FOX Sports provided televisions for first responders to watch the NFL playoffs during their shift breaks as they battled the devastating fires in Los Angeles.
FOX Sports NFL reporter Jay Glazer, who was on the scene for the Palisades in Malibu incidents, explained to Fox News how the partnership came about before the Washington Commanders and 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 on the burned area 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 many others from California, we were coming to bring protein bars, whatever we could do, just trying to boost morale. Two nights ago, some firefighters said, ‘You know what we really want?’ I said, I know someone who could do that,” he said.
“I called our boss at FOX Sports, CEO Eric Shanks, and he said, ‘What a great idea!’ And within a day, we came here yesterday and we finished this in one day, where we basically put the TVs in the area where these guys are coming back for their shifts, and there’s a lot of 24-hour shifts coming back and getting a seat to decompress, there are televisions.
“We’re not just showing our game on FOX, we’re showing all the games this weekend. It’s just our way of saying thank you for so many people who, you know, left their own homes to try to save ours.”
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The devastation 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 followed the firefighters before the playoff game, which aired on FOX.
Glazer said the coaches were “in love with our heroes.”
“For us to be able to step in and just give them a little bit of normalcy, lift their morale – that’s what they need,” he added. “I hear stories from those guys that, you know, those first few days through their 48 hours straight and the things they saw, everything we could do, just to tell you that we love you and thank you, we’re in.”
The Palisades Fire ravages a neighborhood amid high winds in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File)
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More than two dozen people died, and thousands of buildings burned down in the middle of a fire which swept the region.
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