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Bill Simmons discussed his ‘worst week’ since moving to L.A.
Referring to the California wildfires, Simmons said “It's just been an awful week and it just feels like it's not going to get better."
More on the California wildfires
Bill Simmons and “Cousin Sal” Iacono discussed the devastation of the California wildfires after breaking down the first round of the NFL playoffs on Simmons’ podcast, “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” Sunday evening.
“It’s hard to say where we’re going next but this was already the worst week since I’ve been in L.A. by far – not even close,” said Simmons.
The fires in California have burned 62 square miles, about three times the size of Manhattan, and continue to roar.
“I can’t wrap my head around it all these days later,” said Simmons about the destruction that has killed at least 24 people.
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Simmons, a Massachusetts native and long established Boston sports fan and columnist, has been living in L.A. since 2002, and Iacono “a few years before that.”
“I don’t even know how to explain this to people who don’t live in California. The wide swath of devastation – the Palisades basically being gone, whole parts of Malibu just being gone,” said Simmons.
California has had wilfires previously but this could be the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“I know that everybody bounces back eventually, but man it’s really hard to even understand how the rebuilding is going to happen and how long it’s going to take,” said Simmons.
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The two talked about the winds that are predicted to worsen the conditions this week.
“It’s just been an awful week and it just feels like it’s not going to get better,” said Simmons.
Simmons brought up the regularity of high winds that he has experienced while he has lived in California, but these winds are going to cause more unthinkable damage to the already raging fires.
“We know there’s bad s*** ahead,” said Iacono.
Iacono, who resides in the Manhattan Beach area, mentioned how he responds when those ask him about how he is doing.
“I’m good for now. I’m alright for now. I have no idea,” said Iacono. “You feel like you have so much control over your life then you don’t.”
Simmons mentioned all the help that has gathered for this tragedy, from neighbors to firefighters to reporters.
“It just turned out to be 10 out of 10, the worst case scenario we could’ve had,” said Simmons.
The expected winds that are supposed to arrive Tuesday will likely fuel the fire for days longer.
“I wish the worst is behind us,” said Iacono.
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The football playoffs have been serving as a distraction to many of those who are waiting out these fires to subside and can return.
“We need football as a distraction and it hardly ranks as important but for God’s sake I wish we could talk about this as if it’s going on in the past but it’s not,” said Iacono.
Despite this attempted diversion of this demolition, Simmons described the feeling of the loss that many have been feeling over this past week.
“Losing your house and having no power of that,” said Simmons. “And just knowing all the stuff that you kept, everything is gone – there are very few worse feelings than that.”
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