Variety ran a story today on how the local stations have been covering this. They talked to several reporters and general managers about several topics.
Variety | L.A. Reporters Cover Devastation in Their Own Neighborhoods During Wildfires: ‘Feels Like a Nightmare’ and ‘Fatigue Is Setting In’
While ABC's Josh Haskell was reporting Tuesday night, he was also trying to get his parents evacuated out of the area. He's been working 15 hour days and is really worried about breathing in the air/his health but feels it's his responsibility to be reporting
Enrique Chiabra was on air and announcing the Runyon Canyon evacuations, realized he lived in that zone and walked off the set and headed home
Stations had started preparing for this over the weekend working out their gameplans
Station execs estimate they're probably taking a six-figure hit or more between the wall-to-wall coverage and overtime pay. They aren't worried about it right now and expect to make it up over the next 12 months
KTLA almost had to evacuate during the Runyon fire and if they did, they had a full production truck on standby if needed. Their plan was to stay on tv any way they could
They noted the long hours and the fatigue that's setting in with everyone and how support from other markets are coming in to help with the load
