and health impacts from this fire we understand that it is a challenging time for everyone and please know that LA County stands with all of you uh in ESP incendio Bridge Angeles s berardo Linds uh p thank you supervisor so good morning I'm Anthony the fire chief of the County of Los Angeles Fire Department thank you for joining us for this bridge fire update the County of Los Angeles Fire Department remains in unified command with the Angeles National Forest the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department calire and the San beradino County Fire and Sheriff's departments the fire has grown to 48,000 Acres with 0% containment there has been substantial Wildfire growth throughout the night with impacts to the communities of Mount baly and Wrightwood the cause of the fire is currently undetermined but is being actively investigated by the United States Forest Service this is currently the largest active fire in the state of California our priority Remains the protection of life and structure and infrastructure defense we currently have 2,500 structures that are threatened by this Wildfire thankfully we have no reported significant injuries and no deaths However unfortunately we have approximately 20 homes destroyed in the mount Baldi area we also have 13 homes destroyed in the rightwood area and we've lost six cabins to fire that were in the Wilderness Area we will have a better count of structures destroyed and damaged by the Press uh By the time for the press conference this evening we currently have 480 Personnel that are assigned to the fire and the Southern California region has two two other large fires burning at this time the line fire in San Bernardino County and the airport fire in Orange County as a region we are currently at draw down for fire personnel and resources the weather update the National Weather Service the Red Flag Warning remains in effect until noon this a uh noon today however there is still the potential for large fire growth and new fire starts throughout the county if you want to get realtime incident updates including incident maps and vital incident and evacuation information please visit the website lacounty.gov slemer I would now like to invite up our Sheriff Robert Luna uh thank you Chief again Robert Luna Sheriff of Los Angeles County uh we are continuing to coordinate with our fire and police Partners from LA county and samur dardo County Angeles National Forest and a federal Incident Management team to manage resources evacuation plans and the safety of our communities which is our top priority the bridge fire which is the largest wildfire in the state has grown overnight and we have increased our department personnel and resources uh up to through this morning we have approximately 70 Personnel assigned to management teams that are working on this fire and will continue to access our resources as we forecast the fire trajectory we have 41 responses throughout the fire that include providing street closures and evacuation efforts we were notified early this morning that we have three individuals one of which is an off-duty Sergeant on our department who was stuck in a remote area 5 miles west of Mount baly in Los Angeles County that need to be rescued by our Emergency Services detail our air five crew they are unable to access the roads out of the fire area so our air rescue 5 crew is working to hoist them out once the Smoke Clears and Ali County Fire is also trying to get a 4x4 vehicle uh to get them out all individuals from what our understanding is at this time are safe stable and not injured there are mandatory vac uations for the East Fort communities of Camp Williams and River Community which are still in effect as we speak now mandatory evacuation orders in Palmdale 16 uh 5th Street East to 263rd Street East South of parab Blossom Highway and for portions of the eastern part of rightwood the evacuations are impacting rightwood approximately 75 structures and 200 people and in Palmdale about 800 structures and approximately 900 uh people and then San Deus uh be Canyon Road approximately 14 residences uh were evacuated in total 889 structures and 1,125 people affected uh to date that doesn't mean that may not change or increase or hopefully we're hoping it decreases there are evacuation shelters in LA county that are set up for residents that are displaced one at the flex Pomona that supervisor siss talked about Fairplex and Pomona Fairgrounds that is analou Valley fairgrounds as well and animal shelters at the Lancaster Animal Care Center Palmdale Animal Care Center and the Pomona Fairplex regarding road closures Mount baly Road to Shin Road intersection State Route 39 San Gabriel Canyon Road East Fork Road Wrightwood road closures Highway 2 Highway 138 Glendora Ridge Road and Glendora Mountain Road uh we will update these as we get more information specifically from our fire Partners we encourage all of our communities stay up toate with credible information from our local news radio and verify again I repeat verified social media accounts for those individuals that are in the affected fire areas whether it be Los Angeles County or our partners with the San Bernardino County and have given evacuation orders please listen to their advice make safe decisions based on your life not on your property as Chief mentioned this area is heavily impacted with fire that means every resource available in this region is um is being utilized so the more that this goes on you are really impacting the lives of our First Responders by not evacuating so please uh listen uh to them this fire can be very unpredictable and we highly encourage residents to be prepared and gather all of their important items documents and medications and in case you have to leave your homes for any unspecified amount of time Time Communication is extremely important to our response and we will continue to update you with critical information such as fire progress resources and Community alerts and for those that are residents our residents that are concerned that if you leave your homes um that they may be looted uh one of our primary functions as for us in law enforcement is to keep an eye on your homes uh making sure that no one impacts your home uh as we're experiencing this difficult time and for anybody who's thinking about it don't uh we're going to be there uh we're going to catch you we're going to prosecute you and significant consequences are coming your way if you think of taking advantage of people during these difficult times uh and as a stated before and