FOX Sports provided televisions for first responders to watch the NFL playoffs during their breaks while battling the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.
FOX Sports’ NFL reporter Jay Glazer, who was at the Palisades Incident Command Post in Malibu, explained to Pakinomist how the partnership came about before the Washington Commanders-Detroit Lions playoff game on FOX.
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Firefighters watch as a helicopter drops water on the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon in Los Angeles, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Fire crews work in the fire zone of the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
“My wife and I actually live about 200 yards away. We were evacuated. But this week, like so many people from California, we came down with protein bars, whatever we could, just to keep morale up. Two nights ago , some firefighters said, ‘You know what we really want, we really wanted to see football.’ I said, I know somebody who could make that happen,” he said.
“I call our boss at FOX Sports, CEO Eric Shanks, and he says, ‘What a great idea!’ And he just figured it out. And within a day we came down here yesterday and we got it done in one day where we basically put TVs in the area where these guys come back to their shifts and many of them are on 24-hour shifts. They come back and they get a place to decompress, eat.
“We’re not just showing our games on FOX, we’re showing all the games this weekend. It’s just our way of saying thank you to so many of these people, you know, they left their own homes to try and save ours.”
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The destruction of the Palisades Fire is seen at sunset in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
He said during FOX Sports’ NFL pregame show that Commanders head coach Dan Quinn and Lions head coach Dan Campbell confronted the firefighters before their playoff game, which aired on FOX.
Glazer said the coaches were “in love with our heroes.”
“For us to be able to jump in and just give them some normalcy, boost their morale – that’s what they need,” he added. “I hear stories from these guys that you know, the first few days through their 48 hours straight and things they’ve seen, everything we could do just to say we love you and we thank you , we’re in.”
The Palisades Fire ravages a neighborhood during high winds in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope, file)
More than two dozen people have died and thousands of structures have burned down amid the fires that have plagued the region.
