Jan. 15, 2025

Heroic Efforts Amid LA Wildfires

Show Notes
Transcript

In this bonus episode, Johnny Mac shares inspirational stories emerging from the LA wildfire crisis. Highlights include Aaron Sampson's daring rescue of his 83-year-old father-in-law, aided by a brave stranger named Andrew who lost his home but ensured the safety of his pets. Santa Monica restaurant owner Rudy and his team provided thousands of meals to firefighters and evacuees, showcasing community spirit. The SPCLA offered sanctuary to evacuated pets, and a nonprofit's wildfire tracking app delivered vital updates. Jay Leno joined the efforts, serving meals to first responders using his vintage fire truck. Listen for more uplifting news.

00:00 Introduction and Schedule Update
00:22 Heroic Rescue During LA Wildfire
01:55 Community Efforts to Support Firefighters and Evacuees
02:35 Animal Rescue and Support Initiatives
03:07 Innovative Wildfire Tracking App
03:36 Jay Leno's Contribution to Firefighting Efforts

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Callaroga Shark Media. Hey there, Johnny Mack with five good

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news stories quick reminder that have changed the normal publishing

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schedule to Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday. In the past it was Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

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Seeing that the numbers are a little better with that

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pattern and so far that is holding true. This is

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a bonus episode because I'm seeing good news come out

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of the La wildfire situation and always want to share

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something a little timely. The Guardian shared the story of

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Aaron Sampson. Aaron got an alert about the impending wildfire

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on his phone. He sprang into action at his father

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in law Ron's house. Ron's eighty three. Ron has Parkinson's

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disease and was recovering from a recent surgery. He texted

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his wife and kids, but they weren't home. Aaron said

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the situation was surreal and chaotic. He wasn't sure what

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to do. He says, your mind's not thinking correctly. I'm

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thinking we're gonna be gone, and I haven't fed him.

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He hadn't eaten yet, so I fried two eggs. You know,

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there's a fire going on, and I fried two eggs.

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I'm like, you need to eat. He then called nine

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to one one and an uber, hoping someone could help them.

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No success. There, a neighbor happened to be leaving the

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empty neighborhood and gave them a ride. They quickly ran

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into traffic as other people streamed out of their homes.

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The fire got closer to the road, police officers told

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drivers abandon your cars and fleet on foot. They all

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got out and ran down the hill. At one point,

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Ron told Aaron, if the fire catches up to them,

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leave them behind and save himself. But then they ran

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into Andrew, a stranger who spotted them trudging through the smoke.

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Andrew had been in the middle of trying to drive

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back to his own home to save his dog and

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two cats, but for him was a no brainer to

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take the deal with the rest of the way to safety.

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Andrew said, I was going that way. They were going

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that way. Everything exploded around us. I don't know who

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you are, but get in the car. Wow. Now. Unfortunately

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for Andrew, his house burned to the ground. However, his

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three pets survived. A fellow neighborhood grabbed the dog and

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the two cats were rescued by a different neighbor. Meanwhile,

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Rudy owns a restaurant in Santa Monica. He saw the

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flames and decided to put his kit good use. We

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were like, okay, we have to find a solution. How

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can we help. His team of cooks started whipping up

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free food, thousands of breakfast burritos, sandwiches, and bowls of

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rice with salmon and chicken for firefighters and evacuees. The

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biggest obstacle was figuring out how to distribute that food.

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A bunch of people loaded backpacks onto mountain bikes and

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rode to will Rogers Beach, where they handed out sandwiches

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and burritos to groups of firefighters who were assembling there.

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Right now, the restaurant is offering free meals to evacuees

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and first responders during lunch hours. Rudy says, it's a marathon.

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It'll be a lot of work for many, many months.

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It's a disaster, so we have to go slow. The

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Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has stepped

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up to make sure evacuated animals don't end up on

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the street. SPCLA took it a wave of pets, including

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roughly fifty dogs and cats and one parrot to prepare

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for the influx, The nonprofit temporarily moved its existing resident

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animals to other facilities, cleaned the kennels, and brought in

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a fresh batch of volunteers. And as the organization's communications

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director and said, we give people comfort and knowing that

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their animal will be cared for in the same way

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that they would care for them. In other words, we're

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going to provide them a safe space until they can

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come and be retrieved. A nonprofit is running an app

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called Watch Duty, a wildfire tracking app. The app is

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run by volunteers and full time employees, including retired firefighters

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and dispatchers, to provide live updates on fire conditions. The

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New York Times reports the app has sometimes provided faster

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and more reliable updates in the city's mobile notification system.

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John Mills, who runs the app, says he has no

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plans of selling it. This is my life in my community.

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I owe it to my community to not be a

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disaster capitalist. Jay Leno has been out and about pitching in.

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He was driving around. I saw some shots of Jay

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helping feed to firefighters, and then Jay stopped by a

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live shoot where Anderson Cooper was doing the news on CNN.

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Jay told Anderson, we're cooking for the firefighting crew. We

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got some barbecue going because they're all getting box lunches.

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This being jay Leno, he brought his own firetruck. The

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guy collects vehicles. Jade told Anderson, Cooper drove a nineteen

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forty one fire truck. It's kind of fun. We got

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it loaded up. LA public Information officer Eric Scott posted

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video of jay Leno was serving up hot meals and wrote,

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We're grateful for Jaylen's kindness and the support from our

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community during this challenging time. And that's an extra episode

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of the podcast known as Five Good News Stories Back

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in the morning with a normal episode. See you n