What’s next, how to help each other, more

Exclusive: Dallas Raines wasn’t born in the City of Angels, but few Angelenos embody Southern California like the Georgia-born ABC 7 News chief meteorologist, especially in times of extreme weather like hurricane-force winds and raging wildfires that cause seemingly unprecedented destruction. . Sweeping the region over the past week.

“This is one of the most beautiful places in the world, but these winds and these fires are things we’re going to have to deal with forever,” the 40-year-old Los Angeles resident said candidly on Monday, as he prepared to move on. Air for the West Coast flagship of Disney-owned ABC.

Since the high winds began last week, Los Angeles County has seen fires that have burned tens of thousands of acres, destroyed thousands of homes and other buildings, and killed more than two dozen people, which we know of so far. The fire that broke out in Runyon Canyon in Hollywood on January 8 was extinguished fairly quickly, but the flames are still burning and residents are still subject to mandatory evacuations along with the Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, and Hearst Fire.

With another warning in effect, more are likely to come soon.

The National Weather Service issued a “particularly dangerous situation” warning for much of the county with winds expected to reach 70 mph from 4 a.m. Jan. 14 until noon Wednesday. While LAFD and other first responders are digging in to fight any fires that may break out, turbulence may make it impossible for helicopters and Super Soakers to get into the air to put out the flames.

Amidst all of this, Reigns spoke to Deadline about what happened last week. The AP award-winning meteorologist with one of the most recognizable names in all of television might also come up with where to get your information, and what can be done to help reduce SoCal’s never-ending cycle of such fires.

Delivery time: This past week has been painful for our city, like the worst parts of the Bible all at once. But through it all, local television and you on ABC 7 have been essential in keeping people informed about the winds, the fires, the destruction and the efforts to combat the devastation. So, my question is, how was last week for you?

Dallas Reigns: Just doing my job, Dominic.

Delivery time: More than ever sir…

Reigns: Well, thank you, but you know, anything we can do on that, from a meteorological perspective, we just want to try every day to give our viewers and all of Southern California an opportunity to see what’s coming.

And that’s the real key – is trying. And can we predict far enough in advance without scaring people away?

Delivery time: how do you mean?

Reigns: I remember when we were working on this about eight days before the event itself, and I was talking to some of my friends at the National Weather Service. I was saying, you know, this looks pretty bad in terms of damage. Now, we’re all hoping and praying that a fire doesn’t start during these types of winds and wind events, but at the very least, I think we’ve done a really solid job of getting information that indicates what’s likely to happen. It will be an extreme Santa Ana wind event. These bend once every 10 years, or so. Whether it takes a few years or not, although Southern Californians are accustomed to Santa Ana wind events, one of this size is still shocking.

Delivery time: So, were you surprised by what happened starting on January 7 with the start of the checkpoint fire?

Reigns: Honestly, I wasn’t really surprised by what happened.

Delivery time: Why?

Reigns: Because I knew that if the fire caught, the wind would blow so hard that the helicopters wouldn’t be able to fly. And when you look at the whole event, the firefighters are working hard to try to get things under control the best they can. But the reality of the matter is with the strong Santa Ana winds Dominick, if a fire breaks out in one of these canyons where all these homes are downwind, southwest of the wind event, it’s almost impossible to stop. It really is.

Delivery time: but Fiercely From Dallas, old timers, seasoned Angelenos say they’ve never seen anything like this before…

Reigns: Well, I didn’t grow up here, but I was looking back, and you guys can look up this too, on the great Malibu storm of 1978.

It kind of went back to back, but it was pretty close to what we had this time. I was looking at some pictures of some old fire trucks that had burned down, and I was looking at some of those hills, and what I also saw was that the population was half what it is now, in terms of homes.

Delivery time: Density has certainly proven to be an issue this year. Another problem we’ve seen this year, like we did late last year with the Franklin fires, is misinformation and misinformation, and now, I’m not going to get into that chapter and that verse…

Reigns: I know what you mean…

Delivery time: But I wanted to know your thoughts on the spread of bad intelligence, and how do you think people can get the right information that they can act on?

Reigns: Well, I think you need to listen to a reliable source. This is number one. Now in my long career in broadcasting I realize where we are coming from. If you wanted weather information, you were getting it from ABC, CBS, NBC, that was pretty much the case, and then CNN, where I was doing my first weather forecast. Nowadays, there are people on the Internet who have all kinds of information. You have people’s expectations. Now, we never know what their credentials are, nor what their experiences are. The reality is that this information is out there, and people have to be very careful about what they listen to. Make sure that the information they get is correct and comes from a reliable source.

In today’s world, you see all kinds of things flying around, and a lot of them, just aren’t real, credible sources. So, I think that’s a concern.

Delivery time: You know, I see a concern, and I never want to diminish the tragic losses that happened last week, and how we all know someone, so many people who lost everything, some of whom died, and the amazing work that LAFD and others did. Responders, but it’s also true that these fires are not new to Southern California. To varying degrees, they occur several times a year and last for decades…

Reigns: Yes. This is one of the most beautiful places in the world, but these winds and fires are things we will have to deal with forever.

When I first arrived in Southern California, I was really shocked by two things. That every year the Santa Ana winds come, the fire starts. It burns down people’s homes, and we start over. And there are two things that I’ve always felt, and I’ve shared that with many, many people, close friends and people in the news business. I think there’s a couple of things… Now that’s kind of daunting, so it’s not something that we just say, oh, we’ll just do this, and that’s it. no. But I think if they could do a couple of things, they could mitigate this, or improve it to the point where you could really bring it down.

Delivery time: What would those two things be??

Reigns: First, during red flag warnings, the main canyon trails are closed and only people who live there are allowed entry.

Now I know, as people say, that’s uncomfortable. that it. There will be slight discomfort.

But if you think about our city now, our beautiful city, this might help you, if you close your doors during the red flag period, which usually lasts a couple of days, or 48 hours at most. Closing the main grooves. You can’t close everything, but you can close the main roads.

I live near Angeles Crest, and to show how bad it was, by Sunday, there were motorcycles heading up Angeles Crest. dangerous. So, close down the main canyons and then get people to work with their communities.

Delivery time: How is that?

Reigns: Very often, you can find retired people, who are just ready to give time to society, to their neighbors. Ask them to do community monitoring.

This is just my opinion, but if you see a stranger in your neighborhood at 10 a.m., and you may not know all of your neighbors, but report it to the fire department or the sheriff. They can just come up and say, hey, it’s a red flag warning that you can’t be here. Look, no one loves hiking more than me. I go to the canyons all the time, but I’m willing to sacrifice for our community, you know, to walk the beach or do something other than hike the canyons during the Red Fags. It’s that simple.

Delivery time: So, where do we go from here, once the next few days pass?

Reigns: Well, the population will continue to increase, for example. I also expect they will completely rebuild Pacific Palisades.

Delivery time: completely?

Reigns: Why not? It is the most beautiful area in the world, and people want to live and enjoy it. But we have to know that these winds will continue throughout our short lives and beyond. So, I think those two things that will happen will really help.

You will be surprised. I think you’ll see a significant reduction in these types of outbreaks. It won’t completely eliminate them, but I think you’ll see a huge reduction in these fires. I really do.

Delivery time: Well, this will be good.

Reigns: Yes.