CSPAN - Washington Journal Rep. Judy Chu
Aired: 2025-01-23
Duration: 05:56


=== Fires Evacuate Endangered Communities (05:55) ===

[00:00:00]  For 3 p.m. Eastern today.
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[00:01:12]  We're going to take you back up to Capitol Hill to the Cannon Rotunda.
[00:01:16]  We're joined by California Democrat Judy Chu.
[00:01:19]  She represents that Los Angeles area-based 28th District of California.
[00:01:24]  And Congressman, Congresswoman, just wanted to start first by asking about the district, how it's doing today, where the fires are in relation to your district right now.
[00:01:34]  Well, my district is doing better now.
[00:01:37]  The fire is 95% contained.
[00:01:41]  However, the number of homes burned number in the thousands.
[00:01:46]  In fact, there are 9,500 structures that have been destroyed and burned, and 17 people are dead.
[00:01:53]  Finally, the evacuation orders have been lifted, so people are going back to their homes, but they are discovering that they are burned to the ground.
[00:02:03]  And even if they have a home standing, that it's full of smoke and ash.
[00:02:08]  So the period of recovery and rebuilding is starting, and it's going to be a very difficult one.
[00:02:15]  In the meanwhile, there's a new fire that has started, the Hughes fire, which is north of my area.
[00:02:21]  It is, I think, about 18% contained.
[00:02:26]  So they are making progress over there.
[00:02:29]  But people really have to obey the evacuation orders and make sure that they and their families are safe.
[00:02:35]  You mentioned the evacuation orders released from your office yesterday saying that you're demanding an independent investigation into the deadly evacuation order delays during the start of the Eaton fire.
[00:02:47]  Explain.
[00:02:48]  I'm very, very concerned because the evacuation orders did not reach western Altadena for many hours.
[00:02:57]  And as a result, there were those that did not leave right away.
[00:03:03]  And actually, all 17 of the deaths that occurred were in that area.
[00:03:08]  So I want to know what happened, who's behind this, why were those evacuation orders delayed?
[00:03:16]  It's a tremendous tragedy, and we cannot have this happen again.
[00:03:20]  Delayed by how long?
[00:03:21]  What do you know about the delays?
[00:03:22]  It was several hours.
[00:03:24]  Remember that most of the people evacuated within that first day.
[00:03:29]  And the fire started on a Tuesday night at 6.30 p.m.
[00:03:34]  Most people then were ordered to evacuate.
[00:03:38]  That Wednesday, they woke up to this fire that was coming towards our home.
[00:03:43]  And we're talking about several hours where they could have been evacuated and had their lives saved.
[00:03:53]  What does recovery look like in your district?
[00:03:56]  What do you, your constituents, need from Congress right now?
[00:04:00]  Well, right now there is hazardous removal by Cal EPA.
[00:04:04]  They are making progress.
[00:04:06]  The next step will be debris removal.
[00:04:09]  It'll be a big job.
[00:04:11]  And then there will be the process of rebuilding, of getting insurance companies to be able to assess the damage and then provide funds for that.
[00:04:23]  But it will not be enough.
[00:04:25]  And the job is enormous.
[00:04:28]  There have been estimates as high as $250 billion as far as the damage to both Palisades and the Eaton area.
[00:04:36]  So we definitely need disaster aid.
[00:04:40]  We need disaster aid without conditions, which has been the case for every disaster aid package in our nation's history.
[00:04:50]  These wildfires don't have any political affiliation.
[00:04:53]  They don't have any political party.
[00:04:55]  And when America's, when Americans are in their most desperate time, when they are in great, great need of help, we need to be able to help them.
[00:05:06]  And this will be a very, very important time for us to give that aid so that they can recover and that the economy can return to what it was before.
[00:05:16]  On disaster aid, President Trump was asked about disaster aid by Sean Hannity in that Fox News interview that took place up on Capitol Hill.
[00:05:25]  This is about 30 seconds from yesterday.
[00:05:28]  I don't think we should give California anything until they let water flow down into there from the north to the south.
[00:05:34]  This is a political thing.
[00:05:35]  I don't know what it is.
[00:05:36]  You know, they talk about the Delta smelt.
[00:05:37]  It's a little tiny fish like this.
[00:05:40]  They say it's an endangered species.
[00:05:41]  Well, how is it endangered?
[00:05:43]  No wonder it's endangered.
[00:05:44]  It's not getting any water.
[00:05:47]  That was Donald Trump in that interview with Sean Hannity.
[00:05:49]  Your response, Congresswoman?
[00:05:51]  Well, it is based on tremendous misinformation.