Last year's fire season in California
was one of the scariest in history.
Over 1 and 1/2 million acres were burned.
Nearly 23,000 structures were destroyed,
and it kept firefighters working around the clock for months.
This year, we've already had over 5,000 wildfires.
But because of the amazing work of California firefighters,
there's been far less destruction
throughout the state.
These men and women are heroes every single day.
They've saved my house and thousands of others,
and I want to meet a few of them today.
Please welcome 10 incredible California firefighters.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[APPLAUSE]
Hi!
[GREETINGS]
Thank you!
(SINGING) [CHEERS]
Thank you!
I love all of you.
We love you, too!
We love you.
I love firefighters.
And it is just getting to be just scarier and scarier
every--
there used to be a fire season.
And now, it's just all the time.
This is like a rare day off.
All of you have been fighting all these different fires we've
been watching on the news.
And so, thank you for that.
And today, you have a day off.
You could be sleeping, but you're here.
So, thank you.
Thank you for being here.
[APPLAUSE]
So, Lucas, right?
Yes.
Lucas, so these fires really have been--
we probably don't even hear about all
of the fires that pop up.
But they pop up almost daily.
Yeah, almost 200 a week, usually, sometimes up into 300,
400.
Just in the last week, we had 212 fires
during that whole time.
So only 95% of those fires are under 10 acres or less.
Only 5% is what we actually hear about.
So, the men and women here are fighting these fires
constantly, and we only see the smaller ones.
Right.
So you're exhausted because you've
been fighting-- even if it's the first hour, you're hot,
you're sweaty.
That equipment, how much does that weigh?
It can be 40 to 70 pounds, depending
on what gear you take.
But really, I think all of us can
agree that we have a job to do.
People are depending on us.
So, really, thinking about being tired
is just an unacceptable decision.
And we just get out there and fight those fires.
Wow.
[APPLAUSE]
OK, Nick.
Who's Nick?
Nick.
So, you missed your daughter's birthday.
Yep.
Because you were out fighting a fire.
But you did something really sweet.
So we responded to the Getty fire on Monday morning.
My daughter's birthday was Tuesday.
And so, we stayed on a 24-hour shift.
I wasn't going to be able to make it home.
So I called my engine guys, and I said, hey,
can you do me a favor?
It's my daughter's birthday.
We always get pink donuts on her birthday
before she goes to school.
So they had to go to two donut shops to actually find it.
And they got the pink donut and took a picture.
And--
[CROWD AWING]
[APPLAUSE]
There she is.
So cute.
So Station 50 got donuts and brought it to her.
And I was able to FaceTime her.
And she was like, Daddy, you'll never believe it.
The guys brought me a donut for my birthday.
And I was like, yes, they did, baby.
Yes, they did.
Aw, that's so sweet.
And I have to say, Eric, you actually
saved our house last year.
You were stationed at our house when the fires
were burning in Montecito.
And you left the sweetest note.
We were not there, obviously.
We were evacuated.
And everybody was there, and I just
wanted everybody to have stuff to drink and to, like--
I wanted to open up the doors and say,
sleep wherever you want.
Do whatever.
What did you do there, by the way?
Did you go in the house?
No, we were looking for the security cameras, though.
We didn't know it was your house until, maybe, the third day.
And when we found out, it kind of put a pep in our step.
We were just like, oh, my gosh!
You know?
Like, my captain, he started being like,
oh, look at the fire over there, yeah.
[LAUGHING]
I'd respond like, yeah, we should put water on it.
[LAUGHING]
[APPLAUSE]
Ah.
You have a lovely house, by the way.
Thank you.
Well, and thank you so much for protecting it.
I mean, there's so much.
You know, that's what's beautiful about Montecito.
There's just nature everywhere and trees everywhere.
So, it's the scary part, too.
I want to keep talking to y'all.
So we're going to take a break, and we'll
talk more after this because we need our funding to continue.
And it's being threatened right now, so we'll be right back.
Lucas, you said you've been on for 3 and 1/2 weeks straight.
You have not had a day off.
Yes, Friday, hopefully.
Hopefully, Friday, because, right now,
the winds have died down, which helps a little bit.
It's not everything because we're just in such a drought,
everything is dry.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So the president has tweeted out about cutting funding
to California for our fires, because they
say our fires are our fault.
What can people-- do we want to respond to that at all?
It's not our fault. You know, we're
presented with dry winds and dry fuel moisture
where we're dealing with that on a constant basis.
In the past, we used to have fire seasons that
were a short period of time.
And now, our fire season is year-round.
So dealing with that has been a change
in the last 5 to 10 years.
Right.
It's a world problem.
When you talk to other firefighters in other states--
Kentucky, Florida, back East, Australia, Chile--
they're having the same fire seasons we are, actually.
So it's not a California problem.
It is absolutely a global problem.
Yeah.
[APPLAUSE]
And-- Yeah.
Cutting funding would be a disastrous thing.
It would be horrible.
Yeah.
Well, and it's there to help people.
It's not even going into our budgets to fight fire.
These are funds that are going to help people
after the effects of the fire.
So that doesn't help us fight the fires any better.
It's cutting it from them, not from us.
Yes, it's not punishing you.
Right.
[INAUDIBLE]
So what can people do immediately?
What can people do to protect their homes?
Well, the big thing is defensible space.
And so, we talk about that.
That's about 100 feet from your house.
About 30 feet around the house, you
want to make sure that it's completely clean.
You don't want to put wood or your lawn furniture
up against the house.
You can imagine that that would create a fire.
And then, obviously, we have a program
that all of the fire departments in California do.
It's Ready, Set, Go!
So before the fire even happens, you get your things ready.
"Set" is when the fire is there.
You get everything in.
You put the crates in for your animals, everything.
So the last thing you do before you go
is you put your animals in their crates,
put your ignition key in, and drive away.
We always want people to leave early.
Get out early, yes.
So when people say evacuate, evacuate.
Don't think and don't ever stay and try
to use your garden hose.
We have a lot more water than--
Than the garden hose.
Yeah.
That's the smarter thing to do.
And where's the best place for people
to donate if they want to help?
There's a couple of places.
There's two that we always work with.
One is the Red Cross.
Another one-- they want help firefighters--
is the California Fire Foundation.
Sometimes, firefighters are fighting fires,
and their house is burning down.
And so, they can't even go look at their burned house
or help their spouse.
So, that's something that we recommend,
those two organizations.
And last final note, I'd like to thank you.
I think we'd all like to thank you.
You're a wonderful supporter of firefighters.
And we absolutely, as fire servers, appreciate your time.
I thank you.
Thank you.
I'll stand up.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
I don't know what we would do without you.
I know I've said it for a long time, and I'll keep saying it.
I really, really appreciate you.
We think that--
Hey, real quick.
Yes?
I want to make sure we get this, too,
is we're all considered heroes, and we're
allotted all the praise.
But at home, our spouses and our loved ones
are taking care of our families and our homes.
And to us, they're the real heroes.
Yep.
[APPLAUSE]
Good point.
All right.
Well, I think that you're all heroes.
Here's what I want to do today.
Nature Valley wants to support all the firefighters
across the state of California.
And they want to make a donation of $250,000
to the California Fire Foundation.
[APPLAUSE]
I want to thank Kerry Washington and Meghan Trainor.
See you tomorrow.
Be kind to one another.
Bye.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hi, I'm Andy.
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Ah!
[BLEEP]
God!
[BLEEP]