While ghastly fires rage through Los Angeles, short video excerpts from the ‘Joe Rogan Experience’ podcast resurfaces on socials, where host Joe Rogan makes eerie warnings about mega fires ignited by high winds.
This former resident of Los Angeles and the host of one of the most listened-to podcasts in America often spoke aloud about the wildfires in interviews and told real-life experiences and even chilling tales of a firefighter.
The 57-year-old spoke in July with comedian Sam Morril about why he left Los Angeles. Wearing a Los Angeles Fire Department shirt during the episode, Rogan revealed, “I was evacuated three times from my house from fires. Last one, two houses in front of my house burnt to the ground.”
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Rogan recalls evacuating family amid a early LA Wildfire
The UFC commentator described the sight of the approaching flames as “f**k**g scary,” prompting him and his wife to leave with their children before evacuation orders were issued. The fire ultimately destroyed 40 houses in his neighbourhood.
The firefighter, too, warned him about the devastating potential of a wildfire fueled by the “right wind.” Recalling the conversation, Rogan said, “He goes, ‘One day, it’s just going to be the right wind, and fire’s gonna start in the right place, and it’s going to burn through LA all the way to the ocean, and there’s not a f**k**g thing we can do about it.’”
“If the wind hits the wrong way, it’s just going to burn through LA and there’s not a thing we can do about it,’ talking about how the winds can blow the embers through the dry Los Angeles climate.”
“These fires are so big… once it happens, it happens in a way that it’s so spread out that there’s nothing they can do,” he further added.
In 2018, Rogan told English mentalist Derren Brown the same story while wildfires burned across Ventura County, where Rogan previously lived. A year later, he shared the warning with journalist David Wallace-Wells, noting how California wildfires are projected to worsen dramatically by the end of the century.
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Sadly, by early Thursday, nearly 27,000 acres had burned, thousands of structures were destroyed, and at least five people had died. Wind gusts exceeding 100 miles per hour contributed to the rapid escalation of the fires, forcing over 100,000 residents to evacuate.