It's Where I Am with Zandra Polard

Wesley Knight 0:00
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Zandra Polard 0:43
Good morning Las Vegas. It's Zandra Pollard, and the show is it's where I am. So today we're talking to zenita Pollard, who is my sister, and she is a victim of the Eaton Canyon fires that happened not too long ago. And I wanted to bring her on because, you know, we've had family members who have lost their homes. Fortunately, our mother's house is still standing, but there's some significant damage. And so I brought her on today so we can talk about some of the emotional impact, right things that are happening now and then also in the future, right? So we have long term effects as well. So first of all, let's introduce zenita Polar to the show. Hi, hey, I'm glad you're on. I'm not glad about the subject matter, but it's nice to have you on the show. I love you, my dear sweet sister. Oh, you forgot to say big sister is my dear sweet big sister. Yes. So we're talking about the Eaton fires, eating Canyon fires. And first off, I want to say the day of the fires. I got a phone call from my daughter, and she told me the fires were going on, right? I just come home from work, or whatever I was doing, I don't know. I get a phone call from her about 1030 at night. So I call mom, you know, checking in on her and seeing if she needed to evacuate. It sounded like she was taking a nap, you know, oh, yeah, yeah, because that was one of that is one of the main issues with this fire, this particular fire in Eaton Canyon, that there was not enough time or enough warning time to evacuate, so a lot of people, most people, were notified at like 330 in the morning. Yeah, yeah, so that was the case with you. So can you walk us through how that night started for you?

Zaneta Polard 3:25
Oh, yeah, sure. So I'm an educator, and I was working late at work, and I was exhausted. There's a lot going on in the world. And so I was driving home, and I just wanted to go to bed, and when I left earlier in the day, we had no power. So I was like, gee, if the power still out, then I'm just going to bed.

Zandra Polard 3:55
Okay, so as you're driving home, did you see any smoke? Did you smell any smoke? What was on fire around? What? When do you go home? About 335, o'clock.

Zaneta Polard 4:06
Well, this was about 630 Okay, and then then I realized I had an appointment, so I had to make a detour. So at that moment, I saw a glow of light at a distance, and then there were fire trucks and stuff, but I really didn't understand what was going on, because I was just detached. You know, you coming home from work, I hadn't seen the news. I did get a phone call from my stepdad asking me if I heard about the Palisades fires, which I hadn't because I was just working all day and I didn't know what was going on in the world really. And it's kind of sad, but yeah, well, we

Zandra Polard 4:50
get caught up in our own work, our in our own stuff, our own daily to do's, right? So you were caught up in your daily to do's, yeah? And you heard about the palisade fires. You see a glow in the distance you're driving home. Then what?

Zaneta Polard 5:11
Yeah, it was in a distance, you know, like the mountains over there. I was just like, oh, wow, something's happening over there. And, yeah, there were fire trucks coming out. I mean, I guess they were going to the fire over in Eden Canyon, which would that's like, six miles, five miles maybe, away. So I'm like, Okay, well, we're fine. And so I go home and I just there's no light, there's no power. The cell phone's not really working, and so I just say, I'm going to go to bed because I'm extremely exhausted. Okay, so I go to bed, and when you said you tried to reach mom, she got home about the same time as I and we just looked at each other, and we're like, no power, no cell phone, no nothing. So I guess we're going to bed. So for me and my what happened was I start slowly waking up in the middle of the night, and I from my window, I see yellow light, and I hear a Whipple sound from a truck. It's like, and, and I was like, Don't tell me there's something going on with that. You know, is that glow I saw that? I mean, like, is there really something going on? Because the really, the thing I was nervous about was the wind, because the wind was, like, at 98 miles an hour, I was scared a tree might fall into the window, right? And so I'm slowly waking up. It's like, three o'clock in the morning, trying to get up. And what actually wakes me up is the amber alert sound in the phone. You know that alert sound? Oh, yes, that shocks you. That's what that woke me up. Okay, so I looked at my cell phone, and it's all I saw in capital letters. It was a paragraph, but in capital letters, throughout the throughout it, I saw the phrase Get out now, oh, wow. I woke up, get out now. I was like, Oh, my God, right. So I immediately jumped out of the bed, and, you know, I live with our parents, and I ran up the stairs, and they were starting to come down, and that's when we just started to get ready and go. And they were like, well, you, what are you going to pack? And I'm like, I don't know, because I can't see anything. I just woke

Zandra Polard 7:50
up, right? Yes, because there's no power.