I'm going to repeat it again please follow lacounty.gov emergency for more updates for uh LA county and it is now uh my pleasure uh to introduce assistant Sheriff Sam fist from the sanino county sheriff's department well thank you very much uh I'm assistant Sheriff s FIS with the San County Sheriff's department and I'm going to just give some updates on San berino County area and try not to to mimic what's already been said for the LA County area so currently in San Marino County we have evacuation orders for our old Bali village rightwood community the Lone Pine Canyon from rightwood to 138 Highway pinion Hills from Wrightwood North to Highway 18 and beakley Road along with uh the west of Los Angeles County Line That's affecting approximately 3.3 th000 households for that evacuation currently evacuation warnings in sanino County the community of San Antonio Heights and the Upland area South to to Highway 210 along with the San Antonio Heights and Upland area from Foothill to the 23rd Street in Upland and that's affecting approximately 4.5 th000 households evacuation points for sanino County if you're coming into the sanino County area and being evacuated you can go to the sanino county fairgrounds which is located in Victorville we also have the Jesse Turner Community Center located in the city of Fontana and if you have any animals or large animals that need rescue we have the San County um shelter in D'Or that we're opening up for current up or information please go to the official sites for Cal fires website you can follow the S County Sheriff's social media as well as go to the County's website prepare. sbcounty.gov for any updates current Staffing working on the fire for San Marino county is at approximately 70 individuals we want to thank our local and federal Partners uh for all their assistance we currently have law enforcement agencies throughout sanino County uh assisting with our evacuations uh it's 50 sanino County sheriff's deputies along with some of our local PDS and we also have the California National Guard that are assisting with evacuations and Security in our communities and we currently have 20 National Guard uh individuals that are assigned to the bridge fire as with any major event like this sheriff dikus is currently in contact with local agencies our local law enforcement with the LA Sheriff's Department the California office of of emergency services and he's currently been talking with the governor and that's how we were able to get the National Guard involved so we appreciate all the the assistance we are Staffing law enforcement personnel and evacuation areas we want to make sure homes are safe much like Sheriff Luna mentioned if you go into a sanino County area than an evacuation area and you're looting we will arrest you our da will file and we'll put you in our County jails it's very important everybody understands law enforcement takes this very serious we want the community to know your homes are safe the homes that have been evacuated are the same homes that the firefighters and law enforcement live in along with our Community Partners so please follow the evacuation warnings please watch out for the firefighters they're trying to get in our communities if you're in an area that's affecting that and you're slowing them down that unfortunately could mean somebody can get hurt thank you very much if you have any questions we'll be available good morning my name is Robert Garcia the fire chief for the Angeles National Forest my comments will be brief I just wanted to offer uh thanks to supervisor solisa barer for the the support Chief and chief Luna um as I mentioned last night our partners have been with us since the very beginning of of this incident it was apparent very early on that this was going to be a major challenge for us due to the conditions that we're under here on the Angeles National Forest and throughout the state of California in terms of resources the firefight from the very beginning has been about uh collaboration and partnership our firefighters and all these agencies that are supporting us throughout the California Mutual Aid System have worked day and night uh to to do their best to protect life property and establish some perimeter control opportunities where they can the very uh onset of this fire we had some questions about what the initial attack looked like um we had a very robust initial attack as we as we do in this uh Mutual threat zone our partners from Los Angeles County Fire and Los Angeles County Sheriff supported us immediately to start evacuations of the East Fork drainage and we've had a robust aircraft response day and night including night fly aircraft from Los Angeles County Fire US Forest Service on the Angeles National Forest and throughout our uh Regional partners with the quick reactionary Force aircraft I also mentioned last night that the the the conditions on the national forest are moving into extreme you'll see uh complete fire restrictions on the national forest for those that are still uh visiting commuting or traveling through the national forest so please please uh visit the Angeles National Force for fire restriction conditions and the order that's in place for those restrictions and uh please do everything you can to help prevent any additional wildfires under the conditions that we're in now I mentioned last night that we move moved into a uh unified command situation bringing a a California inter agency Incident Management team uh to assist us in planning and um managing operations for this incident so I'm going to turn uh the comments over to uh Jason Gilling with the California management team five who's going to offer an operational update and more detailed information about today's operation thank you Bobby good morning my name is Jason chinger instant Commander trainy with California inter agency inter agency inent management 5 the bridge fire is now recognized as the largest California fire burning in Angel Angeles National Forest as Chief mentioned with over 48,000 Acres burned we are working timelessly alongside the fire Crews law enforcement and emergency responders to control the spread and protect our communities affected by the fire right now our top priority is the safety of firefighters and residents and the containment of the this fire the mount baly portion of this fire is backing down the slopes towards Mount baly Road right now threatening structures in baly village where structure defense measures are in place fire Behavior has been active throughout the night and into this morning