Zaneta Polard 7:54
I had no idea about the urgency. I just grabbed this stack of clothes, which, when I looked at it later, was ridiculous. I had no idea what to do, and I was just I was just left. We just left, yeah, and they had a suitcase, but I just didn't have the frame of mind to gather myself to pack anything. Maybe it would be different if I could see and see where things are. But yeah, so we left, it may have been probably by 330 by then we left, like within 15 minutes or less. Okay.

Zandra Polard 8:33
Now, did you hear Did you hear any cars that I think I read about, and there was an announcement where police were on the bull horn or something from their cars, giving the alert as well. Did you hear that? Or only you got the Amber Alert?

Zaneta Polard 8:57
You know? Um, I only got the Amber Alert. Okay, I think, I think, I think mom and them may have heard somebody at the door, but I never heard that. I guess I was really knocked out. But when we went outside, they were there telling people, you know, for the exit, because, you know, there's two ways into where we live, okay? And the main road on Lincoln, there was a huge tree that fell down, so we could not exit that way, which was sucking, because that's usually a street we leave. So we had to go around. And and so

Zandra Polard 9:41
there was only one way out. One way out. What was the traffic? Well, it

Zaneta Polard 9:48
was bumper to bumper. I wasn't as nervous, I guess, because as the Palisades, you know, a lot of them are really nervous, because I. Didn't really see the danger as much. I mean, when I walked outside the door, I did see at the mountain top the ambers. I mean, it's still a distance, but it's kind of close to Okay, so. But when we were driving, I was just relaxed. I wasn't frantic trying to get out of the street, you know, or leave my car, or anything like that. So eventually we made it near Cal Tech. And like, what are we going to do? So um, whatever time that was, Starbucks was open, and we kind of gathered ourselves for a second and and we went to Aunt Judy's house. She was the one that called us, and we heard Yeah, and she welcomed us there. And we heard that Aunt Nikita and, well, we heard I heard that later. I heard that Aunt Nikita was evacuated before us,

Zandra Polard 10:59
yes, and another aunt as well, on Priscilla, because I spoke with her that before us. And then that's why I was so alarmed that when I made the phone call that, you know, you guys, no one had left yet, and said, like I said, Mom sounded like she was taking a nap. So there's an issue with this Eaton Canyon fire that you know responsible parties did not alert the community, and that's a huge issue, yeah, but I have you on to give your personal testimony as to what happened and how you are dealing with things, because everyone's situation is different, right? Some homes people have lost everything, have nothing, yes, right, but the clothes on their back, and then we have those who like you and mom and Hasham, the house is still standing, but you can't go inside because it's toxic.

Zaneta Polard 12:07
Well, I want to say the reason our house is still standing is because we had a neighbor day back and if it wasn't for him, a neighbor across the street. Shout

Zandra Polard 12:21
out to James. I don't know his last name. Thank you so much, Jeff. Jeff. Thank you, Jeff.

Zaneta Polard 12:30
He's a he saved our house. If it wasn't for him, our house would have been burned down. He literally, I mean, the fire kissed our house. The fire burned like three trees, right? Like, like foot and a half from the house. I mean, yes, how did it not? Thank God it didn't burn out. But how does that happen? I mean, and

Zandra Polard 12:54
the house next door is totally gone, burned down to the right, the house,

Zaneta Polard 12:59
the house to the right of us unfortunately got burned and her two cats were there. Oh, wow, yeah. And this, this guy, amazing neighbor. I mean, unbelievable hero. I mean, he did it. He did it the because the fire trucks were not there. If it wasn't for him, our house would be gone too.