numerous structures on the the rightwood side have been impacted by fire with damage to power infrastructure reported significant fire growth has occurred in the west to occurred to the West affecting Mountain High High West ski resort causing damage to building and infrastructure we are operating a full suppression effort which means we will keep this fire as small as possible even though we plan for that we are preparing for large fire growth in respect to the structure threat we had a surge package of resources identified so that we can readily respond to mount baly Village area as well as rightwood area I'm not going to go over damage of uh destroyed structures as Chief Mar Chief already did but I'd like to mention these are estimated not official totals right now this will not be available until the official dens report is published which is our dam damage assessment teams we have multiple evacuation orders and warnings that are in place I ask each and every one of you to go to trusted social media Outlets to get this information we ask everyone in the affected areas to stay alert follow evacuation orders and stay informed through this through official channels rest assured we are committed to assessing the damage and provide support for Recovery in the in the days to come we are all feeling the weight of this fire I'm grateful to share some positive news as of today there has been no report of injuries to our brave firefighter and Law Enforcement Officers this is a testament of their courage and this rigorous safety measure in place every single firefighter and emergency responder is working timelessly putting their lives on the line to protect our communities homes and our livelihoods our efforts continue and we are working diligently alongside all of our Coop Cooperators to ensure the safety of our residents and emergency Personnel at the fire lines we are engaged in a point protection doing whatever we can on the front lines of the fire to Halt the progress each area is being prioritized and our teams are coordinating seamlessly to minimize damage and protect the the the remains in the communities we understand the fear and uncertainty you might be feeling this fire is 100% full suppression and I want to assure you that there that we are fully committed to bringing this fire under control we are grateful for the strength and resilience shown by the affected communities and the unw unwavering support from those leading their resources and expertise while the road recovery will be long I know that there that we are in this together our thoughts and prayers are with those who have might have lost their homes and with everyone affected by This Disaster let us continue to support one another and keep hope alive as we move forward I want to thank you for your time today thank you to all our speakers that concludes the formal uh presentation we'll go to next uh to questions I want to ask the media that you address who you're looking to talk to and your question Rob someone from firefighting could address the weather I know today it's cooling down previous days it's been near or in triple digits what role has the weather played in this figh grow wonderful yeah thank you for that unfortunately I didn't review the the weather briefing uh for the incident this morning but we all know that for the last two days uh previous that we had very very high temperatures uh we also had an inversion layer that really um allowed the fire to gain uh significant acreage yesterday we are ending the red flag alert or the Red Flag Warning that the National Weather Service issued at noon today but we're still going to have high temperatures and low humidities so we're not out of the woods um we still have the potential for large fire growth today on the bridge fire and a potential for new starts uh but it's very weather dependent it's also topography dependent uh on the bridge fire it's very steep terrain inaccessible so that's making it a challenge for us for our fire Fighters uh but the weather is important uh but we're looking for cooler temperatures later this week so I'm grateful for that uh but that still does not remove all of the threat sh can you um talk a little bit more about the stranded fire Personnel what exactly happened there and kind of more about what the circumstances were uh yeah and just for clarification they're not fire Personnel uh it is uh one off-duty uh Sheriff uh or deputy sheriff sheriff and two civilian Personnel that were with him uh as far as we know uh they are in good condition they're just waiting for the right uh uh circumstances to be rescued uh we are in contact with them we've been in contact with their families uh but the most important part is they're safe and then uh we'll get more information when we see them and were these residents that uh became trapped or was the uh what was the circumstance of the the off duty sherff person now being with these civilians uh I don't know all the exact circumstances just preliminarily and this could change is uh they were up there uh probably recreating uh and just got caught up in it and do we know if it's a road block or the power lines what exactly is the trouble getting out uh I do know that the roads are blocked uh as a result of the fire but beyond that to give you more specifics I'm going to have to wait till we debrief them and then uh I don't want to give you bad information any more questions so given the topography and the terrain how how challenging has it been for the aerial assets to actually go in and suppress this fire yeah so I mentioned our initial Attack Phase that's that the fire the first onset of the fire and the Topography is one of our biggest challenges on this fire is largely topograph topography driven the weather that we had we were under high pressure that led to the red flag uh condition so we had good air on initial attack as the as the sun goes down and the air cools and the smoke sinks into the Canyons that's where we start having some visibility challenges in terms of air air quality and air visibility the aircraft have had opportunities where there is clear air to work and support objectives of containment so as an example last night the aircraft that flew last night focused most most of their attention around what we call the foothill front country above the communities of sandis and L and Claremont thank you thank you Chief any more questions if not that concludes our presentation today thank you for coming and we'll see you and we'll let you know when the next press conference is scheduled