Zandra Polard 13:24
And you know, unfortunately, I heard, even though there were fire trucks, there were fire trucks on the block, and they were not putting out fires. One was due to there not being any water, right? And then it was told to our stepfather that they were just going to let it, let it go, right?

Zaneta Polard 13:51
Well, yeah. Well, they didn't have enough water, even our guardian angel, Jeff, who saved our house, at some point, used a fire hose, the water he used, he used our water hose, but the water

stopped so there was

no more water for him input. You know, he did an amazing job. I mean, like amazing, wow.

Zandra Polard 14:18
I was thinking of all the memories that were even of mine. Because, you know, sometimes you put your stuff in your mother's house like me, I'm so I'm sure many others, and I was thinking of like all the memories I have in her garage, you know, of my kids, of my life, you know. And fortunately, we still have those.

Zaneta Polard 14:44
Well, talk about memories. I mean, unfortunately, our aunt, she's been in that. I mean, her, her husband's been at home even longer, but when they got married, I was about five years old. Okay, I won't say how old I am. Like. It was a long time ago that they lived in Altadena and in that house. So there are so many memories and for

Zandra Polard 15:12
all of us, anyone connected to us, friends, family, exactly yes.

Zaneta Polard 15:20
And she lost her home, which everyone in the family knows her home. Yes, everyone,

Zandra Polard 15:28
and I can't even imagine, to visit Altadena and just, I mean, even when I was being told on the phone, it's gone, there's nothing there, I just could not fathom the fact that it was gone, and I think for me to even show up there, I wouldn't be able to handle it emotionally. So my heart walk really, really reaches out to people like Aunt Nikita, my friend Terry, who her father lost his home on Priscilla, you know, my cousins, who are, you know, their parents home is now gone. You know, so, so there's post traumatic stress related to, you know, losing your home in a fire. I'm sure you know people have nightmares, night sweats, depression, anxiety. We have our aunt who kept saying, you know, your life is more important. And this is very true. However, those emotions that would come up when you're standing in a home that is no longer there, those emotions that would come up, you know, bubble up.

Zaneta Polard 16:50
Well, I will say this. Besides, I was going to mention the people, unfortunately, you know that were disabled and were not unable to leave their home because of their disabilities. That is unfortunate, but also for going through something like this. I guess you know they always talk about, what is it living in? The moment, because you look in the past, there's nothing you can do about the past, and you don't, you don't need to be anxious about the future. And when something like this happens for me, I see that you can only live for what you have at that moment. Wow. So you can't, you know, I think people that are calling they're emotional, and they're crying for you, but you almost aren't crying at that moment, because you're just trying to survive, and you're trying to you recognize that you're staying where you are in this moment, and you're able to smile, and you're able to move forward, And you could only move forward because of that, and that has been really interesting for me to witness or to appreciate, choose for myself, because even though you've lost everything, I mean, they still have to live on, right, and They still have to carry on. So I haven't I'm sure everybody has their personal moments. I'm sure when you see what's happened, you have your personal moment. But I've seen pressure, perseverance from everyone about moving forward and yes, and recognizing their life,

Zandra Polard 18:41
strong, altitude, Altadena, strong, y'all, yeah, because the community has really come together out there and in support of one another. Um, there are a plethora of free resources out there. You can Google. I did a Google search, found some places, saw some things on Facebook. You can just pretty much Google Eaton wildfire well eaten wildfire resources, and some things will pull up for you.

Zaneta Polard 19:16
And even out here, Altadena strong, I think it's more like the heart, the caring, because one beautiful thing about Al Pacino was just so connected to nature, very calm. It's outside of this, just outside of downtown the city, and there's a connectedness, and, like a love of being a part of that community. And yes, there's strength in that love. But I just, I see the, you know, the are, you know, the Yeah, the strength and the power, yeah, we fight on, but there's just so much passion and so much love and so much connection. And I think that's what's going to help with the rebuild.

Zandra Polard 19:57
Um, here are some organizations that we're. Support Pasadena Community Foundation, California Fire Foundation, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Salvation Army, world central kitchen, also mental health resources, 24/7 mental health helpline, 800-854-7771,

for emergency and clinical services. So there's no right way to deal with all of this stuff, right? Everyone's going to deal with it in their own way. Everyone has been affected differently, right? So the main thing is, talk, when you need to talk, listen, when you need to listen. You know people are going to, you know, have different emotions at different times. You just never know, because I know how people handle things. Like you. You said you became very calm when it was time to do what you needed to do. Some people get frantic. You know, you can't control how someone else is going to react to things, right? But again, showing that support by listening, taking the time to listen when someone is ready to speak, and there's so much resilience, you know, we talked about that, and the community of Altadena, the connectedness that you shared about Altadena, you know, we've been going there since we were children, You know, so we're pretty much raised there, and our aunt Nikita was the reason why many of us moved to Altadena, right, right? And all of that beautiful nature now gone, and the homes that are going to be repaired, you know, some people are going to rebuild. Some people are going to, unfortunately, move on. So have you thought about, you know, what you're going to do? Are you thinking about staying and dealing with the rebuild, or are you going to move on?

Zaneta Polard 22:20
Um, well, as far as the house already being there right now, we're dealing with the toxic levels, the air quality, getting it assessed by the insurance. So there's still a wait. We're not, we're not in the house. There's actually a few people that are really working on getting their house cleaned and their air worked on. But the interesting thing is, is when I go there, it's I kind of want to leave and like not stay too long. And I guess there's some feelings or issues within me that I haven't really addressed, because it's, I mean, it's toxic. I don't know what to think about. It's just still feels very dark in some ways, and there has to be a lot of repair there. But interestingly, I'll see people walking down the street, no mask. And then, like, five blocks away, I see, you know, of course, the workers, they have, like, hazmat suits on. I'm like, wait a minute, hazmat suit, no mask. So the issue of things you can't see, and how it affects your body, and the toxicity levels that there that has to be dealt with with these fires. I mean, it's just, I mean, mind boggling, all of that.

Zandra Polard 23:49
Well, I'm hoping that everyone who can hear the sound of my voice has some initiative to volunteer in some way, donate in some way. Oh yeah, there are so many people who can use your help. So many children, I

Zaneta Polard 24:03
felt it. I noticed that Octavia bookstore were gathering volunteers, so I intend to do some volunteer work. I said I got a call. I need to call to participate, just even a couple of hours, or just to really have hands on and participate and help in some way. Yes,

Zandra Polard 24:27
well, we appreciate you for that, and I really appreciate you coming on and giving your personal testimony to you know, your involvement, not involvement. Sorry, you being, you know, a victim of the fires there, I want to again, give my heartfelt condolences to my family and friends, and if there's anything else you'd like to say, zenita,

Zaneta Polard 24:56
no, just everybody as. One thing you can learn from this is checking in on your neighbors being more connected, as far as having phone numbers, because we did talk from time to time. But when things happen so quickly, unfortunately, some of the elderly, some of the people with disabilities that need a lot more assistance or a lot more help or more check ins to be aware of people who are vulnerable and really need additional support in times of need like this or in emergencies.

Zandra Polard 25:31
Wonderful and thank you and one more time for that phone number for 24/7 mental health helpline, it is 808 54, 777, 71 for emergency and clinical services. This is Zandra Pollard, thank you for tuning in. I appreciate you. I'll be here next week, because I'm here every week from from 730, to Eight, right here on 91.5 jazz and more. Bye. You.